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Israel quits Gaza after US pressure
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ISRAEL bowed to American pressure last night and pulled its tanks out of Palestinian areas of the Gaza Strip that it had seized in an overnight military operation.
A synchronised air, land and sea assault had been launched in the early hours of yesterday in retaliation for a Palestinian mortar attack on a southern Israeli town on Monday. The tanks and bulldozers drove about 800 yards into the north of the Gaza Strip.
But the move provoked an immediate sharp response from America, which said that the conflict was “threatening to escalate further”.
George W. Bush offered the sharpest criticism of Israel of his presidency, echoing his Secretary of State's description of the Israeli attacks as “excessive and disproportionate”.
General Colin Powell had blamed the Palestinians for provoking the attack, but called on Israel to withdraw from parts of Gaza that are run by the Palestinians under the terms of the 1993 Oslo accords.
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