Israel on Wednesday resisted international calls to halt its airstrikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, saying it would keep up pressure on the militant Palestinian group while weighing proposals for a durable cease-fire.
As Hamas hurled more than 70 rockets across the border, Israeli warplanes pounded the densely populated coastal enclave for a fifth day.
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UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said the Palestinian death toll was estimated at 320 to 390 and the number of injured at 1,500 to 1,900, The Associated Press reported. Between 20 percent and 25 percent of the dead are either women or children, said Karen AbuZayd, UN Relief and Works Agency commissioner.
Hamas says some 200 uniformed members of its security forces have been killed, and the UN said at least 60 Palestinian civilians have died. Three Israeli civilians and a soldier have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza since Saturday.
European, U.S. and Arab leaders have been pressing for a truce. On Sunday, Hamas’ top political leader had floated the idea of a cease-fire. But after a divisive debate late Tuesday, Israel’s leadership backed away from hints of support for a truce proposal by France and pressed ahead with the airstrikes.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at a meeting of his security advisers that the French proposal lacked guarantees to ensure that Hamas would stop firing rockets and would be prevented from smuggling more weapons into Gaza through tunnels from Egypt.
“If conditions ripen and provide a diplomatic solution for ensuring a much better security reality in the south, we will consider it,” Olmert said, according to Israel’s Ynet news agency. “But we are not there yet.”
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had proposed a 48-hour halt in the fighting to allow delivery of relief to the besieged coastal strip and give time for international mediators to work out a long-term truce.
Israeli officials emphasized that they had not rejected the French plan outright and were open to amendments and alternatives being put forward by Turkey, Egypt and other parties. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was flying to Paris on Thursday to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
President George W. Bush spoke to Olmert by phone Wednesday and voiced concern about civilian casualties in Gaza but did not discuss a timetable for halting Israeli strikes, the White House said.
With troops and tanks massed along the Gaza border for a possible ground invasion, Israel’s government authorized the mobilization of 2,500 army reservists to expand an earlier call-up of 6,500 soldiers.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that it had conducted 450 airstrikes since Saturday, including 25 Wednesday that destroyed a mosque it said was used as a missile storehouse, several rocket-launching sites, weapons-smuggling tunnels and a training camp.
Undeterred by waves of punishing attacks on its arsenal, command posts, rocket-launch sites, tunnels and weapons labs, Hamas continued firing deep into Israel.
A rocket strike on Tuesday near Beersheba was 28 miles beyond the Gaza border, far beyond the range of previous rockets. The newly demonstrated range caused many in southern Israel to remain indoors Wednesday.
For many Gazans, Wednesday brought a small measure of relief as rain curtailed the number of airstrikes. Fearing a ground invasion when the weather clears, Palestinians emerged from hiding in their homes and stocked up on whatever food, candles and batteries they could find.
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Images from the conflict: See photos from southern Israel and the Gaza Strip at chicagotribune.com/gaza