Posted on 07/05/2006 5:01:49 PM PDT by blam
Israel tanks seen in Gaza advance
Israeli tanks have been massing close to Gaza for days
A small force of Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles has reportedly moved into northern Gaza, near a former Jewish settlement. News agencies and Palestinian witnesses reported the movement after a second rocket hit the Israeli city of Ashkelon but it was not confirmed by the army.
The rocket from the Gaza Strip landed harmlessly in a green space though some people were treated for shock.
Israel has been raiding Gaza since the capture of a soldier on 25 June.
Before Tuesday, Ashkelon was thought to be out of range of militant rockets, which usually fall just inside the border with Israel.
A second rocket was fired on Wednesday but also caused no casualties, reportedly falling on Israeli farmland.
Nobody was hurt in Tuesday's attack on Ashkelon, claimed by the military wing of Hamas, the Islamist organisation governing the Palestinian territories since the January election.
Little is known about the fate of Cpl Gilad Shalit, captured in a cross-border raid by militants on 25 June, but Israeli officials believe he is still alive.
In other developments on Wednesday evening:
* Israeli shells wounded at least seven Palestinian police officers in the northern Gaza Strip
* Gunmen in Gaza City shot dead a man believed to have Hamas connections
* A car carrying al-Jazeera reporters reportedly got caught in cross-fire between Israeli troops and gunmen near the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, and their Palestinian driver was injured.
Embattled residents
At least five tanks crossed into Gaza near the former settlement of Nissanit, Palestinian witnesses say.
SOLDIER CAPTURE TIMELINE
Sun 25 June: Cpl Shalit captured in cross-border attack
Mon 26 June: Palestinian captors propose prisoner exchange
Weds 28 June: Israel enters southern Gaza after air strikes
Thurs 29 June: Israel detains dozens of Hamas officials
Sat 1 July: Captors demand 1,000 prisoners be released
Mon 3 July: Captors issue deadline of 0300 4 July
Tues 4 July: Israel: "Shalit still alive". Rocket hits Ashkelon
Palestinian rocket threat
An Associated Press reporter could see two other tanks taking up positions on a nearby hill as bulldozers built sand embankments around them.
An AFP photographer reported hearing heavy machinegun and mortar fire.
However, an Israeli military source was quoted by the Jerusalem Post newspaper as "flatly denying" tanks had crossed into Gaza.
Israeli troops pulled out of the 45km-long territory, home to 1.4 million Palestinians, last summer after an occupation lasting 38 years.
An Israeli cabinet meeting on Wednesday said the aim of the military activity was "damaging" Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza, and "limiting movement of terrorists by severing the Gaza Strip and targeting terror infrastructure".
Reports say it means troops will be sent deeper into Gaza and step up attacks on members of the Hamas movement.
Tuesday's rocket strike on Ashkelon prompted the government to order a wider military offensive in Gaza.
The army is under orders to attack sites "facilitating terrorism".
Nightly attacks
Every night since the militants captured the soldier, the Israeli air force has struck at sites in Gaza, the BBC's Alan Johnston reports from Gaza City.
There have been more than 80 raids, and the targets have included bridges and a power station.
The resulting electricity shortages have caused huge disruption to everyday life, our correspondent notes.
But Gaza's people have endured decades of Israeli occupation and for now at least the mood remains solidly behind Hamas, he adds.
Hmmm...
If I heard the report correctly, al-Jazeera's car was hit by Palestinians.
Militants said they fired at least two anti-tank rockets, hitting an Israeli tank and a bulldozer. The Israeli army said it was not aware of any anti-tank rocket fire.
These guys are such lousy liars. If they had fired on the tanks, they wouldn't be around to brag about it.
Oh, well.........
"* Gunmen in Gaza City shot dead a man believed to have Hamas connections"
If true, that's a very interesting development. What it possibly says is the civil war threatening hamass and fatah has merely been postphoned. That is good news indeed.
That sums up my reaction too.
When I hear or read 'Israeli occupation', I see code words for our media friends to hide behind.
And look at this, 'the mood remains solidly behind hamas', is code for these people are about to get their butts handed to 'em. Those aren't the media's words, those words are mine, 'the part about their butts getting handed to 'em'....and for our Israeli friends, I say, 'get 'er done!'
As I was reading this item, I said to myself "This has to be Al Reuters". Woe to the BBC.
This despite the fact that they've had more practice than anyome.
By Patrick Bishop in Gaza
(Filed: 06/07/2006)
Hamas leaders went underground yesterday fearing a "decapitation" campaign by Israel, as the state stepped up pressure on the Palestinian leadership.
Early yesterday an interior ministry building was hit by a powerful bomb which plunged through the roof and four floors. Ministers are now trying to avoid going to their offices.
The interior ministry building which was hit by a bomb
"Of course I am scared," said Yousef Mosa Rizqa, who believes that he may be targeted as the Palestinian Authority's minister of information.
"I am taking precautions, but measures are limited because Israeli aircraft carry the most sophisticated technology for killing. In the end, we can only rely on God."
Behind a desk in a windowless room on the ground floor of an anonymous building, Mr Rizqa denied that Hamas leaders had any control over the actions of the Hamas militia which fired a rocket from Gaza into a school playground in the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Tuesday night. No one was hurt in the attack, but it proved the home-made rockets used by militants now have a seven-mile range.
Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert, who has hinted that Hamas politicians might join Hamas fighters as targets for assassination, described the strike as "an escalation".
"The rules of the game in dealing with the [authority] and Hamas must be changed," he said.
But Mr Rizqa said: "This [attack] was a surprise for us. The position of the government is to establish a state of calm between the two sides."
The moderate Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has suspended a referendum due this month on a proposal that calls for a Palestinian state that implicitly recognises Israel.
Gee, I hope each of them will get to meet their 72 virgins tonight.
Gaza arabs are so worthless and they deserve a state? Turn them back into the drifting nomads they once were.
"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 ~
"Oh well, at least we have air conditioning now."
Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.
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"DESTROY THE BBC"
Sounds like a reasonable option to me in light of facts that BBC, New York Times and many other "Mainstream" Media outlets behave like the Jihadi enemy propaganda outlets -:)))
Hoebbels after all, was only a propagandist, but would have been hanged in Nuremberg alongside other Nazis for his propaganda and disinformation work on behalf of Nazi regime had he not committed suicide and took his family with him.
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