Israel starts ground assault in Gaza as 130 killed in airstrikes

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said on Sunday it had begun "extensive ground opera-tions" in northern and southern Gaza, stepping up a new cam-paign in the enclave where Pal-estinian health authorities said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 130 people overnight.

Israel made its announce-ment after sources on both sides said there had been no progress in a new round of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestin-ian militant group Hamas in Qatar.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the talks included discus-sions on a truce and hostage deal as well as a proposal to end the war in return for the exile of Hamas militants and the demili-tarisation of the enclave terms Hamas has previously rejected.

The statement was in line with previous declarations from Israel, but the timing, as negoti-ators meet, offered some prospect of flexibility in Israel's position. A senior Israeli official said there had been no progress in the talks so far.

Israel's military said it had conducted a preliminary wave of strikes on more than 670 Hamas targets in Gaza over the past week to support "Gideon's Chariots", its new ground oper- oper ation aimed at achieving "operational control" in parts of the enclave. It said it killed dozens of Hamas fighters.

Gaza's health ministry said in the week to Sunday alone, at least 464 Palestinians were killed. The deaths of 130 or so Palestinians overnight are in addition to that figure.

"Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by (overnight) Israeli bombardment," Khalil Al-Deq-Thousands of people, some waving the Palestinia Malieveld, in The Hague on Sunday. The Gaza he strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall toll ran, Gaza health ministry spokesperson, told Reuters by phone.

The Israeli campaign has devastated Gaza, pushing nearly all its 2.3 million residents from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel sup-plies into Gaza since the start of March to try to pressure Hamas into freeing its hostages and has approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid. International experts have warned of looming famine.