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 In a blow to Israel's economy and a public relations coup for
Hamas, U.S. and European air carriers halted flights to the Jewish
state citing concern over a militant rocket from Gaza that hit a
house near Ben Gurion airport. Israel urged a re-think, saying its
air space was safe.
Adding to pressure on Israel, U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights Navi Pillay said on Wednesday there was "a strong
possibility" that it was committing war crimes in Gaza, where 645
Palestinians have died in the fighting, mostly civilians.
Israel denied the suggestion, stepping up the war of words and
accusing Hamas of using fellow Gazans as human shields.
Making an unannounced, one-day visit, Kerry was due to see Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, signaling an
intensification of efforts to end the bloodshed.
"We have certainly made some steps forward. There is still work to
be done," Kerry said shortly after arriving.
Israel launched its offensive on July 8 to halt missile salvoes by
Hamas and its allies, struggling under the weight of an
Israeli-Egyptian economic blockade and angered by a crackdown on
their supporters in the nearby occupied West Bank.
After failing to halt the militant barrage through days of aerial
bombardment, Israel sent ground troops into the Gaza Strip last
Thursday, looking to knock out Hamas's missile stores and destroy a
vast, underground network of tunnels.
"We are meeting resistance around the tunnels ... they are
constantly trying to attack us around and in the tunnels. That is
the trend," Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter
Lerner said on Wednesday. Some 29 Israeli soldiers have been killed
so far in the conflagration, including a tank officer shot by a
Palestinian sniper overnight. Three civilians have died in rocket
attacks out of Gaza, including a foreign laborers hit on Wednesday.
The military says one of its soldiers is also missing and believes
he might be dead. Hamas says it has captured him, but has not
released a picture of him in their hands.
AIRPORT ANGST
Already hurt by mass tourist cancellations, Israel faced increased
economic pressure after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) took the rare step on Tuesday of banning flights to Tel Aviv
for at least 24 hours. Many other international airlines, on
heightened alert after a Malaysian airliner was shot down over an
area of fighting in Ukraine last week, followed suit, while Israel's
own carriers continued to operate.
The FAA action represented a public relations coup for Hamas, which
is anxious to dent Israel's global image. However, the Tel Aviv
stock exchange and Shekel were flat, with traders showing little
immediate concern about the flight stoppages.
An Israeli official said Netanyahu had asked Kerry to help restore
the U.S. flights. A U.S. official said the Obama administration
would not "overrule the FAA" on a security precaution but noted the
ban would be reviewed after 24 hours.
Clouds of black smoke hung over Gaza, some 65-km (40 miles) south of
Ben Gurion, with the regular thud of artillery and tank shells
filling the air.
Palestinian medics said two worshippers were killed and 30 wounded
in an attack on a mosque in the heart of the densely populated
Zeitoun neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.
In a move that could effectively turn Abbas into the main
Palestinian point person for any Gaza truce, his umbrella Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) on Wednesday formally supported core
conditions set by the Hamas-led fighters.
These demands include the release of hundreds of Hamas supporters
recently arrested in the nearby West Bank and an end to the
Egyptian-Israeli blockade of Gaza, which has stymied the economy and
made it near impossible for anyone to travel abroad.
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Egypt has tried to get both sides to hold fire and then negotiate
terms for protracted calm in Gaza, which has been rocked by regular
bouts of violence since Israel unilaterally pulled out of the
territory in 2005. Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel's
right to exist, baulked at Cairo's original, barebones offer. The
dispute was further complicated by distrust between Egypt under
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Hamas.
Egyptian sources said a unified Palestinian position could help
achieve a deal. Unlike Hamas, Abbas and his Western-backed PLO have
pursued peacemaking with Israel for two decades.
DEATH, DESTRUCTION
Gaza's Health Ministry said 18 Palestinians were killed on
Wednesday, many of them in the southern town of Khan Younis -- one
of the focal points of Israel's recent assault.
In the far north, residents continued to flee Beit Hanoun as Israeli
tanks thrust deeper into the border town and destroyed nearby
orchards in their search for hidden Hamas tunnels.
"Columns of people are heading west of Beit Hanoun, looking for a
safe shelter. This is not war, this is annihilation," said
17-year-old Hamed Ayman.
"I once dreamt of becoming a doctor. Today I am homeless. They
should watch out for what I could become next," the youth told
Reuters.
Gaza officials said that so far in the 16-day conflict, 475 houses
had been totally destroyed by Israeli fire and 2,644 partially
damaged. Some 46 schools, 56 mosques and seven hospitals had also
suffered varying degrees of destruction.
"There seems to be a strong possibility that international
humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to
war crimes," the U.N.'s Pillay told an emergency session at the UN
Human Rights Council in Geneva.
 She also condemned indiscriminate, militant rocket and mortar
attacks out of Gaza. [ID:nL6N0PY2DW]
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said the U.N. rights council
was an "anti-Israel" body.
"Israel is acting according to international law. It is acting
against terrorism. It is regrettable civilians are killed, but when
we call on them to vacate and Hamas calls on them to stay, then that
is what happens," she told Israel radio.
Looking to up pressure on Hamas, another member of Netanyahu's inner
security cabinet, Gilad Erdan, said the time might have come for
Israel to expand its war aims, which were previously limited to
hitting rocket stockpiles and tunnels.
"It has become evident that there is no-one worse than Hamas, so we
should start considering a goal of toppling Hamas and hitting all
their leaders," he told Israel Radio.
(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Maayan Lubell in
Jerusalem, Noah Browning in Gaza, Amena Bakr in Doha and Stephanie
Nebeha in Geneva; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Anna
Willard)
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