GAZA CITY, Dec 28: Israeli tanks massed at the Gaza border on Sunday as warplanes again pounded Hamas targets in the densely populated enclave where raids have killed nearly 290 people in less than two days.

Dozens of tanks and personnel carriers idled at several points near the border after Israel warned it could launch a ground offensive in addition to its massive air blitz.

Hamas responded to the ongoing bombardment by firing rockets the farthest yet into Israel, with one striking not far from Ashdod, Israel’s second-largest port, some 30km north of Gaza. It caused no casualties, medics said.

The Islamist movement accused Israel of “committing a holocaust as the whole world watches and doesn’t lift a finger to stop.”

“The Palestinian resistance reserves the right to hit back at this aggression with martyr operations,” spokesman Fawzi Barhum told reporters, referring to suicide bombings which Hamas hasn’t carried out against Israel since January 2005.

Britain, France and Russia joined the growing international chorus for a halt to the violence.

But Israeli Defence Minster Ehud Barak vowed to “expand and deepen” the bombing blitz.

“If it’s necessary to deploy ground forces to defend our citizens, we will do so,” his spokesman quoted him as saying.

The cabinet gave the green light to call up 6,500 reserve soldiers, a senior official told reporters after the meeting.

Warplanes continued to pound the impoverished and overcrowded territory of 1.5 million people, where many streets were deserted and schools and shops stayed shut as hundreds of funerals were held.

Jets bombed a series of tunnels on Gaza’s border with Egypt — a lifeline for Hamas used for smuggling in goods and weapons into the enclave, which has been virtually sealed by Israel since the Islamists violently seized power in June 2007.

At least two people were killed in the bombing.

Later on Sunday, jets targeted several metal workshops across the Gaza Strip, where, according to the Israeli military, rockets were manufactured.

One woman and a man were also killed when a missile hit a family home in the neighbourhood of Zeitoun in eastern Gaza City, medics said.

And as pressure mounted within the impoverished ter-

ritory, dozens of Gazans tried to break through the border into Egypt, only to be stopped by Egyptian police firing into the air.

Businesses in the occupied West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem, observed a strike in protest at the onslaught that one Palestinian human rights group called “the bloodiest day in the history of the (Israeli) occupation.”

Since early Saturday, at least 289 people have been killed and more than 600 wounded, medics said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the campaign was launched “in order to regain a normal life for the citizens in the south who have suffered for many years from incessant rocket, mortar and terror attacks.”

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the international community to cast blame on Hamas.

“I expect the international community, including the entire Arab world, to send a clear message to Hamas: ‘It is your fault. It’s your responsibility. You’re the one who’s being condemned,’” she told NBC’s Meet the Press.

The Israeli bombardment has sparked widespread international concern.

But a senior Israeli official told AFP that “we have our goals and our timetable and we don’t seek mediation.”

Israel’s main ally Washington has blamed Hamas “thugs” for provoking the offensive by firing rockets into the Jewish state from Gaza, and urged Israel to avoid causing civilian casualties.

And French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his deep concern about the escalating violence and “his strong condemnation of the provocations that led to this situation as well as the use of disproportionate force,” according to a statement released by his office.

In Amman, Jordan protested to Israel its deadly strikes: “The Foreign Ministry summoned today the Israeli charge d’affaires in Jordan and handed him a strong-worded memorandum,” the state-run Petra news agency reported.

“He was asked to convey to his government Jordan’s strong condemnation of Israel’s unjustified aggression against Gaza.”

The Israeli offensive sparked protests in the occupied West Bank, where two demonstrators were killed in clashes with police. More than 50,000 rallied in Egypt and hundreds in Dubai.

Israel unleashed “Operation Cast Lead” against Hamas in the middle of Saturday morning, with some 60 warplanes hitting more than 50 targets in just a few minutes.

By Sunday, some 230 targets had been hit, the military said.

Hamas has responded by firing more than 90 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel, killing one man and wounding a handful of other people.--AFP