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Airstrikes, rockets despite U.N. direction
Friday, January 9, 2009 11:01 AM PST
JERUSALEM (AP) — The U.N. Security Council called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, but an intense bombardment of missiles from Israeli jets and helicopters early today and a barrage of Hamas rockets indicated there may be no quick end to the fighting.
The Security Council resolution was approved Thursday night by a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining. The resolution “stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.”
Israel and Hamas were not parties to the council vote and it is now up to them to stop the fighting. But a Hamas spokesman said the Islamic militant group “is not interested” in the cease-fire because it was not consulted and the resolution did not meet its minimum demands.
Israel’s top leaders were set today to discuss the cease-fire — or a possible expansion of the ground offensive.
“Israel has acted, is acting and will act only according to its own considerations, the security of its citizens and its right to self-defense,” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in a statement from her office ahead of the meeting. |