Posted on 07/01/2006 3:55:21 PM PDT by Lunatic Fringe
Edited on 07/01/2006 6:00:15 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
IAF warplanes attacked the office of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City overnight Saturday, setting the building on fire.
One bystander was lightly wounded, hospital officials said.
Witnesses said two missiles hit the south side of the building, setting it ablaze. Due to the late hour, the building was empty, they said.
The IDF confirmed the air strike, saying that it wanted to make clear to the most senior Hamas officials that it held the organization directly responsible for the kidnapping of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit.
An IDF spokesman said that the army would "employ all means at its disposal ... to secure the safe return" of the soldier.
Inspecting his burning office, Haniyeh called the attack senseless. "They have targeted a symbol for the Palestinian people," he said.
In other airstrikes overnight, the IAF hit a school in Gaza City and Hamas facilities in the northern Gaza town of Jabalya, where a Hamas operative was killed and another was wounded, Palestinian officials said.
The IDF said the operatives were "planning terror attacks against Israel."
Earlier Saturday, about five IDF tanks and bulldozers moved into the mostly empty Abasan area near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, Palestinian security officials said. There were no reports of fighting or casualties.
IDF activity in the Gaza Strip was continuing Saturday, with Navy and ground artillery shelling targets in both the northern and southern parts of the Strip.
The shelling of the southern regions were done out of concern that the Palestinians were preparing to transport Shalit to a new location. An army assessment believed he was being held in southern Gaza.
The targets in the north were Kassam rocket launch sites. Since Thursday night, Palestinians have fired seven rockets into Israel in the direction of Sderot.
In the context of ongoing operations in Gaza, IDF troops had already taken up positions in vacant areas near the town of Rafah, but the move into Abasan was the first time troops entered the Gaza Strip north of that area. The troops crossed the border with Israel and moved several hundred meters into Abasan on Saturday afternoon, Palestinian security officials said.
The army said the raid in Abasan was a limited operation and the soldiers were expected to leave soon.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian deputy minister of prisoner affairs said that kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit has received medical treatment for his wounds and is in stable condition.
Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah, Ziad Abu Aen cited unidentified "mediators" as telling him that Shalit, abducted during a raid last Sunday on his IDF outpost near the Kerem Shalom crossing, was injured during the incident.
"He has three wounds," Abu Aen said. "I guess shrapnel wounds." He did not give further details.
Channel 1, citing a senior Israeli security official, reported Friday that a Palestinian doctor treated Shalit for minor shoulder and stomach wounds, and that the soldier was in good condition.
A Palestinian report likewise indicated that Shalit was alive and well, quoting the doctor who visited Shalit as saying that his condition was good and that he was wounded in his stomach and shoulder, according to Israel Radio late Friday.
The doctor's visit, which apparently took place on Thursday, came after pressure from Egypt led Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to approve the checkup. The kidnappers had originally refused to allow a visit.
According to Palestinian sources, Shalit was wounded in his shoulder and stomach from shrapnel, but his wounds were treated and his life was not in danger.
Shalit's kidnappers issued a new set of demands early Saturday calling on Israel to halt its offensive in Gaza and ordering the release of 1,000 prisoners. The demands did not explicitly say that Shalit would be returned in exchange for the requested actions.
The notice was signed by three organizations: the armed wing of Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam.
In response, Israeli officials reiterated that there would be no negotiations with terrorist organizations over Shalit's release.
Less than an hour earlier, the IAF hit seven main roads in central Gaza. According to the army, the purpose of the strike was to make movement more difficult for the kidnappers and to crack down on Kassam rocket launchers.
According to Cpt. Jacob Dallal of the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, the operation's purpose was simple: "To gain the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit."
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Dallal said that the strikes would be "ongoing," though the operation was being done "in a calibrated, studied fashion," the IDF "has many means at our disposal" for escalating the attacks.
"We hope that this will work and that he will be freed as soon as possible," Dallal concluded.
350 shells were fired at Kassam launch sites in northern Gaza overnight. The shelling continued into Saturday morning.
Hizbullah head Hassan Nasrallah called on the kidnappers on Friday not to release Shalit without an Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners.
Earlier Friday, an IAF missile struck a car traveling in Gaza City, causing an enormous explosion and, according to Israel Radio, wounding two people in the vicinity. Palestinian reports indicated three were wounded, one seriously.
Four men suspected of being responsible for launching Kassam rockets at Israel were apparently in the car.
The missile did not directly hit the vehicle, but exploded next to it, allowing those inside to run out, witnesses said, identifying the occupants as members of Islamic Jihad.
The IDF confirmed that it had carried out a missile strike in the area, while an IDF spokesman said the army would continue to target Palestinian terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip in order to put an end to Kassam rocket attacks from there.
Hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert put the brakes on a massive ground incursion into northern Gaza, IAF fighter jets struck close to a dozen targets before dawn Friday hitting the Palestinian Authority Interior Ministry and a Fatah office in Gaza City. Missiles also struck a Hamas training camp on the outskirts of the city.
Other targets hit by missiles included a Kassam rocket production warehouse affiliated with the Fatah-backed Aksa Martyrs' Brigades.
An IAF helicopter also fired upon and critically wounded an Islamic Jihad operative who tried to launch a rocket at Israeli forces. The man, 25-year-old Abdel Rael, later died of his wounds. His death marked the first fatality since the IDF incursion began on Tuesday.
An IDF statement said that the strikes would continue as long as Hamas terrorists refused to release Shalit.
IDF artillery cannons also pounded Kassam launch sites overnight Friday. Since the beginning of the current Gaza campaign, dubbed "Operation Summer Rains," the IDF has fired over 400 artillery shells.
The IDF said the attack on Interior Minister Said Siyam's offices in Gaza City was caused by its being used as "a meeting place to plan and direct terror activity."
Also early Friday, IDF troops in southern Gaza noticed several Palestinians approaching an IDF position with an anti-tank rocket launcher. Troops fired at the cell, causing it to flee.
According to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, two of the attackers were believed to be wounded, but all managed to escape.
The details of the incident were still being investigated.
AP contributed to this report.
He had it remodeled with your tax dollars, by the way.
pictures of a dead man walking
The descendents of the lost tribes are not Jews, although Jews will educate and lead them. They are the enormous numbers of people who will come from all of the nations before the last war, after which event, all who oppose Israel or seek to replace it will be put down.
---The so-called palestinians had a protest in the streets against the ISRAELIS for shutting off the water and power, not against hamas.---
Well, of course they are, but even Egyptians can see that all they have to do is give up the captive. Even Europeans might possibly see that.
---And please tell me when bombing empty buildings has accomplished anything in terms of stopping the terrorists? ---
You deprive the enemy of his resources, put him off balance, thereby gaining tactical advantage. If you want to put someone off balance try depriving them of their home and place of business.
The Raid on Entebbe was successful because Israel was still willing to tell the rest of the world to stuff it and go save their people, as only they could. As with much of what is going on with the U.S in Iraq, the self-assured manhood of the Israeli government has been worn away by leftist terrorist sympathisers.
I rest my case.
If memory serves, his brain was hanging out, but the head was still attached.
http://www.masada2000.org/yassin.html
Don't worry, Israel is going in soon. IDF needs to crush them or humiliate them, or both. If Hamas releases the prisoner without a deal, they will look bad. Hamas refused Egypt's last offer, and Israel won't release 1000 prisoners, so there is no deal, even assuming he is still alive. This means IDF has to go in and get him, get Hamas, and get the missile factories and stashes.
In Gaza, in the office of terrorist Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Sunday, July 2, 2006
after the murderer terrorist (supported by the State Dept., EU, and UN) refused to release a captured Israeli soldier.
Yes, we do need to learn from the Israeli's.
They have been doing this for quite a while.
Some don't understand them taking such a big offensive based on one soldier.
But, it isn't that. It is that they do not, ever, negotiate with hostage takers.
When they had terrorists attempt to hijack planes, they warned the terrorists that there would be no deals. If they didn't give up, the passengers on the plane were willing to risk and give their lives for their country. So, even if some civilians died, the terrorists were told they would all be killed, without question.
They stopped the hijackings. They are doing the same thing here. They will not negotiate. The terrorists might kill the Israeli soldier. But no prisoners will be released, and those who kill him will be found and executed.
Don't be so overly sensitive. He was talking about Jews because the primary discussion is about Israel. Further, his original context was recognizing the admirable strength of specific Jews in Israel and his explanation for the difference between them and those in the US is actually quite insightful from a psychological and sociological perspective. In a different context, you might be right to bristle. In the current context, you are acting like the whiney Lib who sees racism everywhere he turns, but where it doesn't exist.
agrace, fully agree with your commentary! Let me added the following cut & paste to bolster your arguement (link provided)
"I find in the Qur'an that God granted the Land of Israel to the Children of Israel and ordered them to settle therein (Qur'an, Sura 5:21) and that before the Last Day He will bring the Children of Israel to retake possession of their Land, gathering them from different countries and nations (Qu'ran, Sura 17:104). Consequently, as a Muslim who abides by the Qur'an, I believe that opposing the existence of the State of Israel means opposing a Divine decree.
Every time Arabs fought against Israel they suffered humiliating defeats. In opposing the will of God by making war on Israel, Arabs were in effect making war on God Himself. They ignored the Qur'an, and God punished them. Now, having learned nothing from defeat after defeat, Arabs want to obtain through terror what they were unable to obtain through war: the destruction of the State of Israel. The result is quite predictable: as they have been defeated in the past, the Arabs will be defeated again."
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=19444
It was quite evident that river rat was pretty up front with an extreme compliment. Even more evident was his dig aimed at the flagrant front page cut and run leftists in America who, at their core, are at extreme odds with the defense position of the Jewish homeland, Israel, itself. I am very surprised by all the knee jerk reaction on this- of all threads.
Well said.
"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Holocaust Chronicle ~
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~
Yes.
Thank you for the photos.
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