Israel Gaza Strikes: The Latest News And Updates

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Israel has resisted international pressure to cease airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and continues to pound Hamas targets and prepare troops for a possible ground invasion.

The Jerusalem Post reports that the head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency, said that Hamas has suffered a "serious" blow in the strikes:

"Hamas has been attacked as it has never been attacked before; it has suffered serious damage and its governability in Gaza has been severely impaired," Diskin told ministers at a meeting of the Security Cabinet.

The Shin Bet head added that many of Hamas's senior operatives were hiding out in mosques and hospitals in Gaza, some of them in the guise of doctors and male nurses.

Hamas has responded to the strikes by firing a barage of missiles into the Negev region of Israel, 60 of which have hit the area, Haaretz reports:

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday fired a barrage of more than 60 Katyusha and Qassam rockets at the western Negev, with a number exploding in the cities of Ashkelon and Be'er Sheva, previously thought to be beyond rocket reach.

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In an analysis piece, Haartz also reported that a leadership rivalry may be at the heart of the row over the proposed Gaza cease-fire:

The disagreement is rooted in the antipathy that has taken hold among the major players on the Israeli side as well as the tense jockeying for votes. In addition, there remains much confusion in the decision-making process that is similar to that which was cited by the Winograd committee report which investigated the lapses during the Second Lebanon War.

There are many similarities to the Lebanese affair, only this time the differences of opinion are given greater public airing. Four days after the breakout of the Second Lebanon War, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (and deputy IDF chief Moshe Kaplinsky) sought to set in motion a diplomatic process that would put an end to the fighting. Prime Minister Olmert balked.

The White House has, for its part, called on Hamas to stop firing missiles into Israel. Reuters has the story:

During the phone call with Olmert, Bush received assurances from the Israeli leader that Israel was only targeting Hamas and working to minimize civilian casualties, Johndroe said. The two did not discuss a timetable for halting Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, he said.

Comments

[wpiv926]

Now, could anyone in their right mind imagine a President Palin over in the middle east, saying, "okie dokey ya'll, ya better straighten up fly right!!"

[Islandtime]

If Palin thought the shopping in Gaza was good, she'd be on the ground by now.

[PEAdvocate]

God Bless Hamas!!!

[NER]

Hamas is not a peace-seeker.

[wml209]

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/downloads/democracy_flash/democracy_eng.swf

[jonjon66]

what should the Palestinian do?

just lie down and not fight back as Israels all powerful army and airforce reign down misery on it population.

[olgraydawg]

6 billion is an old figure, but, can we afford that now? Bad translations are regrettable. Deliberate false and misleading translations are lies not accidents. So rockets over the borders. Where are the borders now?

[mattheweste]

OK "debate" over.

The UN special rapporteur just weighed in.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-gardels/the-uns-richard-falk-gaza_b_154523.html

He says the massacre was a photo-op and Hamas probably didn't even fire any rockets.

[sc92705]

Hamas is one of the Islamic terrorists groups that have hijacked Islam. They are an outlaw group that needs to be eradicated as much as Al-Queda. Israel is fighting the war on terrorsists. If you claim they should stop actions in Gaza then at least be consistent and say the USA should leave Afghanistan.

[bbrecht]

Okay the US should leave Afghanistan!

You cannot win a war against terrorism by ignoring international law and human rights. How large will the conflict have to grow before you realize this?

How about treating people like human beings.

[Dolmance]

Actually, nobody has ever won a war against anyone without ignoring international law and human rights. Because that's what war is - the cessation of human rights and civil law.

The Taliban enabled Al Qaida to attack US civilians. That's what they do - they always attack civilians. The more women and children the better.

And as far as the American people are concerned, including most of the ones who voted for Obama - anyone who advocates a withdrawal from Afghanistan is a simply a crank.

[rayboston]

It's not a war in the classic sense. These folks are outlaws. Outlaws with rockets. They should be expelled before they harm more Palestinians by high in schools and hospitals like cowards.

[darthmaul]

Your right and I'm sure that half of the civilian fatalities, about 500 men, women and children agree that "eradicating" the other 500 Hamas soldiers was just and were happy to sacrifice their lives for this cause. Oh, that's right, nobody asked them, they just got in the way-collateral damage.

[samcerritos]

The latest conflict in Gaza between Israel & Hamas is Israel's latest attempt to destroy Hamas and, therefore, avoid being pressured by the Arab League & the Obama Administration to implement the Mecca Accord of February 1997.

The problem for Israel is that Hamas is also an ideology that is embraced by most Palestinians, including Fatah. Israel cannot destroy the ideology Hamas stands for by using its military and other economic pressures, tactics, etc.

In fact, such actions cause more people and, more importantly, younger people to embrace the ideology Hamas stands for and Israel opposes.

This issue will never be solved until the problems surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 are corrected.

Therefore, the US should stop putting US taxpayer's money down the "rat hole" called the Middle East problem.

We need to spend that money rebuilding our own buildings and infrastructure destroyed by years of neglect and misguided foreign policy objectives.

[smag]

Israel should tell Washington to go to hell.

[ultomatt]

Telling Hamas it must stop firing rockets at Israel is a little bit like telling Pee-Wee Herman to stop punching Mike Tyson...if they were ever in a fight together.

[mattheweste]

LOL, more like telling Pee-Wee to stop bashing Tyson's teeth with his ear.

[mattheweste]

Israel has suffered serious damage --- to its PR image.

[Merckx]

You mean with all the Arab countries that loved them so much before.
I didn't hear one Arab leader denounce Iran's President when he called for Israel to be pushed into the sea.

[mattheweste]

You genocide apologists really need new material.

Ahmedinejad said Israel will be destroyed. In fact anyone of good conscience says Israel must be wiped out. Just like Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa. These racist regimes must go.

See that's the difference between the two sides.

The good guys say racism must be destroyed.
You lot say an entire race (ie people) must be destroyed.

Comments here are running what? 4:1 against Israel despite 75% of anti-Israel comments being censored? Yeah this was a huge own-goal by you guys.

[fedupwithpolitics]

Maybe because he never said that. How's your Farsi?

[pkafin]

It seems that Israel is not concerned with what you think of it.

There are those who will hate Israel regardless of how she behaves. The Israeli leaders have made it clear that they are more interested in protecting their national endeavor than they are in winning a popularity contest.

[bbrecht]

Well, let them do it without our 3 billion dollars a year.

[mattheweste]

No, Israel spends a LOT of American money trying to look good.

Israel couldn't withstand an international boycott. Not one single country supports them -- I mean the people not the US allied dictators. Even in the US I think it's only 21% who support Israel. And that was before this massacre.

[Sons]

This attack at this time is about one thing: locking the Obama administration into acceptance and support of a radical, harsh, bloody response to Israel's Palestinian "problem".

The way our US politics is structured Obama will eventually be forced to support what is now happening in Gaza. When he accepts this blitzkrieg standard with its high Palestinian mortality, that re-sets the bar.

From this point on Obama is locked into accepting the kind of violence Israel is today carrying out. Otherwise, he contradicts his original position and would be heavily criticized. Its all a chess game.

If Benjamin Netenyaho wins the next election, as he seems poised to do, things could get a lot worse for Palestinians. It might even be possible we will see a large military campaign to physically drive all Palestinians out of their homeland into neighboring Arab countries.

Egypt's sealing their Gaza border is probably in anticipation of this event some day. Of course, the current government of Egypt does not want to see their country flooded with several million starving, poverty-stricken Palestinians and armed Hamas fighters.

[DLBSR]

Depends on how you gauge serious damage. If it were my house hit by an unprovoked unguided Hamas rocket or mortar barage, killing one of my children, you can bet I would be demanding an all out effort to rid my country of future threats. Arafat demanded the Gaza Strip, Israel relinquished it. Arafat demanded the West Bank so that he could build a Capitol for the "Palestenian State". Israel relinquished it. Arafat demanded Jerusuleum, Israel said no. Suicide bombers, rockets, mortar fire ensued from the former Israeli territories. Egypt and Israel ceased hostilities after the Camp David Accords were signed. Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty and live side-by-side in peace. Whenever the people odf palestine decide they really want peace and force Hamas and other militants from the teritories, peace there will be.

[ultomatt]

If a missile, guided, smart or dumb, regardless of provocation, hit your house and killed one or all of your children, you can bet you'd be demanding an all out effort to get it to stop...because CHILDREN ARE DYING. Not just Israeli children, also Palestinian CHILDREN, blown apart by smart weapons that saw them before they killed them. Palestinian primitive rockets are blind, they don't select their targets accurately, as does Israel. And in the end, the smug moralizing about collateral damage and terrorists using human shields, and the brutality being justifiable, means nothing in the dead face of an innocent child (non-denominational) blown apart in their sleep. Five sisters died sleeping on their couch, between ages 4 and 17. Does it matter that they were Palestinians? Not to my mind. The best wars are meat circus's, the worst are an affront to humanity. This mess is in the latter category. One side defenseless, no army, no navy, no air force, only handmade rockets, while the other side is armed to the teeth with an army, navy, air force, nuclear weapons. This is not warfare. It is slaughter.