Posted on 12/29/2008 5:20:07 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
RESIDENTS at certain addresses in the Gaza Strip have been receiving unusual phone calls since the Israeli air assault began on Saturday - a request that they and their families leave their homes as soon as possible for their own safety.
More unusual than the recorded message is the Arabic-speaking caller, who identifies himself as being from the Israeli defence forces, The Australian reports.
Dipping into their bag of tricks for the updated Gaza telephone numbers, Israel's intelligence services are warning Palestinian civilians in Gaza living close to Hamas facilities that they may be hurt unless they distance themselves from those targets.
In some cases, the warning comes not by telephone but from leaflets dropped from aircraft on selected districts.
Such warnings clearly eliminate the element of surprise, but for Israel it is of cardinal importance to minimise civilian casualties, and not just for humanitarian reasons.
The principal calculation is fear that a stray bomb hitting a school or any collection of innocent civilians could bring down the wrath of the international community on Israel, as has happened more than once in the past, and force it to halt its campaign before it has achieved its objectives.
Israel Radio reported that leaflets had been dropped at the beginning of the operation in the Rafah area near the border with Egypt, warning residents that the tunnels to Egypt through which weapons and civilian products were smuggled would be bombed.
Many of the residents, mostly youths, are employed in the tunnels. Initial reports said two people were killed when the tunnels were bombed.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
As the deliberate murder of innocent civilians in pizza parlors, restaurants, buses, and so on, in Israel by Pali suicide bombers repeatedly fails to do.
I'm not going to say what I think of the so-called "international 'community'" -- might get me kicked off FR.
The brilliant part of this is that it’s both a sop to the humanitarian types while at the same time increasing the size of the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
See, if they’re dead, Hamas doesn’t have to expend anything on them. If they’re live refugees, Hamas (or someone else) has to expend money and supplies on them. Eventually they’ll run out of supplies,
Personally, I’d just keep bombing and shelling the strip until the only buildings left are the refugee centers and hospitals. No other utility buildings. And then wall the place off to watch the fun.
For good reason. They haven't.
Hamas will just blow up the Gaza civilians themselves and claim Israel did it. ... as has happened more than once in the past.
“Si desea esta mensaje en Enpan-yol, marque el numero dos!”
:)
Yeah, it couldn't be that the IDF actually gives a damn about innocent civilians. Nah.
/sarc
Actually this strikes me as a pretty good piece of psychological warfare.
I think Israel figures - rightly - that they’d better get this done now because once Obama is inoffice, he’s more likely to send US troops to support the terrorists than to support Israel.
Ditto.
Why unusual? Most Israelis I know speak Arabic, at least passably. It's called a gift...."get the hell out before we strike"
Name one arabic nation that would give the same warning to Israeli civilians.........just one.
I don't believe there are any of those in Gaza.
If they're over the age of 8, they're a frigging combatant.
L
Pen em down Israel. Make them "clean" their own tiny space.
It worked for the Communists in Spain (most notably at Guernica).
Damn telemarketers! Gaza should have a Do Not Call list, like we have in the US.
There's another reason they don't call - Hamas hasn't got a freeking clue as to who to call because they have no idea where their missiles will impact.
....which proves they are simply a "terror" weapon!
“I don’t seem to recall Hamas, the PLO or Hezzbollah doing something like this.”
You just answered my first question.
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