With troops moving in on foot the risk of civilian casualties increases. As it is the confrontation has cost over 430 Palestinian lives along with the death of four Israelis up till now.

Gaza is a densely populated region and a ground operation aimed at hunting down Hamas targets is bound to give rise to civilian casualties. At the same time however the Israeli military will also be exposed to new threats. Hamas has been in the region for almost two years within which it has managed to accumulate a considerable amount of ammunition. The world has been witnessing the kind of fire power that Hamas is equipped with in the recent rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli territory. Hamas has been making use of sophisticated long range missiles amidst the Israeli air strikes.

Hospitals in Palestine reported three civilian deaths overnight whereas the Hamas run television channel Al Aksa reported that five Israeli soldiers had been killed. The Israeli military did not confirm the claims made by Al Aksa and dismissed the effort as being a tactic to lower the military’s morale.

International pressure has mounted in the past couple of days urging both the sides to accept an immediate cease fire but such efforts have been shunned completely. Many European cities witnessed protests appealing to Israel to stop the bloody campaign against the Palestinians.

The White House has been rather conservative in restricting Israel from wreaking the havoc that it has been amongst the civilian population of Gaza. The most it could do was issue a statement urging Israel to “be mindful of the potential consequences to civilians.”

The Israeli military is however determined to continue its campaign until it gains control over the missile launching sites Hamas has been using to target southern Israel. Military officials have stated that their aim is not to reoccupy Gaza yet it is engaged in a grueling operation that has resulted in heavy loss of civilian lives.

International powers have tried to persuade Israel to agree to a truce but this request has been shunned in total at the moment. On the other hand Hamas has not given a positive response to the request of a cease fire.

Despite the international pressure the firing from both sides has intensified in the past couple of days. Yesterday Israel managed to bring down a mosque to rubble claiming it was one of the places that Hamas used to store rockets. On the flipside 60 rockets were fired into southern Israel from the Hamas militants.

The Israeli troops could be seen assembling their equipment and propping up their tanks just outside the Gaza border. An Israeli defense official spoke to the press saying that the military commanders will be moving forward in order to commence the ground operation.

Emergency consultations were sanctioned in by the U.N Security Council on Wednesday in order to discuss a legally binding and viable solution that could bring about a cease fire and a lasting truce in the region. The Arab League foreign ministers had held a meeting in Cairo and sent the Egyptian Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz to take part in the consultation.

The diplomatic efforts made by the U.S and other world powers to pressurize both the sides to back down have been of no avail. The 48 hour cease fire proposal made by the French in order to allow relief goods to reach the suffering people of Gaza has also been shunned. According to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this was not the right time to consider such a proposal.

Turkey and Egypt are two Muslim nations considered to be on good terms with Israel made their own proposals to Israel and Hamas but were not paid any attention.

Israel has little hope to eliminate Hamas from its roots using air strike only as the guerilla soldiers are in hiding and know how to move about in the streets. Therefore a ground offensive is being initiated as it seems to be the only way in which Israel can do some serious damage to Hamas.

The final days of 2008 experienced light trading that caused a $5 increase in the price of crude oil per barrel. This week the sweet crude delivery for February rose to above $40.02 which has been the first time it has crossed to $40 mark in New York. Nymex will however be closed for the New Year on Thursday. On the other hand retail gasoline prices were constantly declining till Monday and ended up at $1.60 per gallon. 

The Israeli attacks on the symbols of Hamas power on the Gaza strip have been described as “war to the bitter end” by the Israeli defense minister. In the three days of Israeli attacks a total of 364 Palestinians have been reported dead and 1400 others wounded. The current attacks on the Gaza strip have been the worst attacks witnessed by the Palestinians in decades. The attacks were initiated by Israel in retaliation to the rocket firing by Hamas that followed after the six month truce came to an end. 

Israeli missile strikes targeted the home of the Hamas premier and also managed to destroy a security compound situated inside a university building. 

The hiked up oil prices were described by Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading Corp as “an emotional reaction to what was going on in Israel.” Such unusual price hikes have been experienced during previous fighting in the region.

Fylnn said “In reality, the likelihood the conflict is going to interrupt oil supply in any way; shape or form is highly unlikely, obviously, if the conflict widens, and other countries get involved directly, you might have a different situation.” 

China indicated an interest in going on a mass crude buying spree in order to take advantages of the prices below $40 a barrel. China is adamant on increasing its oil reserves in order to safeguard itself against the supply shock which seem inevitable at the moment. The Chinese government has urged local companies to take advantage of the current prices and load up on oil reserves because prices are likely rise in the near future.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said “Right now the people of southern Israel are not able to live in peace; they have to live in bomb shelters a lot of the time. And that’s unacceptable.”

The attacks on Israel from the Gaza strip have managed to claim seventeen lives in the entire year. The six months truce was brought to an end a couple of days ago with Hamas claiming that Israel had been violating the terms of the truce.

While the U.S has given a green signal to Israel’s retaliation against Hamas it has also urged them to avoid civilian deaths. But since bombs are being dropped in highly congested areas with over 1.5 million people civilian casualties are bound to occur.

The White House has also expressed its concerns for humanitarian needs in Gaza. Efforts are being made to supply the suffering people with food and medicines.

It was asked whether the U.S believes Israel’s deadly attacks on Gaza are justified. In reply Johndroe said “The United States understands that Israel needs to take actions to defend itself.”

King Abdullah of Jordon has donated blood money for the Gaza victims. George Bush held a telephonic conversation with the King of Saudi Arabia who expressed his concerns over the current activities going on in the Mideast. Condoleezza Rice in Washington has been trying to get different parties together to encourage a cease fire.

All those concerned realize that the only way a cease fire can be sustainable is when both parties respect its terms. Hamas has blamed Israel for violating the terms of the previous cease fire which is why it is not willing to extend it, which has had a deadly outcome for the Palestinians.

In a statement the press office for the Secretary General was recorded as saying “The Secretary-General is extremely concerned at statements calling into question the continuation of the Egyptian-brokered calm in and around Gaza”.

The Secretary General has expressed his concerns over the escalating violence by saying that it would have dire consequences for the civilians of Israel as well as Gaza. The end of the truce will also jolt the political efforts that are being made in order to resolve the situation.

Ban made an appeal to make full efforts to sustain the calm that was experienced while the truce lasted. He also said that rocket attacks from Gaza need to be stopped and all acts of violence in the region need to be brought to an end.

Moments after the announcement of the end of the six month truce with Israel was announced by Hamas rockets were fired at Southern Israel by another smaller militant group. There were no casualties reported regarding the incident.

The weeks that followed the cancellation of the truce have seen an upsurge in the acts of violence taking place in the region. Around nine rockets were fired from the strip towards Southern Israel on Thursday. A day before Israel had carried out several airstrikes in which they managed to kill one Palestinian.

Israel has managed to cause significant damage to the people of Gaza by closing all the crossing points to Gaza through which humanitarian aid and other basic supplies reach the region.

The hopes for a Middle East peace deal that was being initiated by Palestinian president along with the US President seems to be fading as the time for George W. Bush to step down draws near without any significant efforts being made in that direction. The UN is calling upon both parties involved in the conflict to maintain decorum and curb the acts of violence so that a political solution to the problem can be achieved.