JERUSALEM — Israeli troops withdrew from northern Gaza on Monday, but Israel’s leaders warned that a broad offensive against Islamic militants would continue as Israeli airstrikes and Palestinian rocket attacks persisted into the night.
Hamas proclaimed the Israeli pullback a victory for its fighters. Yet, while defiant in public, the movement’s leaders signaled they were trying to work out a truce after nearly a week of escalating combat.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said peace talks with moderate Palestinians should go on despite the latest violence in the Gaza Strip. The West Bank-based administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said talks would stay suspended during fighting.
On the eve of a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.S. officials called for a quick resumption of negotiations.
Israel’s army withdrew its infantry and tanks from the Gaza town of Jebaliya early Monday after more than two days of fighting, leaving a swath of destruction. Roads had been plowed up, cars crushed by tanks and electric poles toppled.
“There’s no word to describe this horrible scene,” said Sami Asliyeh, who lost two female teen cousins when a shell struck the family home Saturday. “I can say nothing but that God is greater than the aggressors, and God is going to avenge us.”
Israeli troops moved into Jebaliya late Friday as part of a major offensive in response to rocket fire by the Islamic militants of Hamas, which seized control in Gaza last June after five days of fighting with Abbas’ supporters.
Recent rocket fire has reached as far as Ashkelon, 11 miles north of Gaza, suddenly putting the city of 120,000 people under daily attack.
Olmert stressed that the offensive would continue.
“We are acting and we will continue to act in a way that is painful and effective, that will bring maximum results in terms of halting terror,” he told members of his Kadima Party.
Fighting in Gaza has killed 121 Palestinians and three Israelis since Wednesday, one of the bloodiest spates of violence in more than seven years of clashes. Palestinian medical officials and the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said at least half the dead were civilians.
Despite the lopsided toll, Hamas claimed victory, and 20,000 supporters joined a celebration in Gaza City. A symbolic contingent of 10 Hamas militants marched with assault rifles and grenade launchers as the crowd waved green Hamas flags.
Hamas strongman Mahmoud Zahar threatened to strike even deeper into Israel if the offensive resumed.
In Washington, the State Department renewed U.S. calls for an end to the rocket attacks, accusing Hamas of pursuing “endless violence.”
