Israel: Gaza Operations Expansions Reportedly Planned

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel has authorized its military to take all necessary steps to stop rocket fire from Gaza, including a ground operation, an Israeli military official said Tuesday, as Egypt worked on a truce and said Israel had agreed to delay stepping up its response.

The Israeli government decision stopped well short of ordering tanks to roll into Gaza, and it appeared unlikely that would happen, as rocket fire all but stopped over the past day. The official said the decision authorized the military to act in accordance with the severity of Palestinian attacks, meaning that a ground offensive would be ordered only after massive rocket fire.

The Israeli official spoke on condition of anonymity because no statement was made.

Egypt's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority said Tuesday that Egypt obtained an Israeli pledge to hold its fire while efforts were under way to persuade Palestinian militants to stop the rocket barrages.

This is the third case of Egyptian diplomatic involvement with Israel over the last month, after two prisoner exchanges. Israel has been concerned that Egypt's new rulers might toughen their line on Israel in accordance with widespread public dislike of the Jewish state despite a 1979 peace treaty. Egypt's diplomatic activity might calm those concerns.

The sudden spike in violence began when militants in Gaza started firing salvos at Israel late last week, and Israeli retaliated with airstrikes. One Israeli civilian and at least 10 Palestinian militants were killed in the worst violence on that front in months.

The confrontation threatened to spiral into a larger conflict, and Egypt stepped in to try to restore calm.

"In the past few hours, Egypt saved Gaza from severe destruction and succeeded in securing Israeli restraint to give Egyptians time to reach a cease-fire agreement with Palestinian factions," Egypt's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Othman, told The Associated Press Tuesday.

On Monday, Netanyahu warned from the podium of the Israeli parliament that Israel would operate "vigorously and resolutely" against those who would threaten its security.

"A security philosophy cannot rely on defense alone," Netanyahu said. "It must also include offensive capabilities, the very foundation of deterrence."

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel's position has not changed.

The military said there have been no Israeli airstrikes since around midnight Monday. Two rockets were fired from Gaza during that time. The relative calm prevailed through Tuesday afternoon.

The rocket attacks have disrupted life in southern Israel, forcing schools to close. About 1 million Israelis live within range of rockets from Gaza.

The Islamic Jihad faction was behind the initial rocket attacks. On Sunday the militant faction agreed to stop the violence if Israel also did. Rocket fire that drew retaliatory Israeli airstrikes persisted afterward, but it was claimed by a different militant group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Gaza's ruling Hamas group, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in past violence, has not directly been involved in the attacks. Israel holds Hamas responsible for all violence from the territory.

Also Tuesday, Hamas said the Israeli military arrested one of its leaders in the West Bank, Hassan Youssef. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the move "a dangerous Israeli escalation against Hamas and against one of the symbols of the elected Palestinian legitimacy."

Youssef, a member of the Palestinian parliament, was released from an Israeli prison in August after serving six years.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Hamas has controlled Gaza since taking it over in June 2007 during a civil war with its rival, Fatah. The West Bank is governed by the Palestinian Authority, run by President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who, unlike Hamas, favors a negotiated settlement with Israel.

______

Additional reporting by Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Cairo and Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip.

Comments

[dad4lifesl]

11:36 AM on 11/02/2011

It seems the real history of Israel and Palestine has been convenient­ly forgotten. The U.N. split the land between the Israelis and the Palestinia­ns, and on May 14, 1948 Israel along with the U.N. declared Israel as a state. Then the Palestinia­ns aided by 6 other Arab armies launched a war to prevent Jewish independen­ce and secure all the land. Basically Israel kicked the crap out of them and secured their land plus some of the land meant for Palestine. What was left was taken by Jordan and Egypt. Neither one of those Arab states allowed Palestine to form their own independen­t government on those lands. Just a quick reminder of how things went down and how Israel has been fighting for its very existence from day one...

[AJ Raalte]

02:17 PM on 11/02/2011

F&F

[FACTISFACT]

08:52 AM on 11/02/2011

Well this announcement is a very good news for the world community to start preparing for the long awaited WW-III at the behest of Israel cum......

It has a message for both EGYPT + HAMAS to kidnap as many as security/Armed personnel as possible instead of Firing missiles.

[Michael D Ballantine]

05:59 AM on 11/02/2011

This is a strategic mistake for Israel. With all eyes on Syria, Israel thinks it can act with impunity. All the Arab world is looking for something or someone to unify them and Israel is handing it to them. Israel needs to stay low for awhile until the Palestinian state is ruled on by the security council. This could make it impossible for the US to block it, not that I support that action, but that is the policy of the US. I agree that a two-state solution is unworkable and would rather see a one state democratic solution that provides economic advantage to both people. If Israel wants to watch the remaining support in America evaporate, this is a good way.

[yourbuffers]

12:41 PM on 11/02/2011

WRONG.

[Michael D Ballantine]

08:46 PM on 11/02/2011

Checkback in 30 days. :-)

[muck-raker]

04:25 AM on 11/02/2011

American news reports repeatedly describe Israeli military attacks against the Palestinian population as “retaliation.” However, when one looks into the chronology of death in this conflict, the reality turns out to be quite different.

Source: B'Tselem, The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. (Visit their statistics page, last updated Oct. 31, 2010.)

The numbers cited above include civilians and combatants killed by members of the opposing nationality (and therefore, do not include Palestinians killed by an explosive device that they set or was on their person, Israelis killed in 'friendly fire' incidents, etc.). The numbers also do not include the sizable number of Palestinians who died as a result of inability to reach medical care due to Israeli road closures, curfews, the Israeli closure of border crossing from Gaza, etc.

The figure for Palestinian deaths is extremely conservative, since it is difficult for B'Tselem to report on deaths in the Palestinian territories. The Palestine Red Crescent Society, internationally respected for its statistical rigor, reports significantly higher numbers of Palestinian deaths. We do not doubt the reliability of their data, and only use B'Tselem's more conservative numbers because they collect data on both populations
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/deaths.html

[demsrsilly]

05:34 AM on 11/02/2011

So your answer is for Israel not to respond to rocket attacks. Nice.

[rosiebond007]

01:53 AM on 11/02/2011

Call it by the correct name .... IT'S EXTERMINATION !

[Satirist1]

02:24 AM on 11/02/2011

Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming

[FDRinhell]

09:46 PM on 11/01/2011

Long live Israel. God bless the IDF. Please rid the land of terrorists who have no care for innocent life.

[logansteele1]

12:36 AM on 11/02/2011

Agreed.

[1Tiffanytnt]

07:48 PM on 11/01/2011

As this country-AMERICA-suffers, Israel is using our money to rip the souls from people in the war that keeps them in power. Shedding blood is an old act perpetuated by old reincarnated souls inside and around everyone caught up in wars. Israel is no exception.

As we are caught up in wars, souls are making a mockery of humanity.
http://warbetweensouls.wordpress.com

[Json]

06:06 PM on 11/01/2011

So when the Palestinians take the unilateral step to avoid negotiations and go directly to the UN, that is good..?
But when Israel decides to protect it's citizens from terrorist rockets, that is a bad thing...?

I'd like to believe that the threat of increasing activity in Gaza would make Hamas stop the rockets, but I know I am deluding myself.

[logansteele1]

12:41 AM on 11/02/2011

I agree 100%. Palestine has no real desire to compromise with, and recognize the Israeli state. Why in the world would Israel put itself out to understand rocket fire from and enemy?

[muck-raker]

05:07 PM on 11/01/2011

Since Israel controls most News here is some truth: " conclusion to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, "Operation Cast Lead." the might of the one of world's strongest military laid waste to a densely-packed territory of 1.4 million Palestinians without an escape route.

The parallel propaganda battle fought by Israel's official and unofficial apologists continued after ceasefire, in a desperate struggle to combat repeated reports by human rights groups of breaches of international law. -- the reality of Israel's war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Very early on in Operation Cast Lead, the scale of Israel's attack became apparent. In first six days the Israeli Air Force carried out more than 500 sorties against targets in Gaza Strip. That amounted to attack from air roughly every 18 minutes -- hundreds of helicopter attacks, tank and navy shelling, and infantry raids. All of this on territory similar in size to US city of Seattle.

International Red Cross noted in 22 days of Israeli military operation, nowhere in Gaza was safe for civilians," with "whole neighborhoods" turned "into rubble." With areas looking "like the epicenter of massive earthquake," there is still "half a million tons of concrete rubble" to clear. [1]

By the end of assault which targeted schools, homes, mosques, university buildings, police stations, ministries , 3,600 housing units were totally destroyed, 2,700 sustained major damage and 52,000 houses need minor repair, according to UNRWA-UNDP housing survey.

http://www.ceia-sc.org/page37/page158/page158.lies.html

[enderM]

05:33 PM on 11/01/2011

A Hamas representative in the PA legislative council this year expressed pride in the fact that women and children are used as human shields in fighting Israel. He described it as part of a "death industry" at which Palestinians excel, and explained that the Palestinians "desire death" with the same intensity that Israelis "desire life."
The following is the full text of the comments by Hamas representative Fathi Hamad: "For the Palestinian people death became an industry, at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire death as you desire life."

[squiems]

09:46 PM on 11/01/2011

if you compare the percentage of buildings destroyed or damaged, then gaza was virtually unscathed compared to some other cities which experienced modern urban warfare pitting a modern military against a guerrilla force.

vukovar, grozny, fallujah, kilinochchi...all were far more devastated than gaza was after operation cast lead, in all examples more civilians killed, and in all (with the possible exception of fallujah), a FAR greater ratio of civilian to militant deaths.

Yet israel has received orders of magnitude more condemnation, even though any observer with a hint of objectivity could tell that israel went to FAR greater lengths to spare civilian lives and property. It would be funny is the consequences weren't so serious.

[muck-raker]

04:54 PM on 11/01/2011

Why do we only hear about the rockets from Gaza that have no guidance an rarely hit anything but an empty field....but wait what it this:
Norman Finkelstein on Democracy Now, 6/29/06
Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in September 2005 ’til today, the estimates run between 7,000 and 9,000 heavy artillery shells have been shot and fired into Gaza. On the Palestinian side, the estimates are approximately 1,000 Kassam missiles, crude missiles, have been fired into Israel. So we have a ratio of between seven and nine to one.

[Anybodyseenthepopos]

05:32 PM on 11/01/2011

And the ratio between those aimed to slaughter civilians...?

1000 TO ZERO

[enderM]

05:45 PM on 11/01/2011

what about between 2006 and now?
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/09208606800305945142/label/QassamCount

2010 saw over 150 rokts and over 215 morttar attks
2009 saw 569 rokts and 289 mortar launches

As of 2009, almost three years ago…there were over 4,800 rotkts….and over 4,000 that hit izral since withdrawal from gazza.

while yu attempt to minimize the effect, well over 1,000 people have been either maimmed
or ki||||ed by those rokts with 'no guidance'. and btw, what difference does it make if they are 'unguided' when they are 'unguided' in the sole direction of civilian communities.

[bad spelling grammar]

04:40 PM on 11/01/2011

Israel’s approval rating is falling each year, the world is sick of them not cooperating with anyone and the fact that this rebellious country owns nuclear weapons is a scary thought to the world. Netanyahu has said numerous times that he would use nuclear weapons if he felt the need to. Well if he is happy with starting WW3 then go ahead, I am 100% positive on how the rest of the world would react in that situation, China, Russia and parts of Europe would be immediately step in. The US would be forced with a hard choice but ultimately like in WW2 we would back our own interests and Israel would perish. So by all means please continue your voice of self preservation in the form of constant war, it will come to haunt you in the future.

[squiems]

09:47 PM on 11/01/2011

Actually, depending on which poll you look at, support for israel among americans is at either an all time or a 20 year high.

[muck-raker]

04:35 PM on 11/01/2011

Did Israel Provoke Increase in Rockets to Justify Operation Cast Lead?

Prior to Operation Cast Lead,had been six months of a truce

When Israel escalated the tensions on November 4, 2008, killing six Hamas men in an operation Israel said was meant to thwart a tunnel Hamas was building to abduct more Israeli soldiers, some people felt that Israel was intentionally raising the stakes because the truce was holding and Hamas was fortifying its position in Gaza.

, Israel struck hard at Hamas with an excuse knowing that Hamas would feel it had no choice but to retaliate.
Barak stressed that while it was not permanent, for the time being it was holding. There have been a number of violations of the ceasefire on the Gaza side, but Palestinian factions other than Hamas were responsible. Hacham said the Israelis assess that Hamas is making a serious effort to convince the other factions not to launch rockets or mortars. Israel remains concerned by Hamas’ ongoing efforts to use the Tahdiya to increase their strength, and at some point, military action will have to be put back on the table. The Israelis reluctantly admit that the Tahdiya has served to further consolidate Hamas’ grip on Gaza, but it has brought a large measure of peace and quiet to Israeli communities near Gaza.
Israel deliberately ended the truce with white phosporus, cluster bombs from helicopters
http://mitchellplitnick.com/2011/02/08/did-israel-provoke-increase-in-rockets-to-justify-operation-cast-lead/

[Anybodyseenthepopos]

05:37 PM on 11/01/2011

Another ridiculous post. Hamas was digging a new tunnel for the express purpose of kinapping more Israelis like Gilad Shalit. And the treaty had been broken on numerous occasions with sporadic rocket fire from Gaza.
Also, the White Phosphorous was NOT weaponized. However Hamas did fire off white phosphorous shells with the intent to murder civilians.

[squiems]

09:48 PM on 11/01/2011

Rocket fire slowed, but never stopped during the so called truce. Another silly example of palestinian propaganda.

Start a war, lose a war, complain until the far left comes to your aid. Rinse and repeat. It's the palestinian way.

[Somali]

04:36 PM on 11/01/2011

In other words, Israel is planning on invasion of Gaza. We will see how this goes.

[JacksonJones]

06:36 PM on 11/01/2011

In other words, you'd prefer to ignore the rockets if that's what it takes to blame Israel.

[Gracie fr]

04:07 PM on 11/01/2011

Looks like the Israelis are taking advantage of an another golden opportunity as the international community frets over Greek debt....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/01/israel-settlement-growth-unesco-vote-palestinians

[GZLives]

12:42 AM on 11/02/2011

The Israelis chose the moment Gaza terrorists decided to fire rockets at her?

[Gracie fr]

03:57 PM on 11/01/2011

Internet services in the West Bank and Gaza have come under "sustained attack" by unknown hackers in multiple locations, according to officials. "There has been a sustained attack since the morning from many sources in many countries," said Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib. "It is deliberate and continuous....And punishment!!!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/01/palestinians-hit-cyber-attack-unesco

[Gui Montag]

04:25 PM on 11/01/2011

Maybe the Ps just forgot to pay the bill again and just decided to blame the Joooz instead.

Wouldn't be the first time.

[Gracie fr]

06:02 AM on 11/02/2011

Unjust moneylenders are harsh with the even the poorest of debtors.....

[enderM]

04:25 PM on 11/01/2011

their roket attacks are deliberate as well….why don't yu complain about that?