Gaza conflict: Who is a civilian? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Heather Sharp - January 5, 2009 - 1:00am The bloodied children are clearly civilians; men killed as they launch rockets are undisputedly not. But what about the 40 or so young Hamas police recruits on parade who died in the first wave of Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza? And weapons caches are clearly military sites – but what about the interior ministry, hit in a strike that killed two medical workers; or the money changer's office, destroyed last week injuring a boy living on the floor above? » Read more

Wounded Gaza family lay bleeding for 20 hours ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - January 5, 2009 - 1:00am Three hours after the Israel Defense Forces began their ground operation in the Gaza Strip, at about 10:30 P.M. Saturday night, a shell or missile hit the house owned by Hussein al A'aiedy and his brothers. Twenty-one people live in the isolated house, located in an agricultural area east of Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood. Five of them were wounded in the strike: Two women in their eighties (his mother and aunt), his 14-year-old son, his 13-year-old niece and his 10-year-old nephew. » Read more

Gaza City residents hunker down ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Rushdi Abu Alouf, Richard Boudreaux - January 5, 2009 - 1:00am Reporting from Gaza City and Jerusalem -- As Israeli forces closed in on Gaza City, Mohammed Barbari joined the scramble by its most intrepid residents Sunday for dwindling supplies of food they would need while hunkering down at home. The first explosion tore through the central Firas Market at 11:30 a.m. as he approached from adjacent Palestine Square. Unable to turn his yellow Volkswagen Golf around in traffic, he kept driving toward the hail of shrapnel and the screams of scattering shoppers. » Read more

For Trapped Gazans, Few Options for Safety ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Reyham Abdel Kareem, Craig Whitlock - January 5, 2009 - 1:00am As Israeli forces attacked Gaza by land, sea and air, residents living in the congested coastal strip faced a fateful question: Flee the shelling and shooting, or hole up inside their homes and hope for the best? The five-member al-Jarou family decided to make a break for it around midday Sunday. They abandoned their home in the Shaaf neighborhood east of Gaza City and dashed by car to a relative's house a mile and a half away, thinking it would be safer, according to interviews with family members and neighbors. » Read more

Hamas 'to attend' Cairo truce talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English January 5, 2009 - 1:00am Palestinian group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, has announced it will send a delegation to Egypt for ceasefire negotiations as diplomatic efforts to end the fighting in Gaza intensified. Ayman Taha, a Hamas official told the Reuters news agency on Monday that a group would head to Cairo "answering an Egyptian invitation to hold discussions". Taha did not say whether the delegation would include Hamas members from Gaza or exiled leaders. » Read more

Israel tightens grip on Gaza, fights off ceasefire pressure ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) January 5, 2009 - 1:00am GAZA CITY (AFP) — Israeli warplanes carried out intensive raids on Hamas targets on Monday as ground troops surrounded Gaza's main city, while Israel faced mounting diplomatic pressure for a ceasefire. The senior Hamas leader in Gaza promised "victory is coming" for the Islamist group, but Israel's defence minister said "we have hit Hamas hard" while insisting the operation to halt Hamas rocket attacks would continue. » Read more