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ByNedraPickler The Associated Press WASHINGTON President Barack Obama plans to sign executive orders Mon- day prohibiting discrim- ination against gay and transgender workers in the federal government and its contracting agencies, with- out a new exemption that was requested by some re- ligious organizations. Obama's action comes on the heels of the U.S. Su- preme Court's recent rul- ing in the Hobby Lobby case that allowed some religiously oriented busi- nesses to opt out of the federal health care law's requirement that contra- ception coverage be pro- vided to workers at no extra charge. Senior ad- ministration officials said Friday that ruling has no impact on non-discrimina- tion policies in federal hir- ing and contracting. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to dis- cuss the plans publicly. Since Obama announced last month that he would sign the orders, he's faced pressure from opposing flanks over the religious exemption and given no in- dication of where he would come down. Many religious leaders and conservative groups wanted him to ex- empt religious organiza- tions from the order, while liberal clergy and gay advo- cacy groups adamantly op- posed such an exemption. Until last month, Obama long resisted pressure to pursue an executive or- der for federal contractors in hopes that Congress would take more sweep- ing action banning anti- LGBT workplace discrim- ination nationwide. A bill to accomplish that goal — the Employment Non-Dis- crimination Act — passed the Senate last year with some Republican support, but has not been taken up by the GOP-controlled House. The senior officials said Obama's action planned for Monday at the White House would amend two executive orders. The first, signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, prohibits federal contrac- tors from discriminating based on race, religion, gender or nationality in hiring. Obama plans to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protections, and order the Labor Department to carry out the order. The of- ficials said that means the change will probably take effect by early next year. President George W. Bush had amended John- son's order in 2002 to al- low religious groups to hire and fire based upon reli- gious identity. Churches also are able to hire min- isters as they see fit. The senior administration offi- cials said Obama will not change those exemptions. ThesecondorderObama will amend was signed by President Richard Nixon in 1969 to prevent discrim- ination against federal workers based on race, re- ligion, gender, nationality, age or disability. President Bill Clinton added sexual orientation, and Obama will include gender iden- tity in a change to imme- diately take effect. The administration of- ficials said the change for federal contracting will impact some 24,000 com- panies with 28 million workers, or one-fifth of the U.S. workforce. CIVIL RIGHTS AND RELIGION Obama to sign orders protecting gay employees By Ibrahim Barzak The Associated Press GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP Is- raeli troops pushed into Gaza on Friday in a ground offensive that officials said could last up to two weeks as the prime minister or- dered the military to pre- pare for a "significantly" wider campaign. The assault raised risks of a bloodier conflict amid rising Palestinian civilian casualties and the first Is- raeli military death — and brought questions of how far Israel will go to cripple Gaza's Hamas rulers. Officially, the goal re- mains to destroy a network of tunnels militants use to infiltrate Israel and attack civilians. In its first day on the ground in Gaza, the mil- itary said it took up positions beyond the border, encoun- tered little resistance from Hamas fighters and made steady progress in destroy- ing the tunnels. Military of- ficials said the quick work means that within a day or two, Israeli leaders may al- ready have to decide whether to expand the operation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the mili- tary to prepare for a "sig- nificant expansion" of the ground offensive. "It is not possible to deal with tunnels only from the air. It needs to be done also from the ground," he told a special Cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv. "We chose to begin this operation after the other options were ex- hausted and with the un- derstanding that without the operation, the price we will pay can be very high." Frustrated by Hamas' refusal to accept an Egyp- tian-brokered truce agree- ment and the failure of a 10- day campaign of more than 2,000 airstrikes to halt re- lentless rocket fire on Is- raeli cities, Israel launched a ground offensive it had previously been reticent to undertake to further weaken Hamas militarily. With calls from Israeli hard-liners to completely crush Hamas, it remains unclear how far Israel will go in an operation that has already seen 274 Palestin- ians killed in Gaza, a fifth of them children. "It won't end that quickly," said Yitzhak Aha- ronovitch, Israel's minis- ter of public security. "Any- thing can happen. If we need to keep going, we will keep going. We won't stop. We need quiet for the cit- izens of the south and the citizens of Israel." In a fresh effort to bro- ker a truce, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was to leave Satur- day for the Middle East to help mediate the Gaza con- flict, Under-Secretary-Gen- eral for Political Affairs Jef- frey Feltman said in New York. He spoke at a Security Council emergency meeting on the conflict Friday, add- ing that a ceasefire remains "indispensable" for urgently needed humanitarian ef- forts to succeed. The Israeli military said it had killed nearly 20 mil- itants in exchanges of fire since the ground offensive started on Thursday night. Gaza health officials said more than 30 Palestinians have been killed since then, including three young sib- lings from the Abu Musal- lam family who were killed when a tank shell hit their home. At the morgue, 11-year- old Ahmed's face was black- ened by soot, and he and his 14-year-old sister, Wa- laa, and 16-year-old brother, Mohammed, were wrapped in white burial shrouds. Their father, Ismail, said the three were sleeping when the shell struck and he had to dig them out from under the rubble. Israel says it is going to great lengths to avoid civil- ian casualties and blames them on Hamas, accusing it of firing from within res- idential neighborhoods and using its civilians as "hu- man shields." On Thursday, the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said a routine check in one of its vacant Gaza schools found about 20 hidden rockets and called on militants to respect the "sanctity and integrity" of U.N. property. Critics say it is the in- tense fire itself in such a densely populated area that leads to the deaths of inno- cent civilians. The U.N. chil- dren's agency, UNICEF, said at least 59 — or one in five — of the Palestinians killed children were under the age of 18. UNRWA said 40,000 Palestinians were seeking refuge in 34 of its shelters throughout the Gaza Strip. Most countries have ex- pressed support for Isra- el's right to defend itself, while urging it to mini- mize civilian deaths in its ground assault. President Barack Obama spoke with Netanyahu Friday and ex- pressed his concern "about the risks of further escala- tion and the loss of more in- nocent life." The operation also brought Israel its first mil- itary casualty. The circum- stances behind the death of Staff Sgt. Eitan Barak, 20, were not made clear: Hamas's military wing said it ambushed Israeli units in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, but Israeli media said Barak was likely killed by friendly fire. MIDDLE EAST Israeli forces push into Gaza DUSANVRANIC—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Israeli tanks are on the move near Israel and Gaza border on Friday. Landscape/Fence Steve's Tractor &LandscapeService •FenceBuilding•Landscaping • Trenching • Rototilling • Disking • Mowing • Ridging • Post Hole Digging • Blade Work • Sprinkler Installation • Concrete Work Cont. 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