On the seventh day of Israel's offensive against the militant Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the violence showed no sign of letting up.
Israeli airstrikes Friday hit around 20 houses believed to belong to militants from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and other groups, the Associated Press reported quoting Palestinian sources. The Israeli military warned residents by telephone ahead of the attacks or fired warning missiles in a bid to minimize civilian casualties. Israel insists it is only attacking sites that are directly linked to Hamas.
Friday's attacks came a day after senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan and his family were killed in an Israeli air strike. Hamas swore it would take revenge for the assassination of Rayan, the senior-most Hamas leader to be killed in the operation so far.
Israel also opened a border crossing with the Gaza Strip Friday, allowing at least 100 holders of foreign passports -- mainly spouses of Palestinians and their children -- to escape the fighting.
Protests against the ongoing Israeli offensive have been widespread, and Friday saw street protests across the West Bank. In Ramallah, Hamas supporters clashed with supporters of the moderate Palestinian movement Fatah. Also on Friday, Hamas called on all Palestinians to observe a "day of wrath" in protest against Israel's actions.
The Israeli operation began last Saturday in a bid to stop rockets being fired at southern Israel by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. However rocket fire is still continuing despite the Israeli raids. Israeli soldiers are massed on the border with the Gaza Strip and a ground offensive may still be in the offing.
Over 400 people have died since the Israeli operation began. Of those, at least 100 were civilians, according to the United Nations. Four Israelis have been killed by rocket fire in the past week. Both sides have so far rebuffed calls for a cease-fire.
Commentators writing in Germany's main newspapers Friday seemed pessimistic about the chances of peace and called on the international community to intervene.
The center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"Israel finds itself in a trap. Since 2001, the terrorists in the Gaza Strip have fired some 10,500 rockets into Israel -- and not a single Israeli military operation since then has been able to stop them. The same holds true today. Since the beginning of the offensive last Saturday, Israel's air force has killed hundreds of Hamas members and destroyed weapons depots and government buildings. But Hamas doesn't seem to have been particularly weakened.
"Each day, rockets continue to fly ever-deeper into Israel. In order to avoid losing a further war, the military leadership, along with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, are now pushing blindly for a ground offensive. But in the maze-like streets of the refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, the Israelis could be drawn into a war of attrition with the terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- a battle which could expose the Israeli army's Achilles' heel. Hamas would deploy suicide bombers and snipers against the Israeli soldiers. And because Israel doesn't want to re-occupy the Gaza Strip and take responsibility for providing for the 1.5 million people who live there, they will then have to withdraw their army from the region once again. Hamas would see the withdrawal as a victory and Israel's ability to deter its enemies would be further weakened."
The center-right daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
"Everyone avoids using the word 'war,' even though wars are clearly raging from Afghanistan to the Gaza Strip. When almost anyone is a potential combatant, and therefore part of the enemy, it's time to ask whether the traditional rules of war still apply to the present day."
"It's easy to give up every notion of law and justice given the situation in the Holy Land. ... An entity formed now, recognized on all sides and organized by the Palestinians themselves, would simply transform the ongoing war into a war between states … Israel, for its part, has ignored basic human rights with its continuous denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination and its political tolerance of Israeli settlers."
"That both sides are now calling for intervention from the international community -- at least to oversee a cease-fire -- offers a glimmer of hope. After all, the two sides can't co-exist peacefully without foreign help. But fine words are not enough by themselves. A robust mandate is what is clearly needed here."
The conservative daily Die Welt writes:
"Where are the Europeans? European politicians should already have taken action a long time ago, as soon as the first rockets -- paid for by Iran -- began to fall on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. After all, Europe, where anti-Semitism was fostered for centuries, has a unique responsibility toward Israel.
"But the continent does not have a common foreign policy. There is a lot of talk but little action. When the powder keg of the Middle East explodes, Europe too will not be spared. Can we really wait that long?"
The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:
"What is the USA -- the only country that Israel listens to -- doing? It is unlikely that any significant initiatives will come before the new administration takes office on Jan. 20. Until then, Washington is giving Israel the green light for its war.
"Perhaps an attempt at resolving the crisis will come from the Middle East itself? But that's hardly likely -- the two Arab camps, the moderate one and the one which is committed to 'resistance,' are currently blocking each other. With this kind of polarization, the Arab League cannot even take advantage of its -- already limited -- possibilities for action.
"Nevertheless, there is still a small silver lining on the Middle East's horizon. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently touring the region, and diplomatic intervention from Turkey could actually bring some progress. Turkey maintains a similar distance to both Israel and the Arab world and also has a moderate Islamist government, meaning Ankara fulfills all the requirements for a fair-minded go-between -- even if there is no guarantee of success."
-- David Gordon Smith; 2:30 p.m. CET
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