Everybody sing... "Here we go again... same old sh!t
again..."
It was just too good to be true. I doubt Israel will just sit there
making small retaliations for all the rockets sent their way. I
smell a plan.. *sniff*
GAZA CITY (AP) -- Israel launched a "crushing" retaliation
Saturday against Hamas in Gaza with deadly airstrikes, troops
massed at the border and a planned ground incursion.
The Israeli action came after militants fired 35 rockets at Israeli
towns -- their first major attack since the Gaza pullout.
Israeli aircraft struck three suspected weapons-storage facilities
in Gaza and a school in a crowded Gaza City neighborhood late
Saturday and early Sunday, wounding 17 people, Palestinian
officials said.
Earlier, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at cars carrying militants
in Gaza City, killing two Hamas militants.
The escalation threatened to derail a shaky seven-month-old truce
and quashed hopes that Israel's ceding the coastal strip to the
Palestinians would invigorate peacemaking.
Israel's reprisals drew new Hamas threats of revenge, while
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas came under growing Israeli
pressure to confront the militants.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told security chiefs in a meeting that
"the ground of Gaza should shake" and that he wanted to exact a
high price from Palestinians everywhere, not just the militants,
participants said.
The crisis erupted just before a major challenge to Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's leadership in his hardline Likud Party, and
could strengthen the hand of Sharon's main rival, Benjamin
Netanyahu, who has warned the Gaza pullout endangers Israel.
A Likud vote Monday could determine whether Sharon quits the party
-- a move that would likely bring early elections and prompt Sharon
to form a new centrist party to capture mainstream voters.
On Saturday evening, Sharon convened his Security Cabinet, a group
of senior ministers, to approve a series of military operations
proposed by Mofaz, culminating with a ground incursion into
Gaza.
Security officials said that "Operation First Rain" would include
artillery fire, air strikes and other targeted attacks. The
operation will grow in intensity, leading up to a ground operation
unless the Palestinian security takes action to halt the rocket
attacks or Hamas ends the attacks itself.
The ground operation would require final approval from the full
Cabinet, the officials added. They spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to publicize the operation's
details.
The officials said the army planned to create a buffer zone in
northern Gaza by ordering residents to leave their homes, and said
a closure barring Palestinian laborers from entering Israel would
remain in effect.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed.