Israel pressed to end Gaza attacks

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By Joshua Mitnick

TEL AVIV | Israel faced growing international pressure Tuesday to halt an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has exposed divisions between pro-Western Arab regimes and Islamic political forces allied with Iran.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with top advisers but reportedly advocated pressing on with the four-day offensive even after the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- the so-called Quartet focusing on the Arab-Israeli dispute -- issued a statement urging an immediate cease-fire. More than 380 people -- all but four of them Palestinian -- have died in the fighting. Most were Hamas fighters, but more than 60 were civilians, according to the United Nations.

A report on Ha'aretz newspaper's Web site on Tuesday night quoted Mr. Olmert as saying, "The Gaza offensive has begun and will not end. ... until our goals our reached, we are continuing according to the plan."

The paper said Mr. Olmert's statement was in response to reports that defense officials intended to recommend a 48-hour truce.

Israel appeared to be running out of obvious targets for air strikes in the crowded coastal enclave, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. On Tuesday, Israeli forces hit the Hamas government compound in Gaza City, weapons storage facilities and a network of underground tunnels near the border with Egypt used to smuggle commercial goods and weapons. Hamas responded with more than 45 mortars and rockets, which reached the southern Israeli city of Beersheba for the first time on Tuesday. It is the biggest Israeli city under attack to date.

Demonstrations across the Middle East and beyond -- many targeting Egyptian embassies and consulates -- reflect growing anger against pro-U.S. Arab governments that appear to have taken Israel's side against the Islamist movement that has controlled Gaza since 2007.

Protesters broke into the Egyptian Consulate in the Yemeni city of Aden and trashed the interior, the Associated Press reported, throwing computers out windows and burning the Egyptian flag. Protests also erupted in Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Washington, outside the State Department.

(Corrected paragraph:) In Tehran, members of the Basij paramilitary group occupied the garden outside the British cultural center in north Tehran and raised a Palestinian flag. They also warned Egyptian officials to leave Tehran.

"This is being used by the political Islamic parties in the Arab world through mass protest movements," said Ghassan Khatib, a former member of the Palestinian Authority Cabinet. "In addition to their attacks against the Arab regimes, including Egypt, they are expressing support for Hamas."

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Israel Pressed to End Gaza Hit

Israel faced growing international pressure Tuesday to halt an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has exposed divisions between pro-Western Arab regimes and Islamic political forces allied with Iran.

Hamas has called on Arab governments to sever relations with Israel, but neither Egypt nor Jordan has recalled its ambassador.