.IDF: Hamas fighters beginning to desert; army steps up Gaza offensive
A senior Israeli military commander involved in Operation Cast Lead said on Saturday that Hamas militants are suffering from exhaustion and are deserting battle.
The commander told reporters that Amir Mansi, the commander of Hamas's rocket-launching program in the Gaza City area who was killed by the IDF on Saturday, fired mortars himself after junior Hamas operatives refused to go outside, fearing an Israeli strike.
The IDF official estimated that more than 300 Hamas operatives have been killed since Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza one week ago.
This is the highest estimate provided thus far, and the IDF said that Hamas has purposely refrained from releasing casualty figures among its military wing.
The commander added that the army is working to tighten its grip on the northern section of the Gaza Strip.
The IDF earlier on Saturday killed Mansi, an expert with regard to long-range Grad rockets.
Mansi was identified by Israeli troops on Saturday firing mortars from Gaza. The soldiers opened fire, killing Mansi and injuring two Hamas operatives who were with him.
IAF warns Gazans that offensive will escalate
The Israel Air Force on Saturday dropped leaflets into the Gaza Strip warning residents that it plans to escalate its two-week-old offensive.
The army says it has dropped the fliers throughout Gaza. It says the notices are meant as a "general warning."
The notice says Israel is about to begin a "new phase in the war on terror." It says it will "escalate" an operation that already has killed more than 800 Palestinians.
Israel pressed on with a punishing Gaza offensive and Hamas fired more rockets into the western Negev on Saturday in a two-week-old war that defied international efforts to stop it.
Palestinian medical officials say eight people have been killed by an Israel Defense Forces tank strike in the northern Gaza Strip.
The attack occurred in the town of Jabaliya. Paramedics at the scene say the dead appear to be civilians.
The IDF says it is investigating the incident.
Medical officials in the Gaza Strip said the Palestinian death toll had risen to at least 786. Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers said more than a third were children. Ten Israel Defense Forces soldiers have been killed, as well as three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire.
The IDF said 15 Hamas militants were killed in a series of 40 air strikes early on Saturday that targeted rocket launch sites, tunnels used to smuggle weapons, weapons caches and production facilities.
Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers suffered light wounds during fighting before dawn on Saturday in the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported.
Three IDF soldiers were wounded while fighting in Gaza on Friday.
One soldier was moderately wounded, and two others were lightly hurt. All three were taken to Soroka hospital in Be'er Sheva for medical treatment.
In the early hours of Saturday morning Gaza residents said warplanes attacked a disused Hamas security compound in the southern town of Khan Younis, a market in Beit Lahiya, near the strip's northern border with Israel and several buildings in and around Gaza City. Flames and smoke could be seen rising into the sky but none of the sites were in use at the time and there were no reports of casualties.
By dawn, IDF ground troops were reported seen in Gaza City's outlying neighborhoods, a little over a mile (2 kilometers) from the seafront Shati refugee camp, but still not entering built-up areas.
IDF to uphold brief humanitarian cease-fire
The IDF says it will halt its fire in Gaza for three hours to allow the territory's besieged residents to stock up.
Spokesman Peter Lerner says Saturday's lull in fire will also allow aid groups to rush through food distribution to residents. Medics also use the time to pick up casualties in areas of fighting.
It's the third time Israel has halted its fire during a two-week ground and air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers.
Aid groups say the three-hour lull isn't enough time, but they will try to help as many people as they can.
Haaretz
Not to worry, Hizbollah is going to come to your rescue, and Iran is going to pay for the rebuilding...Sounds like a new peace is already starting to taking hold.
The commander told reporters that Amir Mansi, the commander of Hamas's rocket-launching program in the Gaza City area who was killed by the IDF on Saturday, fired mortars himself after junior Hamas operatives refused to go outside, fearing an Israeli strike.
The IDF official estimated that more than 300 Hamas operatives have been killed since Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza one week ago.
This is the highest estimate provided thus far, and the IDF said that Hamas has purposely refrained from releasing casualty figures among its military wing.
The commander added that the army is working to tighten its grip on the northern section of the Gaza Strip.
The IDF earlier on Saturday killed Mansi, an expert with regard to long-range Grad rockets.
Mansi was identified by Israeli troops on Saturday firing mortars from Gaza. The soldiers opened fire, killing Mansi and injuring two Hamas operatives who were with him.
IAF warns Gazans that offensive will escalate
The Israel Air Force on Saturday dropped leaflets into the Gaza Strip warning residents that it plans to escalate its two-week-old offensive.
The army says it has dropped the fliers throughout Gaza. It says the notices are meant as a "general warning."
The notice says Israel is about to begin a "new phase in the war on terror." It says it will "escalate" an operation that already has killed more than 800 Palestinians.
Israel pressed on with a punishing Gaza offensive and Hamas fired more rockets into the western Negev on Saturday in a two-week-old war that defied international efforts to stop it.
Palestinian medical officials say eight people have been killed by an Israel Defense Forces tank strike in the northern Gaza Strip.
The attack occurred in the town of Jabaliya. Paramedics at the scene say the dead appear to be civilians.
The IDF says it is investigating the incident.
Medical officials in the Gaza Strip said the Palestinian death toll had risen to at least 786. Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers said more than a third were children. Ten Israel Defense Forces soldiers have been killed, as well as three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire.
The IDF said 15 Hamas militants were killed in a series of 40 air strikes early on Saturday that targeted rocket launch sites, tunnels used to smuggle weapons, weapons caches and production facilities.
Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers suffered light wounds during fighting before dawn on Saturday in the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported.
Three IDF soldiers were wounded while fighting in Gaza on Friday.
One soldier was moderately wounded, and two others were lightly hurt. All three were taken to Soroka hospital in Be'er Sheva for medical treatment.
In the early hours of Saturday morning Gaza residents said warplanes attacked a disused Hamas security compound in the southern town of Khan Younis, a market in Beit Lahiya, near the strip's northern border with Israel and several buildings in and around Gaza City. Flames and smoke could be seen rising into the sky but none of the sites were in use at the time and there were no reports of casualties.
By dawn, IDF ground troops were reported seen in Gaza City's outlying neighborhoods, a little over a mile (2 kilometers) from the seafront Shati refugee camp, but still not entering built-up areas.
IDF to uphold brief humanitarian cease-fire
The IDF says it will halt its fire in Gaza for three hours to allow the territory's besieged residents to stock up.
Spokesman Peter Lerner says Saturday's lull in fire will also allow aid groups to rush through food distribution to residents. Medics also use the time to pick up casualties in areas of fighting.
It's the third time Israel has halted its fire during a two-week ground and air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers.
Aid groups say the three-hour lull isn't enough time, but they will try to help as many people as they can.
Haaretz
Not to worry, Hizbollah is going to come to your rescue, and Iran is going to pay for the rebuilding...Sounds like a new peace is already starting to taking hold.
posted by madtom at 11:24 PM
2 Comments:
Israel has the right to defend itself by denying the right of others to live as human being, its better to die fighting Israel rather to live in their prison for life with no food no future no hope of better life for our children, Israelis are good in killing people and show the world they are the victims
That's all very nice, to bad it's all crap. Israel is no denying anyone the right to live, It's Hamas and all the other Islamo fascist that denies Israel the right to exist.
They do it more as a means to imprison their own in autocratic tyrannies that any real hate or religiosity
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