Groups say Israel failed to plan for the safety of Gaza civilians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News
by Ahmed Abu Hamda, Shashank Bengali - January 13, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel's offensive in Gaza has forced as many as 90,000 Gazans to abandon their homes, and thousands more may soon have to flee in search of safety, humanitarian aid organizations said Monday. For civilians caught in the crossfire between Hamas militants and Israel's military, however, there's no escape to safety abroad and no sure sanctuary in Gaza. Some families have had to move repeatedly to escape the violence.

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U.S. sees Gaza rebuilding as opportunity for Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - January 13, 2009 - 1:00am

The United States hopes to use post-war reconstruction of the Gaza Strip to help the Western-backed Palestinian Authority reassert its presence and influence in Hamas's stronghold. U.S. and Western officials said details have yet to be worked out and depended on the extent to which Israel's military offensive, which has killed more than 900 Palestinians, weakens Hamas's hold on power.

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Israeli Officials Say Hamas Damaged But Not Destroyed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger, Sabrina Tavernise - January 13, 2009 - 1:00am

TEL AVIV — As Israeli forces tightened their circle around Gaza on Tuesday, senior Israeli intelligence officials said Hamas military forces had been damaged but remained substantially intact. The intelligence officials were briefing reporters.

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In Gaza, Hamas is battered, not broken, Israeli official says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Jeffrey Fleishman, Sebastian Rotella - January 13, 2009 - 1:00am

Reporting from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem — The military power of Hamas has been weakened and its political leadership is divided over plans for a possible ceasefire, but an Israeli intelligence official said today that the radical group remains formidable, with 15,000 fighters and a sophisticated arsenal of rockets and anti-tank weapons and tunnels.

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Refugees surge raise concerns of a broader Gaza war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Taghreed El-Khodary, Sabrina Tavernise - January 13, 2009 - 1:00am

GAZA: Growing numbers of Palestinians are fleeing their homes for makeshift shelters in schools, office buildings and a park as the Israeli Army continues to press its military campaign deeper into the city of Gaza. According to the United Nations, about 30,000 people are living in schools it sponsors, and an estimated 60,000 have fled to the houses of relatives. The figures represent a small part of Gaza's 1.5 million population but have doubled in the past four days, UN officials said, raising concerns about the humanitarian impact of a broader war.

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Israel's Top Leaders Weighing Their Next Steps in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Griff Witte - January 13, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel's leaders debated Monday how and when to bring their 17-day-old offensive in Gaza to an end, as battles continued to rage on the edge of Gaza City and as Israeli reservists flowed into the territory, ready for a possible deeper push into urban areas. The moves came as negotiators in Cairo sought to reach a cease-fire agreement, hoping to put a halt to violence that medical officials in the Gaza Strip said has claimed the lives of more than 900 Palestinians, as many as half of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis have been killed, three of them civilians.

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Report: Hamas agrees to Turkey troops on Gaza-Egypt border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Yoav Stern - January 13, 2009 - 1:00am

Hamas sources have said that the Palestinian militant organization would agree to the deployment of Turkish troops along Gaza's border with Egypt, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported Tuesday. "We trust Turkey and its role as an Islamic country," the Hamas officials said. They were referring to a proposal recently submitted to Hamas' Damascus-based political chief Khaled Meshal by Turkish officials.

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Israeli Troops Push Into Gaza City
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Steven Erlanger - January 12, 2009 - 1:00am

On the 17th day of the war against Hamas, Israel said its ground forces called in a series of air strikes after troops pushed into a heavily populated area of Gaza City from the south on Sunday in fierce fighting that continued on Monday. Senior Israeli officials said Sunday for the first time in the war that they believed that the Hamas military wing was beginning to crack and that Hamas leaders inside Gaza were looking for a cease-fire. But news reports on Monday said Hamas militants fired as many as 10 missiles out of Gaza into southern Israel without causing casualties.

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Israeli Bombing Continues, Palestinian Death Toll Tops 900
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America
by Luis Ramirez - January 12, 2009 - 1:00am

Israeli warplanes have been attacking the homes of Hamas leaders in Gaza, during the 17th day of Israel's assault. Palestinian medical officials say nearly 900 people have died in the attacks, which are showing no signs of letting up. The fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas raged on, as thousands of Israeli reservists entered the Gaza Strip. Israeli ground troops battled militants in house-to-house combat, edging closer to the center of Gaza City.

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Israelis United on Gaza War as Censure Rises Abroad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - January 12, 2009 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — To Israel’s critics abroad, the picture could not be clearer: Israel’s war in Gaza is a wildly disproportionate response to the rockets of Hamas, causing untold human suffering and bombing an already isolated and impoverished population into the Stone Age, and it must be stopped. Yet here in Israel very few, at least among the Jewish population, see it that way.

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