Israel will expand its current offensive in Gaza for as long as needed to stop the rocket attacks according to - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. While
airplanes pounded militants from the air, ground troops using tank and bulldozers destroyed houses, factories, and even a kindergarten. The Israeli
incursion which began in response to a rocket attack that killed two preschoolers now boasts 2000 troops.
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JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed Sunday to expand Israel's deadliest offensive in Gaza in four years and to stay
as long as needed to stop Palestinian rocket attacks, as the campaign continued, with Israeli aircraft blasting Palestinian militants.
An Israeli aircraft struck a group of Palestinian militants in Gaza City, killing two, just moments after they fired a rocket at Israel from the back
of a donkey cart. Before dawn, tanks and bulldozers razed houses, factories and a kindergarten in the northern Gaza Strip.
And in the southern part, tanks and bulldozers opened a new front, briefly moving from a Jewish settlement into the Khan Younis refugee camp,
residents said.
So far, 55 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been killed in the offensive launched by Israel after a Palestinian rocket attack on Wednesday
killed two preschoolers in the town of Sderot. Israel poured 2,000 troops into northern Gaza — seizing an area five miles deep and wading into
Jebaliyah, the biggest Palestinian refugee camp and one of the most crowded places in the world.
Sharon said he would keep troops in northern Gaza indefinitely to prevent Palestinian rocket fire and shelling. The Palestinian attacks have sharpened
opposition to Sharon's plan to withdraw troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip.
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Citing the risk to Israeli settlements in the area, Sharon has indicated that the offensive may expand to place them out of the range of the homemade
rockets. The Qassam rockets are currently being modified to extend their range according to the militant group Hamas. Palestinian legislators have
called an emergency session to discuss the event in Gaza.
