Widening range, rockets strike Beersheba kindergarten

The Jerusalem Post ^ | Dec 31, 2008 | YAAKOV KATZ

[Uncle Miltie]

Hamas flexed its muscles Tuesday night and fired two rockets into Beersheba as Defense Minister Ehud Barak asked for government approval to call up an additional 2,500 reservists ahead of a planned ground operation in the Gaza Strip.

One of the Katyusha rockets struck a kindergarten in Beersheba, causing damage. Another rocket hit outside the city in an open field.

The IDF bombed the launcher of the Grad-model rockets afterward, as well as the cell responsible. The army said it successfully hit its target.

Defense officials had warned that Hamas had the ability to fire rockets into Beersheba - located some 40 kilometers from Gaza - but Tuesday night's attack was the first time the city's 200,000 residents came under Hamas rocket fire.

Earlier, rockets struck Ashdod and Ashkelon, where two people were killed in attacks on Monday. Grad-model Katyushas also hit open fields near Kiryat Malachi.

In total, more than 50 rockets struck the South on Tuesday, with one scoring a direct hit on a home in Sderot. No one was wounded in the attack, as the family had taken refuge in a nearby secure room.

The IAF, meanwhile, continued to bomb Gaza, hitting over 30 targets in addition to several dozen tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border. IDF sources said the tunnels had been used by Hamas to smuggle weapons and terrorists into the Gaza Strip. On Sunday the air force bombed some 40 smuggling tunnels.

On Tuesday night, Barak sent Cabinet Secretary Ovad Yehezkel a letter asking him to hold a phone vote among members of the cabinet to approve an IDF request to issue emergency call-up orders for an additional 2,500 reservists. On Sunday, the cabinet gave the IDF approval to call up 6,500 reservists.

Defense officials said it was likely that a ground operation would be launched in the next few days to keep up the momentum of the aerial bombardment of Gaza that started Saturday.

Earlier Monday, the IAF struck two targets in Gaza City and Khan Yunis. One of the targets was a Hamas police station. Overnight Monday, at least 10 people were killed and 40 others were wounded when IAF planes bombed a series of targets in the Strip, Palestinian sources said, bringing the death toll to over 380 Palestinians since Operation Cast Lead began.

The IDF confirmed air strikes against dozens of targets in the central Gaza town of El-Bureij (near Khan Yunis) and in Gaza City, including the Hamas Interior Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Treasury, as well as the office of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

On Tuesday, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi appeared in public for the first time since the operation began, and declared, "Difficult times are awaiting us. I am sure we will overcome them."

Speaking at a joint press conference Tuesday afternoon with President Shimon Peres at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Ashkenazi praised the forces participating in Operation Cast Lead, which he said was aimed at "creating a better security reality for the residents of southern Israel."

He also thanked the public for supporting the operation, and expressed appreciation of southern residents, who were "living under constant threat" and providing important support to the operation, "which extends our endurance."

Ashkenazi added that he was "very pleased with the operation at this point."

Earlier Tuesday afternoon during a tour of Ashkelon, Barak said that military action against Hamas would continue until all of the operation's goals were met.

The defense minister said the operation would intensify "as much as needed to meet the goals we set for ourselves - to bring quiet to the South."

He added, "We expect more difficult days ahead which will test civilians' endurance."

[Cindy]

Yep, now you got it.

Unlike the jihadis bombing a kindergarten...which is the real thing and abhorrent.

[Brad’s Gramma]

No kidding, Cindy....no kidding.

[Enchante]

I’ve wondered about something like that but didn’t know the specifics — so why the #%#%#%%# doesn’t Israel do this? Seems like it would be a great way to be able to take out Hamastan terrorists wherever they try to set up their rockets.

[HamiltonJay]

Just carpet bomb the Gaza, then Lebanon, then Syria and then Iran.

[dennisw]

Waste ‘um
My prayers with Israel I am overjoyed to see Israel fighting back

[Enchante]

Big-Pig-Zbig (favorite terrorist boot-lick Zbigniew Brezinski) was quoted saying the rockets are no big deal unless lots and lots of Israelis die.

Israel should just ignore it..... and trust to the UN I suppose.

Yeah, right, Zbig, I guess rockets falling on a freakin’ KINDERGARTEN don’t matter a bit unless they happen to slaughter a few dozen or more children, is that it?

Israel has no right to self-defense unless many MORE Jews are being killed? Exactly how how many Jewish lives would you say are disposable, Mr. Brezinski?

[Enchante]

Seems like Israel got some good payback against the terrorists -— need to see more of this:

IDF bombs Grad launcher, terrorist cell responsible for Beersheba rockets

JPost.com Dec 30, 2008

By YAAKOV KATZ

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230456536491&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

IAF aircraft on Tuesday evening bombed the ground launcher that fired Grad rockets at Beersheba, as well as the terrorist cell responsible for the launch.

Military sources say that the targets were hit.

[antonia]

It just galls me that Hamas can do any blankety blank thing it wants to do to Israel, but the world shudders when Israel strikes back in defense of itself? Amazing.

So many people cannot distinguish between perceived slights and outright devastation. Jesus have mercy for our souls.

God's Promise to Israel-

Ezekiel 34:12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep [that are] scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and [in] a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.

16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up [that which was] broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

John 3:16, that "whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. . . For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. Isaiah 53:6-8

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Romans 4:25

Psalm 118:8
It is better to- trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

Isaiah 50 - 53

Psalm 22

[Hammerhead]

Isreal needs to secure its backdoor, then take out the Hezzies. After taking out the Hezzies, keep Syria in check, then obliterate Iran with the USA’s help.

Payback bitches.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The US erected such towers on their bases in Iraq to amazing effect.

One of the secrets of the Iraq occupation was that some of our bases were surrounded by as deep as 5 miles with a kill zone. Imbecile terrorists would arrive in country from Syria and make a beeline to the nearest US base. With those towers, we could see them coming from between 10 and 20 miles away, day or night. By the time they had even made it to the KZ, the area had been prepped and an ambush set.

No freaking chance in the world. We probably made a trench with a backhoe, threw the dead terrorist in there with a strip of bacon to keep them company, then filled it in when full of terrorist-bacon sandwich.

Some of our bases killed more terrorist than major combat operations.

[Cindy]

Yep.

#

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2156378/posts?page=7#7

[Enchante]

This is not too bad either:

Great Video: Crispy-fried Terrorists on One-Way Journey to Meet Allah/Satan

[omega4179]

Didn’t they listen to brzinsky, they just supposed to harrass and annoy not scare kindergartners for life.

[Canedawg]

...waiting for the international outrage for an Israeli kindergarten being attacked...

[M. Espinola]

The Iranian supported cowardly Hamas terrorist lice are in for the biggest defeat ever!

The new and improved Hamas parking lot

[fella]

The more cost effetive route......

[marshmallow]

Hamas rockets are hidden in homes, shops, schools etc. In order for Israel to achieve their objective they're going to have to go from house to house. What they've done so far is largely symbolic. They've wiped out government buildings, Hamas buildings, known terrorist residences and probably a few terrorists too, but that won't destroy the weapons. They're spread everywhere.

The whole of Gaza is a rabbit warren of tunnels, weapons depots and booby traps.

Aside from flattening the entire area, I don't see how they can get to grips with all these weapons. The IDF is superbly prepared for a conventional or even nuclear war with a sovereign state such as Syria or Iran but this urban warfare where guerillas hide among civilians is another kettle of fish as Lebanon '06 showed.

[cookcounty]

"The US erected such towers on their bases in Iraq to amazing effect."

But you are speaking of open, barren desert. Gaza is heavily populated, with mostly 2, 3, 4, 5-story buildings. It's a lot tougher to survey 58 square miles of that, with 400,000 people and 100,000 vehicles in the streets.

As it is, they DO frequently get the launchers, though it takes literally only a few seconds for the perpetrators to disappear into the population.

[Uncle Miltie]

"We probably made a trench with a backhoe, threw the dead terrorist in there with a strip of bacon to keep them company, then filled it in when full of terrorist-bacon sandwich."

Love it! Probably got 72 Helen Thomases in Hell.

[TheZMan]

WHAM. Thanks