Posted on 12/27/2008 10:43:16 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes and helicopters pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 205 people in the bloodiest one-day death toll in 60 years of conflict with the Palestinians.
Militants in the Gaza Strip, who have launched dozens of rocket attacks against Israel since a truce expired just over a week ago, fired more salvoes that killed one Israeli man and wounded several others.
Both sides said they were ready to stage wider assaults, threatening to plunge the region into a crisis that could leave stalled talks over Palestinian statehood in tatters.
Black smoke billowed over Gaza City, where the dead and wounded lay scattered on the ground after Israel bombed more than 40 security compounds, including two where Hamas was hosting graduation ceremonies for new recruits.
At the main Gaza City graduation ceremony, uniformed bodies lay in a pile and the wounded writhed in pain. Some rescue workers beat their heads and shouted "God is greatest." One badly wounded man quietly recited verses from the Koran.
More than 700 Palestinians were wounded in all, medics said.
Israel said the operation, dubbed "Solid Lead," targeted "terrorist infrastructure" following days of rocket attacks on southern Israel that caused damage but few injuries. An army spokeswoman said Hamas leaders could be targeted.
"There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.
The rocket attacks increased pressure on Israeli political leaders to act as a February 10 election approaches.
The army did not set a timeframe but the mayor of Ashkelon, an Israeli city in range of Hamas's rockets, said military planners saw the operation lasting "more than a week."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Amen.
ML/NJ
Should call it "Hot Lead"!
Go Israel!
They want to lob rockets and bombs?
These idiots voted for Hamas, so now Israel has solid targets.
205? Still a lot more to go. Palestinians, a case of genocide.
When they love their children more than they hate ours.
Pretty much. Unfortunately the Palis are utterly intractable in the matter of Israels very existence. That being the case Israel is justified in total war against them. Why Israel thinks the Palis are going to back down short of total annihilation is a mystry to me.
Keep your head down and your powder dry.
Hamas doesn’t care about dead Palestinians, its all propaganda for them. The real task is to stop the rocket attacks. Forever. This will require alot more than some shock and owe air strikes. Good start though.
(She has BIG hands.)
ML/NJ
Probably wasn't a good idea to send out those graduation notices. Was that the "Solid Lead"?
re Hamas threat:
Apparently they missed some. Time to evaluate the strike and go back.
To paraphrase Simon DeMontfort at thev 4th Crusade: “Kill them all, Allah will know his own”..
To paraphrase Simon DeMontfort at thev 4th Crusade: “Kill them all, Allah will know his own”..
Go ahead Hamas! Unleash it...will Hamas bring in Hizbullah? And will this lead to confronting Iran? Hold on folks...this could be just the beggining......
/mark
“The death count is going up quicker than Al Frankens stolen vote tally.”
LOL. Still a lot more dead Pali’s to go if Israel wants peace. This action is going to root out a lot of enemies who’ll need killin. Israel must know this and must be ready to deal with it.
bump
Does the IDF inventory any WP rounds for it’s artillery?Looks like a good spot for 8-12 rounds in salvo.
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