[FONT='Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT='Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Hamas: Kassam attack on IDF training base 'a victory from God'[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]A soldier who was wounded in the Qassam attack early Tuesday morning[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Hamas spokesman praised Tuesday's rocket attack on an Israeli army base, calling it a "victory from God."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]"We consider this a victory from God for the resistance," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Hamas radio. "We consider the resistance as the legitimate right of the Palestinians to defend themselves and restore their rights."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]The rocket strike, which wounded 69 IDF soldiers, was followed by a mortar barrage on the Gaza border. The Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attacks, and the Islamic Jihad later posted a video on its website purportedly showing the Kassam rocket launch.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Although Hamas was not directly involved, Israel has said it holds the group responsible for attacks out of Gaza because it rules the area.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]"It doesn't matter which terror group took responsibility. Gaza is totally controlled by Hamas, and it has the ability to stop this and decided not to," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at a news conference. "I think we have tools to do this, tools that are not only military," said Livni.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Although nobody was wounded in the mortar attack, the incident will undoubtedly add to the calls for action, which reached a fever pitch following the earlier Kassam strike.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Yet despite these calls, predictions are that the IDF will still hold back from launching a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip. According to reports, the hesitancy is in large part due to the upcoming peace summit in Washington, mounting tensions along the northern border, and the fact that Sderot remains largely unprotected.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Defense officials are, however, calling on the political echelon to allow the IDF to deepen their operations in Gaza. At the moment the army is allowed to penetrate up to 2 km into Palestinian territory from the security fence...[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Two Palestinian groups claimed responsibility for the attack - the Nasr Salah al-Din Brigades, the Palestinian Resistance Committee's armed wing, and the Islamic Jihad. A spokesman for the Islamic Jihad said the firing of the Kassam rockets was a response to IDF action in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip of late.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]The IDF, who confirmed the attack, said that the rockets were fired from Beit Hanun[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Calls for IDF Invasion of Gaza[/FONT][/FONT][/font][/font]
[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]The destructive rocket attack on the IDF base early Tuesday morning has led to a wave of calls from Knesset Members and others for a swift IDF retaliation. One Kassam was fired from Hamas-ruled Gaza around 2 AM, wounding some 65 soldiers sleeping in tents.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak met in Tel Aviv to discuss Israel's response. Shortly afterwards, Islamic Jihad and other terrorists fired a wave of mortar shells towards Israel; no one was hurt. IDF artillery directed at Kassam launching grounds in northern Gaza reportedly wounded two Arabs.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Former Deputy Intelligence Chief in the IDF, Brig.-Gen. (Ret.) Yaakov Amidror, says that one major reason the government is so hesitant to retaliate with a ground offensive is because it "is made up of people who carried out the ridiculous and irresponsible Disengagement; they know they are responsible, and it is hard for them to admit their mistake." Amidror said that ordering the IDF back into Gaza to retake the very region that they ordered the IDF to withdraw from in the 2005 Disengagement is tantamount to a confession that they erred.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Responses from Nationalist-Camp Knesset Members[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]MK Effie Eitam (National Union): "Israel must take military action that will lead to the toppling of the Hamas government. We must hit the terror infrastructures, and we must stop the flow of weapons from Egypt to Gaza via the Philadelphi route... The IDF is ready and well-practiced for an extensive operation, and [all that remains is to] choose the correct, convenient time."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Eitam added a political note: "I call upon the Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas parties to announce that if a large- scale operation is not approved, they will quit the government... As long as Lieberman and Yishai [the leaders of the above two parties, respectively] continue to sit around the government table and parrot the same things, they bear full responsibility for the security deterioration and for the political idiocy of the Olmert government."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party): "The government's vacillation and wavering are exacting a heavy price... Instead of embracing Abu Mazen and releasing murderers, the government must fulfill its obligation of protecting Israel's citizens and embark on a wide-scale ground force operation in Gaza."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]MK Gideon Saar (Likud): "The Olmert government, which continues to release terrorists and promise new concessions and withdrawals to Abu Mazen, is avoiding recognizing the reality and dealing with the Hamas state in Gaza... A comprehensive military action, including ground forces, is unavoidable in dealing with Hamas's escalation and strengthening, especially in light of the free flow of weapons to Gaza. The later such action is taken, the heavier of a price we'll have to pay up to and during its implementation."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]MK Uri Ariel (National Union): "All of our warnings before the Disengagement have come true. Any further delay in carrying out a second Operation Defensive Shield and the uprooting of terrorism from Gaza will merely strengthen the threat. If we don't do it today, the threat will be much greater tomorrow."[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT]
I gaurantee there will be some Muslim spinning thgis as an Israeli evil deed and murder of kids.
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Hamas' Islamic Jihad using children as human shields[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]IDF troops in Gaza killed a senior Hamas commander in an air strike on Wednesday, along with three Hamas militants and two children on Tuesday, according to Haaretz. The commander has been identified as Yehia Habib.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Hamas' Islamic Jihad reportedly used two children on Tuesday to collect rocket launchers in Gaza directly after the militants fired missiles into Israel. The militants fled, exposing the youths to IDF retaliatory fire. An IDF tank shot and killed the two children, 9- years-old and 12-years-old.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]The IDF said it saw two figures approach the launchers right after they had been used and shot at them. "Children have no business being near Qassam rocket launchers," IDF officers said in a statement last night. The only reason anyone approaches the launchers after rockets are fired is to gather or reload them, IDF sources said, according to the paper, so there was no way to avoid shooting at the people near the launchers.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]An IDF spokesman issued a statement Tuesday criticizing Hamas' abuse of children. "If these were children or youths, we regret the use that the terrorist groups are making of them," the statement read. IDF sources say that this phenomenon, however unfortunate, is not rare and is done in part to sully Israel's reputation.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]"This is a cynical use of children but we are no longer surprised by anything we see. A 14-year-old child has already fired an RPG rocket against an IDF force, a grandmother aged close to 70 fired a light weapon against a Givati [Brigade] force recently in the Strip. What were these children doing there anyway? The militants fled immediately after the launch and then sent the children to collect the launchers," one of the sources added.[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]A soldier who was wounded in the Qassam attack early Tuesday morning[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Hamas spokesman praised Tuesday's rocket attack on an Israeli army base, calling it a "victory from God."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]"We consider this a victory from God for the resistance," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Hamas radio. "We consider the resistance as the legitimate right of the Palestinians to defend themselves and restore their rights."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]The rocket strike, which wounded 69 IDF soldiers, was followed by a mortar barrage on the Gaza border. The Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attacks, and the Islamic Jihad later posted a video on its website purportedly showing the Kassam rocket launch.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Although Hamas was not directly involved, Israel has said it holds the group responsible for attacks out of Gaza because it rules the area.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]"It doesn't matter which terror group took responsibility. Gaza is totally controlled by Hamas, and it has the ability to stop this and decided not to," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at a news conference. "I think we have tools to do this, tools that are not only military," said Livni.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Although nobody was wounded in the mortar attack, the incident will undoubtedly add to the calls for action, which reached a fever pitch following the earlier Kassam strike.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Yet despite these calls, predictions are that the IDF will still hold back from launching a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip. According to reports, the hesitancy is in large part due to the upcoming peace summit in Washington, mounting tensions along the northern border, and the fact that Sderot remains largely unprotected.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Defense officials are, however, calling on the political echelon to allow the IDF to deepen their operations in Gaza. At the moment the army is allowed to penetrate up to 2 km into Palestinian territory from the security fence...[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Two Palestinian groups claimed responsibility for the attack - the Nasr Salah al-Din Brigades, the Palestinian Resistance Committee's armed wing, and the Islamic Jihad. A spokesman for the Islamic Jihad said the firing of the Kassam rockets was a response to IDF action in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip of late.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]The IDF, who confirmed the attack, said that the rockets were fired from Beit Hanun[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Calls for IDF Invasion of Gaza[/FONT][/FONT][/font][/font]
[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]The destructive rocket attack on the IDF base early Tuesday morning has led to a wave of calls from Knesset Members and others for a swift IDF retaliation. One Kassam was fired from Hamas-ruled Gaza around 2 AM, wounding some 65 soldiers sleeping in tents.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak met in Tel Aviv to discuss Israel's response. Shortly afterwards, Islamic Jihad and other terrorists fired a wave of mortar shells towards Israel; no one was hurt. IDF artillery directed at Kassam launching grounds in northern Gaza reportedly wounded two Arabs.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Former Deputy Intelligence Chief in the IDF, Brig.-Gen. (Ret.) Yaakov Amidror, says that one major reason the government is so hesitant to retaliate with a ground offensive is because it "is made up of people who carried out the ridiculous and irresponsible Disengagement; they know they are responsible, and it is hard for them to admit their mistake." Amidror said that ordering the IDF back into Gaza to retake the very region that they ordered the IDF to withdraw from in the 2005 Disengagement is tantamount to a confession that they erred.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Responses from Nationalist-Camp Knesset Members[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]MK Effie Eitam (National Union): "Israel must take military action that will lead to the toppling of the Hamas government. We must hit the terror infrastructures, and we must stop the flow of weapons from Egypt to Gaza via the Philadelphi route... The IDF is ready and well-practiced for an extensive operation, and [all that remains is to] choose the correct, convenient time."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Eitam added a political note: "I call upon the Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas parties to announce that if a large- scale operation is not approved, they will quit the government... As long as Lieberman and Yishai [the leaders of the above two parties, respectively] continue to sit around the government table and parrot the same things, they bear full responsibility for the security deterioration and for the political idiocy of the Olmert government."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party): "The government's vacillation and wavering are exacting a heavy price... Instead of embracing Abu Mazen and releasing murderers, the government must fulfill its obligation of protecting Israel's citizens and embark on a wide-scale ground force operation in Gaza."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]MK Gideon Saar (Likud): "The Olmert government, which continues to release terrorists and promise new concessions and withdrawals to Abu Mazen, is avoiding recognizing the reality and dealing with the Hamas state in Gaza... A comprehensive military action, including ground forces, is unavoidable in dealing with Hamas's escalation and strengthening, especially in light of the free flow of weapons to Gaza. The later such action is taken, the heavier of a price we'll have to pay up to and during its implementation."[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]MK Uri Ariel (National Union): "All of our warnings before the Disengagement have come true. Any further delay in carrying out a second Operation Defensive Shield and the uprooting of terrorism from Gaza will merely strengthen the threat. If we don't do it today, the threat will be much greater tomorrow."[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT]
I gaurantee there will be some Muslim spinning thgis as an Israeli evil deed and murder of kids.
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Hamas' Islamic Jihad using children as human shields[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]IDF troops in Gaza killed a senior Hamas commander in an air strike on Wednesday, along with three Hamas militants and two children on Tuesday, according to Haaretz. The commander has been identified as Yehia Habib.[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]Hamas' Islamic Jihad reportedly used two children on Tuesday to collect rocket launchers in Gaza directly after the militants fired missiles into Israel. The militants fled, exposing the youths to IDF retaliatory fire. An IDF tank shot and killed the two children, 9- years-old and 12-years-old.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]The IDF said it saw two figures approach the launchers right after they had been used and shot at them. "Children have no business being near Qassam rocket launchers," IDF officers said in a statement last night. The only reason anyone approaches the launchers after rockets are fired is to gather or reload them, IDF sources said, according to the paper, so there was no way to avoid shooting at the people near the launchers.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]An IDF spokesman issued a statement Tuesday criticizing Hamas' abuse of children. "If these were children or youths, we regret the use that the terrorist groups are making of them," the statement read. IDF sources say that this phenomenon, however unfortunate, is not rare and is done in part to sully Israel's reputation.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Serif]"This is a cynical use of children but we are no longer surprised by anything we see. A 14-year-old child has already fired an RPG rocket against an IDF force, a grandmother aged close to 70 fired a light weapon against a Givati [Brigade] force recently in the Strip. What were these children doing there anyway? The militants fled immediately after the launch and then sent the children to collect the launchers," one of the sources added.[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT]
