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IDF starts 'massive' artillery fire on northern Gaza
Israel Matzav —
IDF starts 'massive' artillery fire on northern Gaza [image] Shavua tov, a good week to everyone. Late Saturday afternoon the IDF started what Israel Radio calls 'massive' artillery fire on northern Gaza in yet another indication that a ground operation into Gaza is imminent. According to reports, the artillery units were attacking targets in northern Gaza from where Palestinian terrorists had been firing rockets at southern Israel. The shelling was seen as a possible signal that a ground invasion could be nearing. Warplanes, gunboats and artillery units blasted more than 40 Hamas targets throughout Saturday, including weapons storage facilities, training centers and ...
IDF Invasion of Gaza Imminent?
Little Green Footballs —
The IDF may be about to launch that ground invasion of Gaza: IDF begins shelling northern Gaza for 1st time since op began.
For the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead, the IDF began firing artillery shells into northern Gaza on Saturday afternoon, IDF officials said.
According to reports, the artillery units were attacking targets in northern Gaza from where Palestinian terrorists had been firing rockets at southern Israel. The shelling was seen as a possible signal that a ground invasion could be nearing.
Warplanes, gunboats and artillery units blasted more than 40 Hamas targets throughout Saturday, including weapons storage ...
Gaza Ground Invasion Beginning
Firedoglake —
Update 1:29 EST - Ha'aretz
Israel launches ground operation in Gaza Strip
Update #2 -Jerusalem Post:
The IDF said that a large amount of Armored Corps, Engineering Corps and Infantry troops entered the territory with the purpose of destroying Hamas infrastructure and preventing rocket fire ...
ISRAELI TROOPS MOVE INTO GAZA
Gateway Pundit —
... For the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead, the IDF sent a large number of ground troops into the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening. ...
Israel Begins Ground Operations In Gaza
Ace of Spades HQ —
Israel Begins Ground Operations In Gaza flaming_skull2a.gif Good luck to the IDF. For the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead, the IDF sent a large number of ground troops into the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening. ...Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Channel 2 Saturday night, "We will do all that is necessary to provide a different reality for southern Israel, which has been under constant attacks for the past eight years." Israeli defense officials said some 10,000 troops, including tank, artillery and special operations units, were massed on the Gaza border and ...
Finally
Daily Pundit —
Soldiers exchange fire with Hamas gunmen inside Strip | Israel | Jerusalem Post
For the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead, IDF ground troops entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening, exchanging fire with Hamas gunmen.
The IDF said that a large amount of Armored Corps, Engineering Corps and Infantry troops entered the territory with the purpose of destroying Hamas infrastructure and preventing rocket fire by taking control of launching pads in northern Gaza.
It’s about time.
IDF soldiers exchanging gunfire with Hamas gunmen inside Gaza...
THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS —
IT'S ON... Friday Meshall threatened the IDF with a "black fate" if they enetered Gaza: Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Friday warned Israel against continuing its military operation in Gaza. A videotape of the Damascus-based leader speaking was aired on Al-Jazeera Friday evening, in which he said to Israeli leaders, "The blood of Gaza is the quickest way to bring about the end of ...
Into Gaza, On the Ground
Weekly Standard Blog —
... Defense Minister Ehud Barak made a statement shortly after fighting started, and referred to the goal of the ground troops broadly — "to hit Hamas hard"— acknowledging that the operation poses dangers to soldiers:
"We know there will be dangers, difficulties and victims… It must be said that the ground operation entails dangers to the lives of soldiers," Barak said in a press conference early Saturday night.
Jerusalem Post sources report dozens of Hamas fighters being killed in firefights so far. ...
'Tens' of 'Palestinians' killed
Israel Matzav —
'Tens' of 'Palestinians' killed 11:00 Israel Radio news Navy and artillery shelling Gaza. In Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun there were battles. 'Tens' of 'Palestinians' were killed. Navy shelled cooking gas storage and there's a huge fire. [ That was a 'Palestinian' report - JPost describes it as a gas storage facility ...
What, They Should Quit While They're Ahead??
Op For —
The IDF has stepped off smartly into the Gaza strip, on Op Cast Lead. (It was always "when" not "if," wasn't it?)
Fox News is reporting:
DEVELOPING: Israeli ground forces began moving across the border into the northern Gaza Strip in an escalation late Saturday night of the weeklong offensive against Hamas.
Israeli defense officials told FOX News that 20 Hamas militants had been killed in the incursion so far.
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that the new offensive was the "second phase" of its battle ...
What Are The Israelis Thinking?
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
It is hard to find any solid strategic argument for entering Gaza and occupying parts of it for an unspecified amount of time. Some in the IDF clearly opposed it; Spencer argues: Israel should arbitrarily declare victory and get the hell out of Gaza. Hamas will claim victory too. But it was always going to claim victory,
and every hour Israel is in Gaza pummeling them without destroying them
is an hour that Hamas will be able to claim that more plausibly, just
like Hezbollah did in 2006. That's how these types of asymmetric wars work;
and also why it's better for the larger party not to launch them.
Israel ...
Ground Action in Gaza
Gates of Vienna —
... Hurt IDF invades Gaza: IDF ground troops entered the northern Gaza Strip Saturday evening, as the army launched its long anticipated ground operation. Army officials confirmed that at least 30 terrorists were hurt in clashes with IDF ground troops. In several cases, armed terrorists approached Israeli forces and were shot at by ground troops and IDF gunships. There are no reports of Israeli casualties at this time. The Jerusalem Post gives a somewhat different account, reporting that at least twenty terrorists were ...
Hugh Hewitt: The Civil War Inside The War In Gaza
Townhall.com Blog's TownHall Blog —
The Jerusalem Post reports on the Hamas assault on Fatah loyalists within Gaza , even as the Israeli ground assault takes a significant toll on Hamas. PLA President Abbas may be asking the U.N. to intervene, but these graphs make you wonder if he isn't hoping that the international community moves very slowly to condemn the Israeli action --if at all: Fatah officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas militiamen had been assaulting many Fatah activists since the beginning of the operation last Saturday. They said at least 75 activists were shot in the legs while others had their hands broken. Wisam Abu Jalhoum, a Fatah activist from the ...
Hugh Hewitt: The Civil War Inside The War In Gaza
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog —
The Jerusalem Post reports on the Hamas assault on Fatah loyalists within Gaza , even as the Israeli ground assault takes a significant toll on Hamas. PLA President Abbas may be asking the U.N. to intervene, but these graphs make you wonder if he isn't hoping that the international community moves very slowly to condemn the Israeli action --if at all: Fatah officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas militiamen had been assaulting many Fatah activists since the beginning of the operation last Saturday. They said at least 75 activists were shot in the legs while others had their hands broken. Wisam Abu Jalhoum, a Fatah activist from the ...
GAZA GROUND OP ROUND UP
THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS —
30 IDF WOUNDED; DOZENS OF HAMAS AGENTS KILLED. IDF BELIEVES IRAN AND HIZBALLAH WILL LAUNCH MISSILE ATTACK FROM LEBANON. BANKI MOON ASKS OLMERT TO STOP GROUND ATTACK. SOME FOLKS AT THE UN CALL ISRAEL'S RESPONSE TO THREE YEARS AND 7200 ROCKET ATTACKS DISPROPORTIONATE AND ILLEGAL. IN FACT, IT'S THE OPPOSITE: MARKEDLY RESTRAINED AND LEGAL: EVERY NATION HAS THE DUTY TO PROTECT ITS CITIZENS FROM ATTACK.DID YOU KNOW THAT ISRAEL WAS THE ONLY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD UNDER DAILY ROCKET ATTACK BY A NEIGHBORING COUNTRY? IT HAD TO BE STOPPED.
links for 2009-01-04
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog —
Why You Should Follow A LOT of People on Twitter
If you’re new to Twitter, you’ve probably wondered why (and possibly how) some follow a huge number of individuals.
Some people advise against following more than a few hundred.
I think they’ve got it all wrong.
Burris writes Reid -Give Me the Seat Sucker ...
The Empire Shrugs
Antiwar.com Original —
M y early reaction to the Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip is perhaps more U.S.-centered than some others'. But the most significant aspect of the U.S. response, implicitly acknowledged in most news reports and commentary, is precisely that nobody really expects the U.S. to respond in anything other than a ritualistic fashion. The world and, at some level, most American leaders recognize that the U.S. can do little or nothing to affect the situation on the ground . If there is a truce or a new territorial dispensation following the invasion (depending on its outcome , which is more likely to be mixed than decisive), ...
