 Israeli forces operating in Gaza killed at least nine Palestinians on Thursday and blew up the houses of some known militant commanders, as the Palestinians fired a Katyusha rocket from Gaza that landed in northern Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 people.
Sa-weeet explosives use. Read on for the tale of plight and death.
The rocket landed in an open field and did no damage, but it traveled more than 10 miles, the farthest of any rocket so far from Gaza, the Israeli police said. The Katyusha, a manufactured missile of 122 millimeters has a range of up to 13.7 miles. There are thought to be fewer than 20 of them in Gaza.
But Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Thursdays firing showed that the Palestinians were improving their ability to use the weapon and to exploit its range, which could endanger a quarter of a million Israelis, and he called on Egypt to do more to stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.
Its a sign of things to come and an issue of great concern, Mr. Regev said. These rockets are not homemade and are smuggled in, and our concern is not one or two Katyushas, but a whole range of weapons, including antitank and antiaircraft rockets.
Battalions of M109s on the border. Fire. Rubblize a town. Repeat until the rubble is dust. Ask if the Paleos would like to lose another town.
Israel is upset with Cairo for allowing more than 2,000 Gazans to return home from the hajj pilgrimage through the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, rather than, as originally agreed, through the Kerem Shalom crossing controlled by Israel. Israel wanted to check the returning pilgrims to see if they were smuggling cash back for Hamas, which runs Gaza, or if some of those returning were wanted militants who had received military training in Lebanon, Syria or Iran.
Typical f'n 'Gip-tians. Always, ALWAYS allan.
Mr. Regev denied that there was a diplomatic crisis with Egypt, but said, There is tension. Egypt is a crucial ally of Israel, he said. So we want to try to encourage Egypt to do more, but at the same time to ensure that the relationship remains stable, Mr. Regev said. Peace with Egypt is fundamental to us. But if Hamas is allowed through a porous border to strengthen itself, build a more formidable military regime and expand the range of its rockets, its not in Egypts interests, either.
Of course it is! Almost all the attacks will be against the Jooos versus the few against 'Gip-tian targets.
Israel continued its attacks on Palestinian militants in Gaza, especially from Islamic Jihad. In an incursion in southern Gaza, in a village near Khan Yunis, Israeli troops and tanks, backed by helicopter gunships, destroyed a house, killing two brothers, Ahmad and Sami Fayyad, their sister, Asma Fayyad, 24, and their mother, Karima Fayyad, 60. Their father, Muhammad Fayyad, a farmer, was wounded.
Too bad about the non-coms, but that is what happens when you turn your home into a fighting position!
Medics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis said that Sami Fayyads wife was wounded, and that the couples 3-year-old daughter was clinically dead.
Sami Fayyad, 30, was a fighter with Islamic Jihads military wing. Ahmad Fayyad, 32, was a former member of the Palestinian Authority security forces. Israeli Army spokesmen said the brothers were firing on Israeli forces from alongside and inside the house. The house was hit by at least one tank shell, and Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces, using armored bulldozers, then collapsed the rest of the house. Medical workers dug out the remains of the dead.
Such nice boys. A PIJ and a Fatah. Who did Mom like best?
In a statement, Israel said blame for the deaths of the women lies with the gunmen, who operated intentionally from a civilian environment.
Well, DUH!
At the Khan Yunis hospital were the bodies of two other Palestinian fighters who had been killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops. Munir Burhom, 22, and Burhom Abu Lehyia, age unknown, were members of Hamass military wing, and the house they were firing from was also bulldozed, Palestinians said.
Paleo lesson # 127,815 in improper warfare techniques. I hope you NEVER get better.
"Hey Munir, watch me take these manly shots with my AK against that bulldozer!"
"Hokay Burhom, but don't let it too close or we'll get fl........." |
Two more Hamas fighters were also killed Thursday, while more than 30 people were wounded, including five children on the way to school, hit by shrapnel. Three bodies, so far unidentified, were taken from a house destroyed by Israel.
The Israelis also carried out airstrikes on what they said was an Islamic Jihad warehouse in Gaza City and three other military targets. But Palestinians said the Israelis also bombed the Gaza City homes of two senior Islamic Jihad commanders whom the Israelis killed in rocket attacks more than a week ago.
"Nice shot, Avi. Can I have the other one?"
The homes, of Karim Dahdouh and Muhammad Abdallah Abu Murshad, were bombed from the air and destroyed. At the time, Israel said they were responsible for making rockets and launching hundreds of them at Israel. Mr. Dahdouh was killed Dec. 17, and Mr. Murshad was killed a week ago.
Yeah, paleos responsible for anything in NYT-speak? Naw.
The Israelis, like the British during the Mandate Oooooo, like the colonialists, often destroy the homes of prominent enemies, usually by the totally awesome Cat D-9 'Corrie Special' armored bulldozer in the occupied West Bank. To destroy homes from the air in Gaza, where Israel no longer keeps a permanent military presence, seems to be a new policy, ...
Kind of like a surge
... intended to deter other militants by underlining the risk not just to their own lives but to the livelihood of their families.
Like the Sopranos, but with UAVs and Hellfires.
Israeli military officials insisted, however, that the four targets bombed were specific military objectives and not homes, and that only one airstrike took place in Gaza City, on the warehouse.
Could it be the home is also a warehouse? That would be proto-paleo!
A more primitive Qassam rocket landed in a backyard of the Israeli town of Sderot, damaging a house and sending the owner, a woman, into shock.
In the West Bank, Israeli troops in about 70 jeeps moved into the center of Nablus and arrested three senior members of Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated to Fatah, and dozens were wounded in the raid. The Israelis are pursuing leads to the killings of two Israeli settlers near Hebron last week, which Israel says was carried out by men affiliated with Fatah.
'Partay in the Old City courtesy of the IDF.
Mr. Olmert made a surprise visit to Jordan on Thursday to meet with King Abdullah II and update him on talks with the Palestinians before President Bushs arrival in the region next Wednesday. In their talks, in Aqaba, the king warned Israel against expanding its settlements on occupied land and said such moves threatened to obstruct progress on a lasting peace accord, a palace official told Reuters. The king had met Wednesday with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
Abdullah: "These Paleos are freakin' nuts"! Olmert, putting on kneepads: "Yes, Aby. Scootch over a little, OK? My neck is cricked".
Israeli officials said Mr. Olmert told the king that Israel would not build any new settlements in the West Bank and would avoid further land appropriations there, briefed him on the Katyusha rocket strike and said that unless the Palestinians cracked down on terrorism, no progress could be made.
Olmert: "All we can do is kill them". Abduallah: "Speed it up as my throne is also at risk!" |
Ma'an Two Al-Qassam Brigades fighters were killed in clashes with Israeli forces in Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip on Friday. The deaths of Muhammad Awad Al-Kafarna and Muhammad Naser Al-Kafarna, during the dawn clashes, bring the number of dead to 11 in the past 24 hours in the coastal enclave.