Free Republic

Israel bombed areas of southern Gaza where it had told Palestinians to flee to ahead of an expected ground invasion, killing dozens of people on Tuesday in attacks it says are targeted at Hamas militants that rule the besieged territory. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said at least 500 people were killed in an explosion Tuesday that it said was caused by an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza City Hospital. If confirmed, the attack on the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City would be by far the deadliest Israeli airstrike in five wars fought since 2008.

What do I mean by “Bad Faith”? My definition of bad faith is that the person you’re speaking with does not believe you are speaking from a place of care but a place of hatred. If you believe the person on the other side of the phone is a Nazi, you would presume they are coming from a place of hatred. It doesn’t matter if they are a Nazi, it only matters what you presume it to be true. Once that person believes the assumption to be true, there is no genuine conversation to be had, only a debate. Debates...

Terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza attacked a Western Negev community Monday night, and the IDF immediately retaliated. No one was injured, and there was no property damage in the Kassam missile attack in the Sha’ar HaNegev region, which includes Sderot. The IDF confirmed a direct hit on a weapons manufacturing site in its retaliation, which has become long-standing policy after every rocket firing on southern Israel. The number of missile strikes from Gaza has dropped in the past few days, but the total for the month of August was more than three times higher than in July. After the Sharon government...

The Cabinet voted Sunday to approve a 300 million shekel agreement that ends the claims for compensation by evacuees from Gush Katif and Northern Samaria. The government stated that the agreement "will allow for the completion of the evacuees' moves to permanent communities and their embarking on a new path. All community representatives, business owners and farmers in Gush Katif have signed the agreement." The issue of compensation between the Government and the evacuees has been simmering for six painful years, since the implementation of the "Disengagement Plan" in 2005. The "Disengagement" was the euphemistic name given to the process...

Israel has given its approval for a building project in Gaza that involves the construction of 1,200 new homes and 18 new schools, Israeli defense officials said Tuesday. The project will be administered by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which sponsors some 200 schools across the Hamas terrorist-run region. Israel's approval is effective immediately, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Guy Inbar. Building materials will be brought into the region and signed over to UNRWA as soon as the agency is ready to start, he said. Jerusalem-based UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told reporters in response to the announcement,...

Israeli security forces have arrested a terrorist wanted for dozens of attacks, including an April 2008 incident in which he fired at the convoy of then Public Security Minister Avi Dichter. The terrorist is Ayoub Ayoub Ahmed Abu Karim, 22, of the Muazi neighborhood in Gaza. He was arrested last month but the matter was under a gag order until now. Abu Karim told interrogators that he had joined a Hamas affiliated group called the Defenders of Al Aqsa, which was formed in order to carry out attacks without implicating Hamas. The instructions for carrying out attacks came from Hamas,...

The IDF killed some 100 terrorists along the border fence with Gaza since early 2010, a senior security source told Arutz Sheva's Haggai Huberman. In 2010, 62 terrorists met their Maker near the fence, and 37 more have been killed in 2011. The terrorists were killed in the process of attempting a variety of terror acts, including infiltrating Israel in order to carry out terror attacks, placing explosive charges, and firing at IDF soldiers or civilians. The past month, said the source, has been the quietest one in many years, but the lull is a fragile one. The last terror...