Posted on 06/28/2006 3:07:14 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Airstrikes and sonic booms shook Gaza on Wednesday as thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks penetrated the impoverished coastal strip in a show of might designed to force Islamic militants to free a soldier whose fate has jolted Mideast politics.
In a bold warning to the country that shelters the political leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, Israeli warplanes buzzed the home of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Palestinians filled up on basic supplies after warplanes knocked out electricity, raising the specter of a humanitarian crisis. The Hamas-led government's information ministry warned of "epidemics and health disasters" because of damaged water pipes to central Gaza.
Witnesses reported heavy shelling around Gaza's long-closed airport, and Israeli missiles hit two empty Hamas training camps and a rocket-building factory. Warplanes flew low over the strip, rocking it with sonic booms and shattering windows. Troops in Israel backed up the assault with artillery fire.
No casualties were reported in the incursion, launched in southern Gaza. The area's normally bustling streets were eerily deserted, with people taking refuge inside their homes. Dozens of people living near the airport, which Israeli troops took over, fled to nearby Rafah.
There was no sign of ground troops moving into northern Gaza. But late Wednesday, the Israeli army dropped leaflets urging residents to avoid moving in the area because of impending military activity. Three gates in a border fence were open, in apparent preparation for the Israeli forces, and Israeli helicopters hovered at low altitudes.
Dozens of Palestinian militants — armed with automatic weapons and grenades — took up positions, bracing for attack.
Anxious Palestinians pondered whether the incursion, the first large-scale ground offensive since Israel withdrew from Gaza last year, was essentially a "shock and awe" display designed to intimidate militants, or the prelude to a full-scale invasion.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threatened harsher action, though he said there was no plan to reoccupy Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas deplored the incursion as a "crime against humanity."
Further complicating the situation were militant claims that they had kidnapped two more Israelis: an 18-year-old Jewish settler in the West Bank named Eliahu Asheri and a 62-year-old Israeli from the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion. Asheri's mother confirmed her son was missing, and police said they had a missing person's report that matched the older man.
The Israeli assault came as diplomatic efforts to free the 19-year-old Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, bogged down with Hamas demanding a prisoner swap and Israel refusing, demanding Shalit's unconditional release. Shalit was abducted by Hamas-linked militants on Sunday and is believed to be in southern Gaza.
"We won't hesitate to carry out extreme action to bring Gilad back to his family," Olmert declared.
Abbas and Egyptian dignitaries tried to persuade Assad, the Syrian president, to use his influence with Khaled Mashaal, the Hamas leader exiled in Syria, to free Shalit. Assad agreed, but without results, said a senior Abbas aide.
Israeli airplanes flew over a residence belonging to Assad near the Mediterranean port city of Latakia in northwestern Syria, military officials confirmed, citing the "direct link" between Syria and Hamas. Israeli television reports said four planes were involved in the low-altitude flight, and that Assad was there at the time.
Syria confirmed Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace, but said its air defenses forces the Israeli aircraft to flee.
As for Mashaal, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said the hard-line Hamas leader, who appears to be increasingly at odds with more moderate Hamas politicians in Gaza, is in Israel's sights for assassination.
"Khaled Mashaal, as someone who is overseeing, actually commanding the terror acts, is definitely a target," Ramon told Army Radio.
Israel tried to kill Mashaal in a botched assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997. Two Mossad agents injected Mashaal with poison, but were caught. As Mashaal lay in a Jordanian hospital, King Hussein of Jordan forced Israel to provide the antidote in return for the release of the Mossad agents.
The European Union on Wednesday urged both Israel and the Palestinians to "step back from the brink" and, echoing a statement from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to give diplomacy a chance.
The White House kept up its pressure on Hamas, saying the Palestinian government must "stop all acts of violence and terror." But the U.S. also urged Israel to show restraint.
"In any actions the government of Israel may undertake, the United States urges that it ensures that innocent civilians are not harmed, and also that it avoid the unnecessary destruction of property and infrastructure," said White House press secretary Tony Snow.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged restraint in a phone call to Olmert, saying he had spoken with Assad and Abbas and asked them to do everything possible to release the soldier. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa called on the U.S. to assume its role as "honest broker" and to make the Palestinian-Israeli conflict its top priority in the Middle East.
Israel's concern goes beyond the rescue of the soldier and the negative precedent abducting soldiers would set. Olmert's government is alarmed by the firing of homemade rockets on Israeli communities around Gaza and support for Hamas in the Arab world, especially from Syria, which hosts the exiled Hamas leaders.
Hamas' negotiators' tentative acceptance Tuesday of a document that Abbas allies claimed implicitly recognizes Israel appeared beside the point a day later, with Israel saying no political agreement can substitute for Shalit's freedom.
On Wednesday, Palestinian militants braced for a major strike, fanning out across neighborhoods, taking up positions behind sand embankments and firing several rockets into Israeli communities bordering Gaza. Civilians stockpiled food, water, batteries and candles after warplanes destroyed the coastal strip's only power plant, and main roads linking north to south.
Gaza's economy was already in the doldrums before the Israeli assault, a result of five years of Israeli-Palestinian violence and an international aid boycott that followed Hamas' parliamentary election victory in January. The Israeli assault threatened to turn a bad situation into a disaster — underscoring the extent to which hopes have been dashed following the optimism that accompanied Israel's pullout.
Palestinian plans for high-rise apartments, sports complexes and industrial parks in lands evacuated by Israel have given way to despair, with rising poverty, increasingly violent relations with Israel and a looming threat of civil war.
The strike on the power plant early Wednesday knocked out electricity for about 750,000 residents, two-thirds of Gaza's population, said Walid Sayel, executive director of the strip's power company. Sayel said power will be out in Gaza for between three and six months, and that the power cut will affect hospitals and medical centers as well as households.
Areas in northern Gaza that get electricity from Israel still had power, and some southern areas were able to get power from Egypt. Generators relieved darkness in other places.
IDF troops arrest 87 senior Hamas political and military officials
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies
Israel has expanded its military operation against the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian Authority by embarking on mass arrests of senior Hamas officials before dawn Thursday.
Israel Defense Forces troops launched early Thursday a major arrest operation against Hamas officials, detaining 64 of the ruling militant group's ministers and parliamentarians in the West Bank and 23 military operatives.
The arrests took place in Ramallah, Qalqilyah, Hebron, Jenin and East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian reports.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/732528.html
They're picking 'em up by the busload, good!
Bush will no doubt tell Israel to release these Pali leaders. I wish Bush and the rest of his administration wouldn't support the Pali terroists and stand up for Israel instead.
It looks like they are intent on picking up as much of the Hammas government as they can and then what? Put them on trial?
send them to Gitmo..
just kidding..
...
As to trying them, maybe , but where? and by who?
They ought to go to the Hague
(har har)
Exactly, the slime media is waging propaganda. The largest IDF Navy ships are missle corvettes otherwise known as missle cruisers. The IDF has never had a battleship, but did have destroyers in the early years.
08:05 IDF: Arrested Hamas men are suspected terrorists, not `bargaining chips` (Haaretz)
Good ,, let them rot in cells waiting for trial... some have been in and out of detention camps so it's nothing new for them.
Why don't the clown with the sign trade places with that soldier then ?
08:18 Minister Ben-Eliezer: This is not a government, but a murderous organization (Reuters)
08:08 MK Beilin: IDF operation is legitimate, I hope Israel will know how to end it (Haaretz)
08:07 Palestinians hurl bomb at IDF troops in Nablus; no casualties (Israel Radio)
08:05 IDF: Arrested Hamas men are suspected terrorists, not `bargaining chips` (Haaretz)
I for one am so sick of Hamas and the morons with the masks , fists in the air. I hope Israel comes out of the box on fire and cleans the earth of these scumbags once and for all..Lets end this for good . Winner take all , end of the game is needed here.
Thanks for the picture and caption
You're welcome.
Hamas calls IDF arrests of 64 parliamentarians 'open war'
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/732528.html
Total of 87 arrest raids take place throughout W. Bank; Hamas: Israel is launching war on Palestinian gov't. 08:35
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and at FR
IDF troops arrest 87 senior Hamas political and military officials
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1657558/posts
08:39 Hamas` armed wing: Arrests of Hamas officials won`t help release Shalit (Israel Radio)
08:18 Minister Ben-Eliezer: Hamas is not a gov`t, but a murderous organization (Reuters)
In order to have a humanitarian crisis, you need humans.
Tell ya what.
You a-holes stop DIGGING TUNNELS UNDER A HUGE PERIMETER WALL so you can SCREW WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE LEAVING YOU ALONE, and maybe we'll think about not blowing up your Duracel factory next.
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