Israeli soldier directs a tank near Kibbutz Sufa, just outside the southern Gaza Strip
Posted on 09/15/2010 8:48:22 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Israeli cabinet minister has given warning of a fresh military offensive in Gaza after Palestinian militants in the territory launched the most sustained barrage of rocket and mortar fire in 18 months.
Israeli soldier directs a tank near Kibbutz Sufa, just outside the southern Gaza Strip
The confrontation in Gaza overshadowed US-led efforts to defuse a row between the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships over Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.
With the argument threatening to derail peace talks, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas met for a second day in Jerusalem to continue negotiations begun in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday.
The threat on Gaza came after Islamist groups in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, fired nine mortars and a rocket into southern Israel.
Two of the shells contained phosphorous, the Israeli military said, increasing the gravity of the incidents.
Although neither casualties nor structural damage were caused, the salvo was the heaviest in a single day since March, 2009, two months after the end of Operation Cast Lead, the controversial Israeli military offensive in Gaza.
Gilad Eran, Israel's environment minister, demanded a reprise of Operation Cast Lead unless the rockets stopped.
"There can be no doubt that if this continues, we might have to contemplate something along the lines of Operation Cast Lead II," he told Israeli public radio.
As a peripheral figure in the coalition cabinet, Mr Eran's views are unlikely to have much influence on Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
The growing number of rocket attacks will nevertheless present Mr Netanyahu with an unwelcome distraction.
Although smaller, more militant groups in Gaza are thought to be behind them, Israel has accused Hamas, as the territory's overlords, of doing little to restrain its rivals in the Islamist
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
White phosphorous mortar rounds sound new.
yitbos
American taxpayer money for, supporting, and creating terrorism
and new terrorists, courtesy of Obama.
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