Israeli forces push deeper into Gaza; death toll rises

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israeli troops gained control of the eastern section of northern Gaza Sunday, less than 24 hours after launching a ground incursion into the Palestinian territory, according to Palestinian security sources.

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At least 21 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza Sunday, Palestinian medical sources said.

Eight of those deaths happened during heavy battles between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters in northern Gaza, the sources said. Four civilians were killed by Israeli shelling in Rafah in southern Gaza, one militant died in Khan Younis, five people were killed near the Jebalya refugee camp and three died in Gaza City, Palestinian medical sources also said.

An Israel Defense Forces statement said Sunday morning that dozens of Hamas fighters were "hit" in the fighting, although it did not say how many were killed.

Israeli missiles targeted 45 Hamas locations overnight, including the Hamas intelligence headquarters, the IDF said. It also said soldiers engaged Hamas fighters in several firefights during the first hours of the ground incursion into Gaza.

At least 30 rockets were launched from Gaza into southern Israel Sunday morning, although no injuries have been reported, the IDF said.

Blasts of heavy machine-gun fire and explosions from airstrikes have filled the air in Gaza sinceIsrael rolled thousands of troops into the Palestinian territory.

Israel's ground assault followed a weeklong flurry of airstrikes. Israel has said the attacks are in response to recent rocket attacks from Hamas militants in Gaza.

"We haven't articulated regime change as the goal of this operation. Our goal is to protect our people," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.

Regev said Gaza's civilian population was not Israel's enemy.

"In many ways, they are victims like us. Both the civilian population of southern Israel and the civilian population of the Gaza Strip have been victims of this terrible, extremist Hamas regime," Regev said.

Not long after Israel's ground incursion began, Hamas vowed to "fight until the last breath" and warned Israel that "Gaza will be your cemetery." Watch the conflict unfold on both sides »

"We will not abandon the battlefield, and we will stay on the thorny course, and we will fight until the last breath," Hamas chief spokesman Ismail Radwan said in a statement on Palestinian network Al-Aqsa. Watch statement from Hamas »

According to the Israeli military, 30 soldiers have been wounded during the Jewish state's incursion into Gaza. Two of the soldiers reportedly have serious injuries.

The incursion began just hours after the European Union announced that a delegation is heading to the Middle East to meet with regional leaders and broker a cease-fire.

Di pos oleh Arbain Muhayat pada 04 January 2009