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Hamas Provoked Attacks, Bush Says
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Imad Abulkhair, 38, a pediatrician in Gaza City, said he is praying to be able to leave. He is married to a Romanian, and they have three children. "The children are scared. The bombing is going on continuously. We want to get out of Gaza," Abulkhair said. "The future is not promising."
But Abulkhair has no foreign passport. The Romanian Embassy in Tel Aviv said it would provide him with a visa, and he said he hopes the Israelis will let him leave.
"My wife and children do not want to leave if I have to stay behind," he said. "Either we all leave Gaza or we all stay. The important thing is for us to be together."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that the United States and its allies were pushing hard for a truce, although Israel and Hamas rejected international calls this week for a cease-fire. Like Bush, she placed the blame for the crisis squarely on Hamas.
"Hamas has used Gaza as a launching pad for rockets against Israeli cities, and has contributed deeply to a very bad daily life for the Palestinian people in Gaza and to a humanitarian situation that we have all been trying to address," Rice told reporters.
In his radio address, to be broadcast Saturday morning, Bush said he has been in contact with leaders throughout the region, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and leaders in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. He also said he would continue to keep President-elect Barack Obama informed and said Rice "is actively engaged in diplomacy" aimed at achieving "a meaningful cease-fire that is fully respected."
Bush's criticism of Hamas was focused largely on allegations that it endangers innocent Palestinians, using civilian areas to hide in and focusing its resources on weapons. "Regrettably, Palestinian civilians have been killed in recent days," he said.
Bush also said he was "deeply concerned" about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and pledged to increase U.S. assistance.
On Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. "Israel has been supplying comprehensive humanitarian aid to the strip," she said during a trip to Paris.
Bush said Hamas had worsened living conditions in Gaza. "By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people," Bush said.
The movement won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, then seized control of the territory in 2007 by expelling forces loyal to Abbas, who favors seeking a negotiated peace with Israel. Israel has implemented a punishing economic blockade of Gaza since Hamas's takeover.
Israel withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation.
