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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Fighting Escalates as Israeli Troops Push Farther into Gaza |
| 2009-01-12 |
| Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen battled Sunday morning on the outskirts of Gaza City in some of the most intense fighting of the week-old ground offensive as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared that Israel is "close" to achieving its goals, but is not there yet. On the sixteenth day of war since Israel launched a surprise air assault on Gaza, Israeli tanks backed by helicopter gunships pushed further toward the narrow strip's main population center, Gaza City. Ambushed by fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two sides battled for five hours Sunday morning, witnesses said. The fighting left at least 27 Palestinians dead, according to medical officials in Gaza. There was no immediate report of Israeli casualties. The tank movement was seen in Gaza as a possible precursor to a new phase of the war, one in which Israeli forces move into the territory's most densely packed urban centers and refugee camps. In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not directly address where the campaign would go next. But he did indicate that the war will go on. "Israel is getting close to achieving the goals it set for itself," he told his cabinet during their weekly meeting. "But patience, determination and effort are still needed to realize these goals in a manner that will change the security situation in the south." Israel has said that it intends to eliminate or vastly reduce Palestinian rocket fire into southern Israel. The rockets continued to fly Sunday, with two landing in the city of Beersheba, 25 miles from Gaza, although no major injuries were reported. On Saturday, Israeli military officials said they bombed about 60 targets, while Hamas launched about 15 rockets into southern Israel, the lowest one-day total since the war began. One rocket struck the city of Ashkelon, 12 miles north of Gaza, wounding several people. The Palestinian death toll rose to 869 Sunday, Gazan medical officials said. Thirteen Israelis have been killed since the war began Dec. 27. Eight Palestinians were killed Saturday when a shell crashed outside a home in the Jabalya refugee camp, Gazan medical officials said. The Israeli military denied responsibility, saying its forces were not in that area. Weary Palestinians have braced themselves for the possibility that the worst is yet to come. On Saturday, warplanes dropped leaflets warning that an escalation in the fighting was likely. Thousands of the leaflets fell out of the sky onto the Shati refugee camp, a concrete slum where about 80,000 people live along the Mediterranean Sea. The written warnings were clear: Don't help Hamas, and evacuate your homes if there are any "terrorist elements" nearby. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 from same blog: According to army estimates (based on intelligence and information obtained by the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration), at least 400 of the palestinians killed are known Hamas operatives. Furthermore, the IDF believes that among the remaining 500, at least half are Hamas operatives. In other words, more than 750 of the 905 dead could well have been Hamas terrorists, which is a starkly different picture to the one being painted by the likes of Hamas, UNRWA, and the world media. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-01-12 15:32 |
| #4 From Israelleycool: Israel said on Monday it was investigating how a night-vision security camera and other electronics ended up on humanitarian aid trucks bound for the war-torn Gaza Strip. The equipment was seized at the Kerem Shalom border crossing before entering the coastal enclave along with truckloads of food, medicine and other humanitarian goods, said defence official Peter Lerner. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-01-12 15:31 |
| #3 it's not that they really think they own the land it's just another reason too keep it stirred up for the likes of Iran |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2009-01-12 12:26 |
| #2 Egypt already has pest-management issues. They don't want to import more |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-12 11:52 |
| #1 Israel has been given fair warning by the rest of the world that the status quo is no longer acceptable. As such, they are pushed to the wall. Therefore, their future plans should be directed at ushering the Paleos out of the Gaza Strip entirely, and permanently. In an orderly manner, Israel temporarily opens the wall to Egypt, then advises Paleos that they have several hours to load up and transport everything of value, then a broad sweep begins. They can even offer exceptions for those individuals who are too sick to be moved, and other humanitarian exceptions, for added delay. But the end result will be to no longer have Paleos in Gaza. Then, so that Gaza just won't be empty, it should be given to Israeli Arabs to occupy as their own, but still under Israeli jurisdiction and government. Then Israel should build not just a big wall opposite Egypt, but a deep canal as well. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-01-12 09:45 |