Egypt seen as complicit in Gaza assault

"Israel would not have hit Gaza like this without a green light from Egypt," Hamdi Hassan, MP for the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition movement, told IPS. "The Egyptian government allowed this assault on Gaza in hopes of finishing off Hamas."

On Saturday, 27 December, Israel began a series of devastating air strikes on targets throughout the occupied Gaza Strip, internally controlled since the summer of last year by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas. According to Israeli officials, the campaign -- which has included hundreds of air strikes -- comes in retaliation for rockets fired by Palestinian resistance factions.

More than 200 Palestinians were reportedly killed on the first day of the operation. Four Israelis, meanwhile, have reportedly been killed by Palestinian rocket fire since the air campaign began.

In the meantime, Israel has continued to amass tanks along its border with the Gaza Strip amid predictions of an imminent ground assault.

"What's happening in Gaza represents an unprecedented crime against humanity," said Hassan. "Enormous military power -- featuring the latest US weaponry -- is being brought to bear against a poverty-stricken and largely defenseless population."

Ever since Hamas wrested control of the Strip from the US-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) last year, Egypt -- like Israel -- has kept its border with the enclave tightly sealed. The border closures, in tandem with the bombing and closure of the Strip's airports and maritime ports by Israel, has effectively cut the territory off from the rest of the world, and brought it to the brink of humanitarian disaster.

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