Sharon Rejects Army Bid to Wind Down Gaza Offensive
ERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s Ariel Sharon has rejected his army’s request to scale back its Gaza offensive, seeking to avoid any show of weakness after deadly bombings hit Egyptian resorts crowded with Israelis, security sources said.
The prime minister decided a pullout from the besieged Jabalya refugee camp would encourage Palestinian militants to resume rocket fire into Israel and “send the wrong message” so soon after the Sinai bombings, a source said on Monday.
Sharon’s order to keep up the massive 12-day-old campaign also appeared aimed at mollifying hard-liners before a parliamentary speech on Monday in which he will try to soften opposition to his plan to evacuate Gaza settlements next year.
If Sharon brings his “disengagement” plan to its first vote in parliament in coming weeks as he has promised, a key far-right coalition partner could bolt, forcing him to reshape his government or call early elections.
Sharon’s Gaza plan has been complicated by Palestinian rocket fire into border towns, which triggered Israel’s biggest offensive in the occupied strip in four years of conflict.
Israel has killed 92 Palestinians since sending tanks into northern Gaza, including Jabalya, a militant stronghold, after a Hamas rocket attack killed two toddlers in southern Israel. Three Israelis have also died since the raid began.
Army chief Moshe Yaalon asked Sharon on Sunday for permission to redeploy outside Jabalya, saying the army had driven back rocket crews and the longer troops stayed in the densely populated camp the greater the risk, sources said.
Despite low-key U.S. pressure to end the operation, Sharon ordered the army to press on, saying leaving Jabalya at this point could spur militants to resume the firing of makeshift Qassam missiles into the Jewish state. “He told the army to continue the operation at the same level,” a source said.