Israel holds off Gaza ground assault as world urges calm

By
AFP
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Israel holds off Gaza ground assault as world urges calm
JERUSALEM: Israel kept up its punishing raids on Gaza Monday but held off from a threatened ground incursion as the world intensified efforts to broker a truce.

With Israel´s campaign to halt cross-border rocket fire entering its seventh day, the Arab League was to hold an emergency meeting to discuss moves to end "the shedding of Palestinian civilians´ blood" and formulate a common Arab stance on the crisis.

And UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to scrap plans for a ground offensive, saying "too many" Palestinian civilians had been killed as the death toll from its punishing air campaign hit 172, with another 1,230 wounded.

The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has said more than three-quarters of the victims were civilians. But, despite preparations for a possible ground attack, Israel appeared to be holding off with media reports saying that ministers attending a Sunday evening meeting of the security cabinet had decided against putting boots on the ground -- for the time being.

During the night, Israeli warplanes struck more than 40 sites, killing two people, and artillery pounded the north where Israel warned residents to flee for their lives ahead of a major operation.

Over the past 24 hours, more than 17,000 Palestinians, most of them from northern Gaza, have packed into a handful of schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in a bid to seek some respite from the bombing. Inside the New Gaza Boys School in Gaza City, every classroom was packed full of people, with blankets strung across doorways to provide some privacy. "We feel safer here, but the situation is tough, there´s very little food and water and nothing for the children to do," said 27-year-old Rehab, from Beit Lahiya.

"We´re sleeping on the tiles of the classroom floor. "