Israeli military escalates assault on Gaza City

Reporters from Al Jazeera, one of the only international networks reporting from inside Gaza, said that heavy fighting had broken out Tuesday in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in the south of Gaza City, while clashes were also reported in Beit Lahiya in the north and Kham Younis in the east. The impoverished urban area remains encircled by Israeli tanks, while warships sail off its coast and F-16 fighter planes carry out continuous bombardments.

In the southern city of Rafah, on the Egyptian border, Israeli jets have carried out intensive bombing, including with US-supplied "bunker-buster" bombs designed to destroy underground tunnels that have provided an alternative lifeline for the Palestinian population under conditions of the Israeli economic blockade of the territory.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee the town, and now armor and bulldozers are being used to demolish their homes.

"A large part of Rafah has been completely reduced to rubble...it has been described as hell on earth by some of the witnesses we have met," Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza reported.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/gaza-j14.shtml