Israeli warplanes bombard Gaza after nightfall

Olmert rebuffs UN resolution as "unworkable"

UNITED NATIONS/GAZA (AlArabiya.net, Agencies)

Israel carried out a series of air strikes throughout the Gaza Strip after nightfall. Hamas said one of its fighters was killed and four others were wounded. Medical officials said 10 civilians were also wounded in the strikes.

An Israeli air strike in the city of Gaza damaged a building that housed production and transmission facilities for a number of television stations, most of them Arabic, journalists said. At least two people were wounded.

An Iranian state television station said two of its staff were wounded by the Israeli rocket strike on the building housing its office in Gaza.

"Israeli rocket strikes Gaza media building, wounding two," Press TV said in a breaking news headline, after initially reporting no casualties in the incident.

"Israeli forces have targeted Press TV and al-Alam television stations in the Gaza Strip," the English-language satellite station said. Al-Alam is Iran's Arab-language television station.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the building had not been targeted, though it may have sustained "collateral damage".

Breaking the lull

Israeli tanks opened fire in several locations in the Gaza Strip despite an announced three-hour "humanitarian" lull, witnesses said.

Tanks shelled targets in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya in the north and in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City, they said.

In Jabaliya, a gas station caught fire after a tank shell hit a lumber yard next door, sparking a fire that spewed thick columns of black smoke into the sky.

An army spokesman said that the military would suspend bombings over Gaza between 1100 GMT and 1400 GMT for a third consecutive day to allow Palestinians to stock up on food.

Resuming the offensive

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

The Israeli security cabinet earlier decided to continue the offensive in Gaza despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, a senior official said.

"The ministers were briefed on talks (Israeli envoy) Amos Gilad held in Egypt as well as on the U.N. Security Council resolution," a senior government official told AFP after the cabinet meeting.

"The ministers reiterated Israel's full right to defend its citizens to which end the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) will continue its operations in order to reach the goals of the offensive -- to bringing a change to the security situation in the south of the country.

"Furthermore the army will continue its operation to prevent weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip. It was also decided that humanitarian activity that Israel is allowing will continue."

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier said that Israel will keep up its assault in the Gaza Strip despite a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate and durable ceasefire. Hamas rejected the decree, saying it is not in the best interest of the Palestinian people.

"Israel has never agreed for any outside influence to decide on its right to defend its citizens," a statement from his office quoted him as saying.

"The firing of rockets this morning only goes to show that the U.N. decision is unworkable and will not be adhered to by the murderous Palestinian organisations," he said in a statement.

Nearly 800 victims

Hamas spokesman Raafat Morra

Meanwhile a Hamas spokesman said the group would not abide by a ceasefire.

"This resolution does not suit us because it is not in the best interest of the Palestinian people," Raafat Morra said. "This resolution does not take into account the aspiration of the Palestinian people."

As Israel's military carried out dozens of deadly air raids on the Gaza Strip the death toll from 'Operation Cast Lead' neared 800 while the 15-member Security Council gave its near unanimous approval to a resolution calling for an "immediate, durable" ceasefire leading to the "full withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The text also "calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment" and welcomes initiatives aimed at "creating and opening humanitarian corridors and other mechanisms for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid."

US abstains

The United States, Israel's main ally, abstained in the vote but refrained from wielding its veto to block a resolution which had been agreed upon after lengthy negotiations between Arab and Western foreign ministers.

By not voting for the resolution, the United States was seen as siding with its close ally Israel, which some Arab officials feared could weaken the pressure on Israel to comply.

Diplomats said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talked by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. President George W. Bush just before the vote took place.

Rice told the council Washington backed the resolution and abstained only because it wanted "to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation efforts in order to see what this resolution might have been supporting." She was referring to a plan announced this week by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Arab countries, many facing strong anti-Israeli sentiment at home, insisted the Security Council must issue a binding resolution that would force Israel to end its military campaign in the Gaza Strip immediately.

Israel had opposed the idea of a binding U.N. resolution. The Jewish state's U.N. ambassador, Gabriela Shalev, made only a fleeting reference to it in a brief speech to the council that again defended the attack on Gaza as self-defense.

Diplomacy and bombs

Israel continued to strike the strip despite resolution

Although the vote will ratchet up the pressure on Israel to end its assault, the sound of Israeli air raids and fresh explosions could be heard in Gaza City and other areas of the strip.

Medics said six people were killed in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza in overnight air strikes, mostly members of a single family.

Around 20 people were also killed in Israeli raids on Thursday, including a Ukrainian and a Moroccan woman, Gaza medics said.

Eleven Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed since the start of Israel's deadliest assault on the strip on Dec. 27.

Humanitarian aid

Ambulances wait as the situation becomes too dangerous

U.N. aid workers in Gaza plan to resume their movements in the Gaza Strip as soon as possible after receiving assurances from Israel that they are not being targeted, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Friday.

"The U.N. received credible assurances (from Israel) that the security of U.N. personnel, installations and humanitarian operations would be fully respected," spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters.

U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) suspended its operations in the enclave on Thursday after a U.N. convoy was hit by two Israeli tank shells, killing a truck driver, following Israeli attacks on three schools run by UNRWA earlier in the week.

The agency distributes food to about half of Gaza's 1.5 million people as well as running schools and other centers.

"Operations will remain suspended until Israeli authorities can guarantee the safety and security of our staff," spokesman Christopher Gunness told AFP.

The International Committee of the Red Cross also accused Israel of failing to help the wounded after rescuers found four small children clinging to their dead mothers during the second daily three-hour suspension of bombing.

It said Israeli soldiers tried to force rescuers to leave when they reached the grisly scene in Gaza City's Zeitun neighborhood on Wednesday, four days after safe-passage had been requested.

Israel -- which has blamed Hamas for civilian deaths in Gaza, saying the Islamists use them as human shields -- has said it was investigating the convoy death and the Red Cross incident.