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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli tanks and artillery shells targeted the upper floors of the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis
2024-02-10
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Usually that’s because Hamas snipers have been shooting from the hospital at IDF troops.

Whining because in the middle of a war they are surrounded by warfare, even though they are not the target:

Related:
Palestinian Red Crescent Society: 2024-02-03 Israeli forces storm al-Amal Hospital for third time
Palestinian Red Crescent Society: 2024-02-02 Israeli occupation forces released the PRCS's colleague, Muhammed Abu Rukbeh, who was detained with other members of our team from inside the Red Crescent ambulance centre in Jabalia 42 days ago.
Palestinian Red Crescent Society: 2010-06-27 6/25 was Gilad Schalit Day -- marking four years in Hamas captivity
Related:
Khan Younis: 2024-02-09 IDF says troops find material in Gaza tunnel showing direct links, coordination with Iran
Khan Younis: 2024-02-09 IDF reveals Gaza tunnel, previously used by Hamas officials, with cell for hostages
Khan Younis: 2024-02-09 Captured commander of Hamas elite unit urges militants to surrender like he did
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli occupation forces released the PRCS's colleague, Muhammed Abu Rukbeh, who was detained with other members of our team from inside the Red Crescent ambulance centre in Jabalia 42 days ago.
2024-02-02
[TWITTER]

So is he really Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad?
Related:
Palestinian Red Crescent Society: 2010-06-27 6/25 was Gilad Schalit Day -- marking four years in Hamas captivity
Palestinian Red Crescent Society: 2009-02-09 Tens of thousands of Gazans in tents
Palestinian Red Crescent Society: 2009-02-04 Update: "Destroyed" Al Quds Hospital Back to Normal in a Few Days
Related:
Palestinian Red Crescent: 2023-10-16 Gaza War, Day 9: Briefs from the Times of Israel Liveblog
Palestinian Red Crescent: 2023-07-03 Gun battles break out in West Bank as Israel's military launches huge 'counterterrorism' raid killing at least seven Palestinians in militant stronghold
Palestinian Red Crescent: 2022-11-10 Palestinian teenager murdered by Zionist forces east of Nablus
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
France protests Israel's deportation of terrorist who planned to kill chief rabbi
2020-09-08
[Jpost] France has registered an official protest against Israel’s planned deportation of French-Palestinian terrorist Salah Hamouri, who planned to assassinate former chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef, along with other attacks.

Paris asked Israel on Sunday to postpone the expulsion and allow Hamouri, who is a French citizen, to be reunited with his family in Jerusalem.
France is only an airplane ride away. Let ‘em hold the reunion there.
Foreign Ministry deputy director-general for Europe Anna Azari told French Ambassador to Israel Eric Danon that Israel plans to revoke Hamouri’s residency in light of his continued, active membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

“Israel is committed to fighting terror and is acting against the terrorists among us, as France and many other countries in the world do,” she said.Azari shared details of Hamouri’s case with Danon, including that he was served prison sentences for numerous security crimes, including taking part in the planned but thwarted assassination of Yosef, funding terrorism and recruiting PFLP members.

Hamouri continues his hostile actions against Israel to this day, Azari continued, and was recently put in administrative detention for 13 months because of those activities.

According to Azari, Hamouri took advantage of his permanent residence status in order to harm the State of Israel and its residents, which is a clear breach of trust against the state – the standard by which Israel revokes residency.

Hamouri was born in Jerusalem to a French mother and a Palestinian father and is a French citizen. His wife Elsa Lefort, daughter of the French former communist MP and president of the France-Palestine Solidarity Association Jean-Claude Lefort, was expelled from Israel in 2016 and banned for 10 years. They have a four-year-old son.

The PFLP member was sentenced to seven years in prison for his involvement in the attempt to assassinate Yosef, but was released after two years as one of the 1,027 terrorists traded for captive soldier Gilad Schalit in 2011.

After his release, he told Reuters that he has no regrets, saying "I am certain of the path and the choices I have chosen."

Hamouri called Yosef "a symbol of racism and fanaticism in Israel."

Yosef consented to Hamouri's release from prison, because it enabled Schalit to be freed.

The Interior Ministry informed Hamouri on Thursday that it plans to revoke his permanent Jerusalem resident status, effectively deporting him, due to his continued ties to the PFLP. He has one month to appeal the decision.

The Knesset passed a law in 2018 that allows the government to revoke the permanent residence status of east Jerusalem residents who commit an act of breach of trust against the state. The interior minister must consult with the justice minister before making his decision, which the resident can appeal before the district court.
Related:
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine : 2020-04-08 Israeli citizen was arrested on suspicion of having links with #Iranian intelligence agencies
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine : 2019-12-21 ‘Extensive overlaps' between BDS and terror groups revealed
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine : 2019-05-27 Arab Report: Ex-IDF Officer Admits 2015 Assassination Of Terrorist Kuntar
Related:
Jean-Claude Lefort: 2011-07-06 French Protest Boat Quits Greece for Gaza
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian Fugitive Dies at Embassy in Bulgaria
2016-02-26
[ABC] Bulgarian authorities are investigating the unexplained death on Friday of a Palestinian, wanted by Israel for a 1986 killing, at the Palestinian Authority's embassy in Sofia.

The embassy identified the dead man as Omar Nayef Zayed, who took refuge in the embassy late last year fearing extradition to Israel.

The Bulgarian prosecutor's office said it was told by the embassy Friday morning of a death resulting from violence on the territory of the embassy. The Palestinian ambassador granted access to the investigators, it said, adding that the cause of death has not been established yet.

Bulgarian Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov said the body was found outside the embassy by a Palestinian embassy staffer as he parked his car. Zayed was still alive when an ambulance arrived, and there were no gunshot wounds. He died at the scene before paramedics were able to take him to a hospital.

Tsatsarov suggested a possible cause of death was that he had fallen from the embassy building. The Palestinian militant group PFLP, however, reported that Zayed was shot in the head.

Zayed, 52, escaped from Israeli custody 25 years ago and has lived in Sofia since 1994. He was convicted of the murder of an Israeli man in Jerusalem's Old City and given a life sentence.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered an investigation committee to go to Bulgaria immediately and probe the circumstances of the killing. Abbas was quoted as condemning the killing.

PFLP said Zayed was a member of their organization, who together with his brother and another Palestinian had stabbed an Israeli in 1986 and had received life sentence.

In 1990, Zayed was hospitalized in Bethlehem following a hunger strike, and later escaped from the hospital, moving to several Arab countries before settling in Bulgaria.

Israel asked the Bulgarian justice minister in 2015 to extradite him and Bulgarian authorities called on him to surrender. He refused and sought refuge in the Palestinian Authority's embassy in Sofia.

His brother, Ahmed Zayed, and the other Palestinian were among those released in a 2011 swap for an Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, who had been held by Hamas-allied militants in Gaza for five years.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IAF strike kills Hamas military chief Jabari
2012-11-15
Followup and more details in this JPost account.
The IAF struck and killed Hamas armed wing Izzadin Kassam Brigades commander Ahmed Jabari in central Gaza on Wednesday. The strike marked the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense to target Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror organizations in Gaza, IDF spokesman Yoav Mordechai announced.

Jabari was killed when an IAF missile struck the car he was traveling in, in the central Strip. One other person was killed in the attack.

Following the assassination, the IAF struck over 20 underground rocket launchers belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The airstrikes targeted long-range rockets in the possession of terror organizations, such as the Fajr-5 and other rockets that are capable of striking Tel Aviv from Gaza. Palestinian sources said that six Gazans were killed in the IDF strikes.
Fajr-5: say, isn't that an Iranian brand?
The IDF said it believes it has eliminated the majority of the long-range threat.

"The first aim of this operation is to bring back quiet to southern Israel, and the second target is to strike at terror organizations," Mordechai said. "The homefront must brace itself resiliently," he added, describing Jabari as a man with "a lot of blood on his hands."

The IDF says Jabari carried out and ordered numerous terror attacks against Israel, including the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit and the firing of hundreds of rockets in recent years.
Perhaps his mother loved him...
He was dedicated in the womb to the goddess Kali. He never belonged to his mother to love.
Mordechai added that Gaza is a "forward Iranian base," adding that the latest campaign of air strikes targeted most of the long-range offensive capabilities in the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He added that columns of smoke were visible around Gaza.

The majority of the Gaza weapons storage sites targeted by the IAF were located in civilian residential buildings, the IDF confirmed. "This is further evidence of the pattern of Hamas to use the population in Gaza as human shields," the IDF stressed.
Typical Paleo behavior, in other words...
Ten people including three children were killed by Israeli strikes on Wednesday, according to the Gazan health ministry. About 40 were wounded. Among the dead were an 11-month-old baby and a woman pregnant with twins.

The IDF has urged civilians to pay attention to instructions from the Home Front Command in light of the developments.

In response to the attacks, Hamas said that "the occupation has opened the gates of hell™."
As you say. Git along lil Gazan dogie, git along through that gate!
Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said the assassination will not "break the will of our people, nor weaken our resistance," Al Ahram reported.
Having all your weapons blow up literally under your feet may impact that. And if not, at least you will have neither weapons nor feet.
Al-Rishq made the comments on his Facebook site, adding that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is using the "war crime" to boost his chances of reelection, but that it could "cost him his political future."

Wednesday's violence came after a four-day rocket barrage which began Saturday appeared to have come to an end on Tuesday evening. The hostilities saw over 100 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel and Israeli retaliatory strikes which killed six Palestinians. Both Israel and Hamas sent signals to each other via Egypt that they would hold their fire unless attacked, after five days of mounting violence.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas assassination is beginning of an operation against Gaza militants
2012-11-14
[Fox News] The Israeli military says its liquidation of the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, military commander marks the beginning of an operation against Gazoo hard boys.
Hope and change, baby!
Wednesday's Arclight airstrike in Gazoo killed Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing. The killing was a dramatic resumption of Israel's policy of assassinating Paleostinian hard boy leaders.

Military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch said the attack is the "start of a broader operation."

Jabari is the most senior Hamas official to be killed since an Israeli invasion of Gazoo four years ago.

Jabari has long topped Israel's most-wanted list. Israel blames him for a string of attacks, including the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit in 2006.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
The Sinai attack: Blow by blow
2012-08-08
[Jerusalem Post] Vague tip arrived in Israel weekend before attack, but it was enough to spur IDF into action, preparing forces.
Many thanks due to the tipster and the brave men of the Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion, who took on a tank armed only with standard issue machine guns.
The first tip about the attack that took place along the Egyptian border on Sunday night arrived in Israel sometime over the weekend.

It was vague and unclear, without details of time, place, target or type of attack. But with that scanty information in hand, OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Tal Russo needed to prepare his forces for an attack he did not exactly know where or how would happen along a border that runs some 230 km.

As other indicators set off alarms in the Southern Command's intelligence division, Russo and his troops got ready. For that reason, for example, Russo decided to evacuate soldiers from borderline positions near the Kerem Shalom Crossing -- where the Death Eaters would later breach the border -- out of fear that anti-tank missiles would be fired at their positions.

About 20 minutes before the attack, the IDF noticed that something was happening on the Egyptian side of the border.

It was exactly then that around 35 gunnies stormed an Egyptian military base some 2 km. from the border, broke into the dining hall as the soldiers were sitting down for the daily iftar meal -- at which Mohammedans break their fast during Ramadan -- and shot and killed 16 soldiers.

They then stole an armored vehicle.

Joined by a pickup truck, estimated to have been carrying half-a-ton of explosives, the armored vehicle began heading towards the border, a regular sight for IDF surveillance teams.

But then, the two vehicles stormed through the Egyptian border gate and then through the Israeli gate as well, the same one Gilad Schalit crossed through late last year.

A few months ago the IDF had placed several concrete slabs directly opposite the gate to prevent such infiltrations, but the armored vehicle had no problem maneuvering itself right past it.

The pickup truck though, got stuck in the sand.

In Israel, the armored vehicle started driving south, in the direction of Eilat, directly alongside the border fence with Egypt. After about a kilometer it encountered a group of soldiers from the Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion which opened fire with its standard-issued machine guns. Despite sustaining only minor damage, the armored vehicle decided to turn around and head back towards the Kerem Shalom Crossing where it again turned right on Road 232, the main highway that runs through the Eshkol Region.

In the meantime back at the border gate, the pickup truck suddenly went kaboom!, shaking windows in nearby IDF bases. Later, soldiers were to find remains of at least one person, although the body was unidentifiable.

Back to the armored vehicle.

After driving for about 100 meters on the highway, it encountered another force from the Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion which again opened fire, but failed to stop the vehicle's advance.

Driving at speeds of around 70 kph, the IDF feared that the vehicle was on its way to a nearby Israeli town and decided to send three tanks onto the highway, one from the north, one from behind and one from the west. After the vehicle had crossed some 2 km, an Israeli aircraft, diverted to the scene, fired off a missile, finally causing the necessary damage to stop the vehicle's advance.
Video at link.
The bombing, approved by Russo, was not a simple decision and was unprecedented due to the fact that it took place inside Israeli territory.

After the vehicle stopped, two of the Death Eaters exited it and headed for cover in nearby fields, opening fire at a farming vehicle. In the meantime, the tank, behind, fired two shells from a short distance, destroying the vehicle and killing at least five other Death Eaters still inside.

Later, after a short shootout, IDF soldiers killed the two Death Eaters outside.

Most of the Death Eaters were found to be wearing explosive bomb belts which has led the IDF to believe their target was to infiltrate either an IDF base or a nearby town and kill as many people as possible. The identities of the attackers are still unknown, although a majority of them are believed to be Beduin from the Sinai Peninsula.

The attack was also very similar to the cross-border attack that took place last August near the Netafim Crossing during which eight Israelis were killed. Then, the attackers were also Beduin, were also wearing boom belts and also carried out a sophisticated attack.

While the IDF was successful in averting a major disaster -- such as would have occurred had the attack succeeded -- it ultimately understands that many more attacks are in the planning and that the key to preventing them will be an increase in cooperation with the Egyptians as well as in defenses along Israel's southern border.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza's Global Jihadis
2012-06-23
[Jerusalem Post] Jihadi groups are said to be operating in the Strip without any consideration for Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,'s interest.

In 2006, Abu Abd Al-Rahman, a top al-Qaeda operative based in Afghanistan, received a letter.

One of the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones...
's closest associates and known by a slew of aliases, Rahman -- who was killed in a drone strike in Pakistain in 2011 -- was at the time a renowned Islamic religious authority in global jihad circles.

He often received letters from global jihad followers stationed across the globe, but this letter was different; It came from the Gazoo Strip.

Sent by the Army of Islam, at the time a fairly obscure terrorist group, the letter included a number of questions pertaining to Islamic religious law.

Over the years, the Army of Islam has turned into a formidable force in Gazoo. It assisted Hamas in kidnapping Gilad Schalit and later was behind the abduction of BBC news hound Alan Johnston. Designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department, its members have been targets of Israeli assassinations over the years.

The first question in the letter was whether the group could receive money from Paleostinian organizations to fund its terror activities. One example it gave was the Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
, which wanted to give the Army of Islam money to carry out attacks against Israel. The problem, the letter noted, was that Islamic Jihad was heavily funded by Iran, perceived as an "infidel" Shi'ite state by the global jihad Salafis.

The second question was whether the Army of Islam could invest in the stock market to finance its terrorist activities. Finally, the letter asked whether the organization could kill drug smugglers, steal their drugs and money and use it to finance terrorist activities.

The letter was discovered last year in the home in Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
, Pakistain where United States Navy SEALs found and killed bin Laden. It was one of nearly 20 documents that were declassified and published recently by the US military's Combating Terrorism Center.

For the Mossad and Military Intelligence, the discovery of the letter in the intelligence treasure trove reinforced what it had already known: al- Qaeda and global jihad do not pose a virtual and imaginary threat but are real and have cells operating along Israel's borders.

The attack on Monday along the Egyptian border, which killed construction worker Said Phashpashe, is believed to have been the work of another global jihad organization called Tawhid wal- Jihad, a shadowy group in Gazoo that was behind the kidnapping of an Italian activist in Gazoo last year. Hamas clashed with the group, stormed the home where the worker was being held and secured his release.

The group's involvement in the attack on Monday might be one of the reasons why Hamas decided this week to break its longstanding abstention from rocket attacks. Before this week, the last time Hamas fired was in April 2011 in the round of violence that erupted following a Hamas anti-tank missile attack against a school bus, which killed an Israeli teenager.

But now, global jihad groups are operating freely and without consideration for Hamas's interests.

The attack on Monday, for example, could have been carried out without Hamas's knowledge or approval. As a result, it is possible that Hamas felt its status was being undermined and therefore decided to renew its rocket fire and show who the real terror leader is in the Gazoo Strip.

Another possibility is that Hamas feels bolstered by the potential Moslem Brüderbund takeover in Egypt with a possible win in the presidential elections.

As a result, it feels like it can be less restrained when it comes to attacking Israel than it has been in recent years.

Ultimately though, the IDF does not believe that Hamas is really interested in a major escalation, the scale and scope of which could lead to another Operation Cast Lead. With the school year ending this week and summer vacation about to begin, Israel is also looking to avoid a larger conflict.

For that reason, the IDF's response has been relatively moderate with nearly 10 air strikes but none that really targeted manned Hamas positions.

In the past, Hamas has not hesitated to use force against the Salafi groups in Gazoo. One memorable incident was in August 2009 when Hamas forces raided the Ibn Taymmiyah mosque in Rafah.

During the festivities, 24 Paleostinians were killed and more than 130 were maimed. Several hundred more were enjugged
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
by Hamas.

"The presence of these organizations in the Gazoo Strip is not new," a senior IDF intelligence officer said this week. "We have been tracking them for years."

The lawlessness in the Sinai Peninsula, though, the officer noted, has created new opportunities for these organizations, some of them ranked as more radical than Hamas.

The ability to move between Sinai and Gazoo -- two places where the rule of law is not prominent -- has provided these groups not only with the means (weapons, explosives and money) but also with new operatives who can travel to Sinai to take up arms against Israel.

But while Sinai creates opportunities for these groups, for Israel it currently appears to be an almost unsolvable problem. The IDF, which admits to having limited intelligence on what happens there, is also voicing concern over the growing involvement of the local Beduin population in attacks against Israel, something expected to increase as the border fence is completed and the smuggling industry, which Sinai relies on, is hit hard.

The main problem for Israel is that unlike Gazoo -- where it feels it can operate freely against terror infrastructure -- the same cannot be said about Sinai where a single Israeli incursion or air strike would be viewed as a violation of Egyptian illusory sovereignty and likely lead to the immediate annulment of the peace treaty.

For that reason, the message coming out of Jerusalem this week was that the Egyptian government and whoever leads it as president needs to take immediate action to restore control over Sinai and remove the threat from Israel's borders. The message has yet to include an "or else" threat but if the attacks continue, the pressure will be on Israel to begin taking action to stop them.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Terrorists freed in Schalit deal return to terror
2012-04-17
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Tuesday revealed two cases of terrorists who were released in the Gilad Schalit deal who have already returned to committing acts of terror.

In October 2011, Israel released over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in a deal with Hamas which brought Schalit home after five years of captivity.

The first, Daoud Chilo, a resident of a refugee camp near Ramallah, was convicted of attempting to illegally buy weapons one month after his release. He was arrested by security forces and sentenced to just under four years in prison.
Arrested? Imprisoned? Why not just whack him?
The second, Omer Abu Snina, a member of Hamas and resident of Hebron, was deported to Gaza as part of the Schalit deal. Subsequently, he attempted to solicit and induce others to commit terrorist acts in the West Bank, including perpetrating kidnappings.

Over the course of the probe, investigators recovered a memory card from Abu Snina which included details related to kidnapping soldiers, illegally obtaining weapons and establishing a terrorist cell.
He definitely needs to disappear...
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Cafe Hillel bomber promotes Global March to J'lem
2012-03-17
Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, operative promotes march; protesters from countries surrounding Israel plan to converge on borders.

Senior Hamas terrorist Dr.Abd al-Aziz Amru, released to the Gazoo Strip in the Gilad Schalit prisoner swap, traveled recently to South Africa to advance the Global March to Jerusalem, scheduled for later this month, as detailed in a paper published Friday by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

Under the plan, protesters from Jordan, Egypt, Gazoo, the West Bank, Syria and Leb will converge on Israel's borders on March 30. As reported earlier this week in The Jerusalem Post, the IDF is preparing for the planned marches and will distribute riot gear to units deployed along the borders.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Day 2: School canceled in South as Gaza rocket attacks continue
2012-03-11
Over 100 rockets and mortar shells fall on Israel since Friday; school canceled in all towns between 7-40 km from Gazoo Strip; 16 Paleostinians killed in IDF responses; Barak expects several days of violence.

Over 100 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel from the Gazoo Strip over the weekend and 16 Paleostinians were killed after violence broke out Friday following Israel's assassination of a top terrorist.

Rockets maimed eight people on Friday evening. In the Eshkol region, a 40-year-old man was maimed by shrapnel, a second man was moderately maimed by shrapnel in his stomach, and a third was lightly injured..

The IDF Home Front Command along with the heads of a number of local authorities in the South decided on Saturday night to cancel school in all towns and cities located between 7 km. and 40 km. of the Gazoo Strip.

Due to the decision, approximately 200,000 children will stay home on Sunday. The ban applies to Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheba, Netivot, Sderot, Kiryat Malachi, Gedera, Rahat, Yavne, Lakiya and the Gan Yavne Regional Council.

The IAF successfully struck 10 terrorist cells as they were planning to fire rockets into Israel as well as eight other targets throughout Gazoo. All of the dead were known terrorists, the IDF said.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak predicted that the round of violence would last another couple of days.
Schools in the western Negev that are within 7 km. of the Gazoo Strip will hold class as usual, as they have the necessary reinforcement to protect against rockets, the Home Front Command said.

The violence started on Friday afternoon when Israel Air Force craft bombed a car in Gazoo, killing Zuhair Qaisi, the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, and another top terrorist in the organization who was recently released in the Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange.

The IDF said it decided to bomb Qaisi's car due to intelligence that he was plotting a large terrorist attack along the border with Egypt, similar to the one the PRC carried out last August that killed eight Israelis. The IDF decided on Friday to close Route 12 -- which runs along the border with Egypt -- due to fears that the planned attack might still take place.

While most of the rockets fired from Gazoo were shortrange Kassams, some were long-range Grad-model Katyushas that succeeded in hitting 40 km. from the Gazoo Strip. The short-range rockets were mostly fired by the PRC and the long-range rockets by Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
The three Iron Dome batteries deployed in Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beersheba succeeded in interpreting 27 rockets fired from Gazoo out of 30 that they tried to shoot down, marking a record-high interception rate of 90 percent.

The IAF successfully struck 10 terrorist cells as they were planning to fire rockets into Israel as well as eight other targets throughout Gazoo. All of the dead were known terrorists, the IDF said.

Touring an Iron Dome battery on Saturday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak predicted that the round of violence would last another couple of days.

"We will not allow people to attack Israeli citizens," Barak said. "We will take action against anyone who tries to launch a rocket or an attack and they will pay a price. No one has immunity."

The flareup in Gazoo is the worst since October. The escalating violence drew appeals for a cease-fire from the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, the West Bankbased Paleostinian Authority and Egypt. IDF sources said that Israel was in constant touch with Egypt.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
. "I urge all sides to reestablish calm," she said in a statement.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Muhammad Kamal Amr told state news agency MENA that his government was "making crucial calls for an immediate end to this Israeli escalation, to end bloodshed of our brothers."

Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, front man Sami Abu Zuhri
...a senior front man for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gazoo. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest...
called for Egyptian aid, saying Gazoo was "sinking in darkness and in blood."

In the Gazoo Strip, thousands attended funerals for the dead gunnies on Saturday, listening to speeches calling for Dire Revenge™.

Gazoo officials said Israeli troops opened fire on mourners at a burial for an Islamic Jihad gunman attended by hundreds at a cemetery near the Israeli frontier fence, wounding four. The IDF did not have an immediate comment on the incident.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, a front man for PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
, blamed Israel for the violence and called for Western pressure to halt it.

"This Israeli escalation in Gazoo is completely condemned and we urge the world community, and the Quartet
... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy....
[of Middle East power brokers], especially the United States, to put enough pressure on the Israeli government to stop this escalation," Rdainah told Rooters Television.

IAF hits Gazoo weapons cache

An IDF front man said that the IAF has hit a weapons storage facility in the Gazoo Strip. The strike came in response to rockets fired from Gazoo. According to the statement, the target was hit directly.
 
"Hamas, which uses the other groups to carry out acts of terror against the State of Israel, will be held responsible for any future operation that the IDF choose to launch in order to eliminate the threat of terror and restore relative calm to the region," the IDF added.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF re-arrests man released in Schalit deal
2012-01-31
The IDF arrested a Palestinian member of Hamas early Tuesday morning, three months after he was released as part of the prisoner swap for Gilad Schalit.
anybody surprised?
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