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Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Search Search: Hamas defiant as Israel rejects Gaza truce AFP - Thursday, January 1 GAZA CITY (AFP) - - Hamas vowed to fight "until the last breath" if Israel makes good on threats to send ground troops into Gaza after rejecting calls for a truce and pressing on with its air assault. "We in Hamas are ready for all scenarios and we will fight until the last breath," senior official Mushir al-Masri told AFP on Wednesday as warplanes pounded Gaza for a fifth day and the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers hit back with rockets. "Israel will embark on a veritable adventure if it decides to invade Gaza. We have prepared surprises for them," he vowed. In a defiant televised speech, the head of the Hamas government, Ismail Haniya, vowed Israel would be defeated. "Our people will defeat those tanks," he said as Israeli media speculated a ground offensive could be just days away. Despite international appeals for the bloodshed to end, Israel's security cabinet rejected proposals for a ceasefire. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the cabinet conditions were not yet ripe to halt the bombardment, launched in response to persistent rocket fire from the territory that Hamas has run for a year and a half. "We did not launch the Gaza operation only to end it with the same rocket firing that we had at its start," a senior official quoted Olmert as saying. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni justified Israel's rejection of a truce in the fighting in Gaza because the humanitarian situation is not dire, and because "knowing Hamas ... they are going to abuse any kind of ceasefire in order to put ... themselves in a better position for the next attack." In an interview with the US television channel ABC, she said the overthrow of Hamas "is not the goal of the current operation, but at the end of the day, Gaza controlled by Hamas is a problem to Israel, a problem to the Palestinians and a problem to the entire region." "The only way that the Palestinians can create a state is also by changing the situation in Gaza ... So the changes in Gaza and the changes of regime are needed also to create this vision of two states ... or to translate it into reality," said Livni. Defence Minister Ehud Barak underlined that Israel was "determined to enlarge and deepen" the scope of its military operation "until we have achieved the objectives we have set for ourselves." As diplomats scrambled to find a way to stop one of Israel's deadliest ever offensives against the Gaza Strip -- one that has so far killed nearly 400 Palestinians -- the UN Security Council began consultations on a draft resolution on the Gaza conflict to be proposed by Libya on behalf of a group of Arab countries, diplomats said. According to a copy obtained by AFP, the draft resolution to be presented "strongly condemns all military attacks and the excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by Israel, the occupying power." It also "calls for an immediate ceasefire and for its full respect by both sides." French President Nicolas Sarkozy will travel to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank on Monday, his office announced. In a New Year's message, Sarkozy said he will visit the Middle East in a bid to "find a roadmap towards peace." In Washington, US State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said: "The effort to bring about a ceasefire continues." There was no let-up in the violence on Wednesday, with Israel conducting nearly 60 air strikes and Hamas firing more than 60 rockets. Israel said that among the targets hit was a mosque in Gaza City used by Hamas to store and fire rockets. Attacks continued into the night, with three neighbours killed when the house of the Rafah leader of Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, was targeted. The attack took the toll of five days of air strikes to 398, including 180 civilians, and nearly 2,000 wounded, according to the head of the territory's emergency services, Moawiya Hassanei. At least 25 percent of those killed have been civilians, according to the United Nations. Hamas indicated it would consider any ceasefire proposal that includes an end to the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza since the Islamists seized power. "If the aggression is halted unconditionally and the blockade is lifted and the passages are opened, we then can discuss all issues in a positive manner," the Hamas prime minister said. The movement's exiled head, Khaled Meshaal, made similar comments in a telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the Russian ministry. The White House said it was up to Hamas to make the first move. "I think President (George W.) Bush thinks that Hamas needs to stop firing rockets, and that is what will be the first steps in a ceasefire," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas threatened to abandon peace talks with Israel so as not to support its deadly "aggression" against Gaza. Israel has warned that its "all-out war" on Hamas could last for weeks. It has massed tanks on the Gaza border, authorised the call-up of 9,000 reservists and warned of a ground invasion. The bombardment has reduced much of Hamas's administrative infrastructure to rubble but has failed to stop rocket fire into Israel. Since Saturday, militants have fired more than 250 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel, killing three civilians and one soldier and wounding several dozen people. Five of the rockets fired since Tuesday evening slammed into the desert town of Beersheba some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Gaza border -- the deepest yet that its projectiles have reached inside Israel. The bombardment has raised concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, a tiny, aid-dependent territory of 1.5 million people that has been crippled by Israel's blockade. The Red Cross said a breadline queue in driving rain at the only bakery in a refugee camp at Gaza's Jabalya stretched back 300 metres (yards) on Wednesday. Since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead, some 6,500 tonnes of aid have been transferred at the request of international organisations, the Palestinian Authority and various governments, the defence ministry said. Several Arab countries cancelled New Year's Eve festivities in solidarity with Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, celebrations, low-key at the best of times, were particularly subdued. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Recommend this article Average (5 votes) Sign in to recommend this article » Most Recommended Stories » Most Popular – Top Stories Viewed Japanese tourist spends 3 months in Mexico City airport Two thousand and strange: offbeat stories of the year Actress Jennifer Aniston appears naked in GQ magazine Defiant governor fills Obama's senate seat despite graft scandal Hamas defiant as Israel rejects Gaza truce View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular

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