A top Hamas commander, Palestinian family of 7 die in Gaza attacks
Residents flee as Israel warns of a new, more violent phase in the campaign. Gaza militants fire 10 rockets into Israel, injuring two people.
Reporting from Gaza City and Jerusalem — Israeli aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets over the Gaza Strip today warning of an escalation in attacks against Hamas, prompting many residents to flee their homes.
A senior Hamas commander and seven members of a Palestinian family were among those killed on the 15th day of Israel's thundering air and artillery attacks against the militant group that rules the coastal territory. A hospital also was damaged in the attacks. Palestinian militants fired 10 rockets into Israel, wounding two people.
Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting faltered as Egypt rejected a proposal to allow the deployment of international forces along its border to help prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. Israel says the offensive is aimed at stopping years of rocket fire from Gaza and will continue until Hamas' weapons pipeline is cut off.
The warning of a "new phase" of the assault, which has killed more than 800 Palestinians, came from the skies over Gaza City and Rafah as well as in recorded messages on automated calls to Palestinians with cellphones.
"The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will escalate the operation in the Gaza Strip," the messages said in Arabic. "The IDF is not working against the people of Gaza but against Hamas and the terrorists only. Stay safe by following our orders."
The leaflets urged Gaza residents not to help Hamas and to stay away from its members.
Israeli ground forces, which invaded Gaza a week ago after eight days of airstrikes, have moved to the outskirts of its densely populated urban areas. But there was no sign Saturday that they had begun a major advance.
The warnings nonetheless heightened the panic that has gripped Gaza's 1.5 million people since the offensive began Dec. 27. Scores of families were seen loading mattresses and other belongings into and atop their cars and moving from neighborhoods on the edges of Gaza City to places of refuge closer to the center.
In the day's bloodiest incident, seven members of the Abed Rabbo family were killed in the midday shelling of their grocery store in a village near Jabaliya. Palestinian medical workers said the shelling came from an Israeli tank several blocks away.
An Israeli military spokeswoman denied that tanks had fired in the area.
The direction of the conflict was uncertain following rejection by Israel and Hamas of a cease-fire resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council on Thursday.
