Israeli troops enter deep into Gaza
January 13, 2009
Witnesses said Israeli special forces had advanced several hundred metres into several neighbourhoods and that intense gunfire could be heard.
Earlier, Israeli planes attacked more targets in Gaza as Israel's offensive against Hamas entered an 18th day.
A UN watchdog meanwhile accused Israel of showing a "manifest disrespect" for the protection of children in Gaza.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said more than 40% of those killed in Gaza were women or children, even though the Israeli government had signed a UN protocol condemning attacks on places where children were likely to be present.
The attacks would have a severe emotional and psychological effect on an entire generation of children in Gaza, it added.
A Palestinian human rights group earlier said more than 90,000 people had fled their homes during the conflict.
Palestinian medical officials say more than 40 people were killed on Tuesday, and that the emergency services have been unable to reach many of the areas targeted by the Israeli military.
They say that since the offensive began on 27 December, 971 people have been killed in Gaza - of whom 311 were children and 76 were women - and more than 4,400 people have been injured.
Thirteen Israelis have died, three of them civilians, Israel says.
Despite the Israeli offensive, militants in Gaza have kept up rocket attacks on southern Israel. The Israeli army said on Tuesday that 25 mortars and rockets had been fired out of Gaza and that Israeli war planes had carried out more than 50 air strikes since the morning.
Israel says it will not call off its offensive until it has stopped the rocket attacks and prevented arms being smuggled into Gaza.
Source: BBC
