Gazans grim and defiant after Israeli forces enter

Photo: Reuters

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GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian civilians greeted an Israeli army push into Gaza on Wednesday with a mixture of defiance and despair, stocking up on food and fuel as masked gunmen manned barricades and vowed to fight.

Medics parked ambulances at busy street corners, ready for casualties.

Many people stayed home after Israeli air raids overnight -- part of efforts to force Palestinian militants to free an abducted soldier -- knocked out power and water supplies.

"What can they do, kill us? What is the value of our lives if we cannot feed our children?" asked Ali Abu Khaled, a 35-year-old government worker in Gaza City.

"I ask the kidnappers not to free the soldier. We have nothing to lose."

Ahmed Saadi, a teacher, added: "Congratulations Israel, another generation will rise up full of hatred for you."

Gazans have already been living under a Western-led economic boycott since the militant group Hamas took over the Palestinian Authority, leaving government workers unpaid for four months.

Israeli tanks backed by helicopter gunships and artillery drove into southern Gaza early on Wednesday, stepping up pressure on militants to release Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was seized in a cross-border raid on Sunday.

There were no immediate clashes. Other Israeli units were on standby to enter the central and northern Gaza Strip.

The incursion comes less than a year after Israel withdrew from Gaza following 38 years of occupation.

NO PICNIC

Militants wielding assault rifles and anti-tank rockets deployed in streets, alleyways and behind mounds of dirt. Others have laid homemade mines and barbed wire along roads near northern border areas.

"Coming into Gaza will not be a picnic. Gaza will become a graveyard for the enemy," said Abu Mohammad from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement.

After months of internal fighting sparked by a power struggle between Abbas and the Hamas government, militants from different factions were side-by-side on the streets.

Palestinian officials said missile strikes had badly damaged Gaza's lone power plant. Around 70 percent of the strip's 1.4 million people would be without power for six months, they said.

The Ministry of Health said it had declared a full emergency in all hospitals and clinics in Gaza, but added that medical supplies might run out within weeks.

Israeli war planes flew low overhead, setting off sonic booms that smashed windows and frightened children.

"The bombardment of civilian infrastructure, vital and central bridges and the lone power plant in the Gaza Strip is a war crime," said Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri.

Defending the incursion, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Jewish state "would not hesitate to take extreme steps" to secure the soldier's freedom.

Israeli troops moved into southern Gaza slowly, suggesting a show of force to try to encourage the militants to give up Shalit without a fight.

That was little consolation to Abu Khaled, 50, a father of seven from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.

"I am afraid for my children, for my neighbours. The world is unjust. We are left alone to face the Israeli beast," he said.

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