Israel strikes Hard at Hamas In Gaza- Dec/ 27/ 2008

[tomahawk6]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3653796,00.html

A senior IDF officer estimated Saturday that roughly 300 Hamas men have been killed since the army launched its ground incursion in the Gaza Strip. The military official said IDF troops were able to wipe out whole battalions belonging to the Gaza terror group.

"Hundreds of people were killed in the various combat sectors," the officer said. "Some Hamas companies and battalions were simply wiped out. We also see cases of desertions and unauthorized leaves, while some terror activists are scared to undertake moves that would jeopardize them vis-à-vis IDF troops."

Earlier Saturday, the IDF killed Hamas' rocket chief in the Gaza City area, Amir Mansi. The senior officer said that shortly before his death Mansi clashed with his subordinates, who refused to come out of their hideouts. The rocket chief was left with no choice but to launch mortar shells himself, and was killed after being identified by the army.

 

[Edward Campbell]

According to the article below, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from the CBC web site, Hamas either:

• Wants to go down fighting; or

• Believes the West will pressure Israel into giving Hamas, in defeat, what it could not win at the ‘table’ – the one at which it refused to sit.
--------------------
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/10/gaza.html

No truce until Israel ends Gaza assault, opens border crossings: Hamas leader
Israel warns of escalation in offensive in Palestinian territory

Last Updated: Saturday, January 10, 2009 | 4:53 PM ET

CBC News

Israeli planes dropped leaflets into the Gaza Strip on Saturday, warning residents of an escalation in attacks, while the exiled leader of Hamas said his group won't consider a ceasefire until Israel ends its offensive and opens the Palestinian territory's border crossings.

In a fiery speech broadcast on the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera, Khaled Mashaal labelled Israel's military offensive in Gaza a "holocaust," saying it has killed the last chance for settlement and negotiations with Israel.

“Let Israel pull out first, let the aggression stop first, let the crossings open and then people can look into the issue of calm," Mashaal said during the broadcast from the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Mashaal's comments came as Hamas teams were in Cairo to negotiate over an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire.

On the 15th day of the offensive against Hamas targets, the Israeli military launched dozens of air strikes aimed at rocket-launching sites and smuggling tunnels.

The attacks came after more than 15 militants were killed in overnight fighting, the Israeli military said earlier in the day.

The Israeli leaflets urged Gaza residents not to help Hamas, the Islamist militant group that rules Gaza, and to stay away from its members.

"The IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) will escalate the operation in the Gaza Strip," the leaflets said in Arabic. "The IDF is not working against the people of Gaza but against Hamas and the terrorists only. Stay safe by following our orders."

It is widely believed that the next phase of the operation calls for Israeli troops to move closer to or enter Gaza's cities and refugee camps, which could lead to higher casualties on both sides.

The Israeli military also promised to hold fire for three hours Saturday to allow humanitarian aid through.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 821 Palestinians have died in the offensive. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers and three civilians, have been killed, Israeli officials say.

At least 10 Hamas rockets landed in Israel on Saturday, the army said. One rocket hit an apartment building in the southern city of Ashkelon, lightly wounding two people and causing extensive damage.

Neither side in the conflict has accepted the UN Security Council resolution, adopted Thursday, that called for a ceasefire.

The United Nations suspended relief deliveries in Gaza on the same day, citing Israeli attacks on its facilities and personnel. On Friday, the UN Relief and Works Agency said its aid would flow again only after a ceasefire comes into effect.

Aid groups have said the short lulls in fighting over the past four days haven't given them enough time to do their work.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, denied Saturday that Israeli soldiers had shot at a UN aid truck in a convoy headed to a Gaza crossing two days ago.

Truck drivers at the scene told UNRWA that they saw an Israeli tank nearby after they were fired upon. However, an Israeli military source told the Reuters news agency that Israel suspects Hamas was behind the shooting.

Israel launched an air offensive Dec. 27 to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. A week later, troops and tanks moved in. They remain on the periphery of Gaza City.

With files from the Associated Press
--------------------

And so it goes, and goes and goes …

 

[tourza]

For your consideration, from Gideon Levy of Haaretz:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1054158.html

Regards.

 

[Shec]

And here's the skinny on Gideon Levy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Levy

Who has no counterpart in the Palestinian press because such a dissenter would not be long tolerated by his readership.

 

[belka]

The Palestinians have no other defense do they?

I'm sure if they had brand new F-16's with bunker busting bombs they'd be happy to launch a few of those at military targets in Israel. As it stands their weaponry is so juvenile that they can't target anything. All they're doing with their tiny homemade devices is trying to send a message to the rest of the world, at the cost of one or two israeli lives per month, that they are being starved, minimalized and ghettoized by israel. You'd think a Country like Israel, with their history, would think twice at the implications of marginalizing a people, de-humanizing them, and locking them in camps.

If the Palestinians or Hamas had modern weapons they wouldn't be hesitant to use them against Israel. Just imagine if one of them got their hands on a nuclear weapon, Israel would cease to exist. The Palestinians have already wasted 50 years of their lives, unless they want another generation flushed down the toilet they better get their heads out of their asses and elect someone who isn't bent on destroying Israel. If they want to be treated like human beings, they better soon start acting like it.

 

[tomahawk6]

Here are some of the protests against Israel. You would think these protests were on the streets of an arab city.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd18ok27eYc&e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Xl68kP4wo&eurl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD_1PFbhAKI&eurl

 

[tourza]

Here are some of the protests against Israel. You would think these protests were on the streets of an arab city.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd18ok27eYc&e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Xl68kP4wo&eurl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD_1PFbhAKI&eurl

The second video was done by Tom Trento. Here's the 411 on this guy:

https://watchobsession.org/

http://citizenwarriors.com/2008/10/tom-trento.html

Regards.

 

[tourza]

Tread lightly lad.....this is your warning.
Bruce

Bruce,

Respectfully, I'm not really sure why you took offence to this statement and not to other similar statements made in other posts regarding the Hamas-Iran or the Hizballah-Iran relationships. A previous poster even suggested that Israel/US bomb Iran as punishment for supporting Hamas/Hizballah. It's fairly common knowledge that Israel is the single largest recipient of US foreign aid, both economic and military. I'm not sure proxy is the word I would have used though, but I think that the writer's intent got through to the reader.

Regards.

 

[Drag]

In my mind, the solution to Mideast Cris is very simple...  The IDF roots out Hamas followed by Egypt annexing Gaza, Jordan annexing the West Bank ...

 

[Kirkhill]

In my mind, the solution to Mideast Cris is very simple...  The IDF roots out Hamas followed by Egypt annexing Gaza, Jordan annexing the West Bank ...

I think that might be a hard sell D3. 

Egypt isn't on the best of terms with Hamas and Iran these days.  And the Jordanians already had the West Bank..... and an outfit called Black September.

 

[zipperhead_cop]

I'm not sure proxy is the word I would have used though, but I think that the writer's intent got through to the reader.

If his intent was to come across as a closed minded zealot, then he succeeded. 

Okay Tourza, help me out with one thing (I agree with the previous comment that you seem reasonable and educated).  I agree that both sides have behaved poorly over the years, and at this point there is really no reason to get into any of that.  Something has to change and the violence needs to stop. 
So what purpose does it serve to shoot rockets into Israel? Even if they want a shooting war, why the rockets.  There are heaps of sabotage/terrorist acts that could be carried out against the IDF in Israel if they really wanted to fight a military target.  And we all know the rockets they shoot can't be aimed worth a damn, so it becomes a completely random act directed at a civilian population.  What is the point? Other than to provoke Israel into a predictable reaction what can possibly be served by mindlessly sending ordinance into a civilian area? 

In my mind, the solution to Mideast Cris is very simple...  The IDF roots out Hamas followed by Egypt annexing Gaza, Jordan annexing the West Bank ...

That would work, but do you really think that Jordan and Egypt want to inherit that Gong Show?  I'm sure they are quite content to make it an Israel problem.  There is quite a bit more most of the Arab countries could do to be helping Palestine, but it is more fun to watch Israel look bad in the world opinion and wash their hands of them. 

 

[The Bread Guy]

Highlights from an interesting NY Times piece about tactics on both sides (.pdf attached in case link doesn't work).....

....Hamas, with training from Iran and Hezbollah, has used the last two years to turn Gaza into a deadly maze of tunnels, booby traps and sophisticated roadside bombs. Weapons are hidden in mosques, schoolyards and civilian houses, and the leadership’s war room is a bunker beneath Gaza’s largest hospital, Israeli intelligence officials say.

Unwilling to take Israel’s bait and come into the open, Hamas militants are fighting in civilian clothes; even the police have been ordered to take off their uniforms. The militants emerge from tunnels to shoot automatic weapons or antitank missiles, then disappear back inside, hoping to lure the Israeli soldiers with their fire.

In one apartment building in Zeitoun, in northern Gaza, Hamas set an inventive, deadly trap. According to an Israeli journalist embedded with Israeli troops, the militants placed a mannequin in a hallway off the building’s main entrance. They hoped to draw fire from Israeli soldiers who might, through the blur of night vision goggles and split-second decisions, mistake the figure for a fighter. The mannequin was rigged to explode and bring down the building....

.... Israeli intelligence officers are telephoning Gazans and, in good Arabic, pretending to be sympathetic Egyptians, Saudis, Jordanians or Libyans, Gazans say and Israel has confirmed. After expressing horror at the Israeli war and asking about the family, the callers ask about local conditions, whether the family supports Hamas and if there are fighters in the building or the neighborhood.

Karim Abu Shaban, 21, of Gaza City said he and his neighbors all had gotten such calls. His first caller had an Egyptian accent. “Oh, God help you, God be with you,” the caller began.

“It started very supportive,” Mr. Shaban said, then the questions started. The next call came in five minutes later. That caller had an Algerian accent and asked if he had reached Gaza. Mr. Shaban said he answered, “No, Tel Aviv,” and hung up....

 

[geo]

Ron Ben-Yishai, a senior military correspondent for the newspaper Yediot Aharanot, said soldiers found a pile of weapons with a grenade launcher on top. When they moved the launcher, “they saw a detonator light up, but somehow it didn’t go off.”

The Israeli army has come prepared for a battle both sides knew was inevitable. Every soldier, Israeli officials say, is outfitted with a ceramic vest and helmet. Every unit has dogs trained to sniff out explosive charges and people hidden in tunnels, as well as combat engineers trained to defuse hidden bombs.

To avoid booby traps, the Israelis say, they enter buildings by breaking through side walls, rather than going in the front.

A real "blast" from the past.... booby traps left by the Germans in Ortona - for unsuspecting Canadians to take...

http://digital.montrealgazette.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

 

[Kilo_302]

Here are some of the protests against Israel. You would think these protests were on the streets of an arab city.

What does that mean? Are you suggesting that people who are critical of Israeli policy in this situation are Arab? or act like Arabs? Are you suggesting then that only Arabs oppose Israeli policy regarding Palestine? Or are you suggesting that the unruly (at times) nature of the protests is the hallmark of protests in Arab cities?

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Bruce,

Respectfully, I'm not really sure why you took offence to this statement and not to other similar statements made in other posts regarding the Hamas-Iran or the Hizballah-Iran relationships. A previous poster even suggested that Israel/US bomb Iran as punishment for supporting Hamas/Hizballah. It's fairly common knowledge that Israel is the single largest recipient of US foreign aid, both economic and military. I'm not sure proxy is the word I would have used though, but I think that the writer's intent got through to the reader.

Regards.

Tourza, its very simple.  This is a military themed website, full stop.
The offense taken was the gratuitous insult to the USA.
No matter what the small policy differences the two countries may have politically, there is no better friend militarily than our neighbors to the south and we expect, no we demand, especially from brand new anonymous posters, that proper decorum is afforded.

Don't like it?, Don't visit.
Hope that clears it up.
Bruce

 

[tomahawk6]

The pro-terrorist demonstrators are intolerant racist thugs.
A protest in Germany.The police enter an apartment to take down the Israeli flag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiQxfRaXPVE&eurl

[Today, 10.000 people demonstrated against Israel here in my hometown Duisburg (Germany) and to express their solidarity with Hamas. So, my girlfriend and me put two Israel flags out of the windows of our flat in the 3rd floor. During the demonstration which went through our street the police broke into our flat and removed the flag of Israel. The statement of the police was to de-escalate the situation, because many youth demonstrators were on the brink of breaking into our apartment house. Before this they threw snowballs, knifes and stones against our windows and the complete building. We both were standing on the other side of the street and were shocked by seeing a police officer standing in our bedroom and opening the window to get the flag. The picture illustrate this situation. The police acquiesced in the demands of the mob.
/quote]

 

[Edward Campbell]

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s CTV News web site, is another SITREP:
--------------------
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090111/israel_gaza_090111/20090111?hub=TopStories

Israel sends reserve troops into Gaza strip

Updated Sun. Jan. 11 2009 1:57 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Israel has begun sending reserve units into the Gaza Strip, a move that could signal another escalated phase of its military offensive.

Israeli Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu declined to confirm that a new phase had begun, but confirmed Sunday that reserve units were now in the area.

Israel's ground operation into Gaza began on Jan. 3, with troops surrounding key locations. Israel says the next part of its operation will involve taking over even more areas, which will require the use of thousands of reserve forces.

Reserve troops headed to the area as Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants waged a fierce battle in a Gaza City suburb. The Israeli military has been slowly moving toward Gaza's more heavily populated regions.

Soldiers and militants clashed in the Sheikh Ajleen neighbourhood just before dawn, after Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad fought Israeli troops as they made their way toward the city.

At least 14 people were killed in the fighting, according to Palestinian health officials.

Fighting continued throughout the morning before Israeli soldiers took control of a number of buildings in the town's outlying areas.

Throughout Gaza, battles killed at least 20 Palestinians, according to local health officials, including four family members who died when a tank shell hit their home near Gaza City.

In the border village of Khouza, local witnesses said Israeli forces fired phosphorous shells at a row of houses, setting them on fire. One woman died and at least 100 others were injured in that attack, health officials said.

The Israeli military denied the attack took place.

The widening ground offensive is the second phase of Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip aimed at halting rocket fire from Gaza into settlements in southern Israel. Since the operation began on Dec. 27, an estimated 820 Palestinians have been killed, and local Gaza health officials say at least half of those are civilians.

According to the Israeli military, soldiers have killed 300 militants since the ground offensive began one week ago.

Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, have also died.

"Israel is nearing the goals, which it set itself, but more patience, determination and effort is still demanded," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday before his government's weekly meeting.

Despite calls from the international community for an immediate ceasefire, including a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to the fighting, Olmert said Israel would continue to defend itself from rocket fire.

Hamas has also ignored the UN resolution, complaining that it has not been consulted during diplomatic talks.

Israel has sent signals that it is preparing for a third phase of its offensive against Hamas.

Despite the violence, high schools in southern Israel re-opened on Sunday after two weeks, while there was indication elementary schools might re-open on Monday.

"The indication from these communities is that the rocket attacks from Gaza are not as bad as they've been," CTV's Tom Kennedy told Newsnet on Sunday morning.

Many of the regions in northern Gaza from which militants launch rockets are now controlled by the Israeli military.

Israeli's air force also continued its air bombardment Sunday, hitting the town of Rafah along the Egypt-Gaza border. Repeated air strikes have targeted the tunnels that run underneath the region, which are used to smuggle weapons and supplies into Gaza.

More diplomatic talks aimed at stopping the fighting were planned for Sunday. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was scheduled to meet with Israeli leaders in Egypt to push the Security Council ceasefire resolution.

With files from The Associated Press
--------------------

This bit: "Israel is nearing the goals, which it set itself, but more patience, determination and effort is still demanded," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday, is new, I think.

This bit: Despite the violence, high schools in southern Israel re-opened on Sunday after two weeks, while there was indication elementary schools might re-open on Monday, would seem to indicate that Israel is confident that it has badly damaged Hamas’ rocket firing capability and that operations will not end soon.

 

[geo]

If the Israelis are sending in their reserves - must mean that they are keeping some regular troops on the westbank & golan fronts..... Just in case something happens from Hamas sympathysers

 

[tomahawk6]

The purpose I think of the reserves is to hold ground that the armor-infantry have already taken. The Israelis are using very elite units at the tip of this spear including the Golani Brigade.

 

[wannabe SF member]

/slight highjack/

The reserves and conscripts are a different thing in the IDF right?