Israel threatens massive Gaza ground assault

[tocqueville]

by Jean-Luc Renaudie
Tue Oct 17, 2:17 PM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel has ratcheted up threats of a massive ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, amid an ongoing war of words with the ruling Hamas movement which has vowed to teach the army a harsh lesson.

"Gaza should not become a second Lebanon," said Immigrant Absorption Minister Zeev Boim on Tuesday, reiterating a phrase used by Israeli leaders recently to mean the territory should not become a bastion of militant resistance.

"Apparently we will not have any other choice but to launch an expanded operation, like Defensive Shield, in order to destroy the stockpiles of weapons and to hit the terrorist organizations," said Boim, a close ally of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Defensive Shield, the largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six Day War, was launched by Israel in 2002. It left more than 200 Palestinians and 29 Israeli soldiers dead and some 5,000 Palestinians detained.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061017/ts_afp/mideastconflict_061017153818

[Drum]

1. Massive ground assault = Defensive Shield ???

wtf, have our countries' leaders lost all respect for words and the people that understand them still???

[whistle]

2. The Gaza Strip is a narrow coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean

...and small enough to totally enihalate using all of the new WMDs Israel has.

<snip>
Gaza Strip

Official Languages Arabic

Area

- Total..... 360 km²
- % water... 0%
(not ranked)

Population

- Total..... 1,376,289 (July 2005 est)
- Density... 3,823/km² (July 2005 est)
(not ranked)

Currency 1 New Israeli sheqel(NIS) = 100 Agorot

Time zone UTC +2/+4
The Gaza Strip is a narrow coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean, in the Middle East. It takes its name from Gaza, its main city, and has about 1.4 million residents, all Palestinians, in an area of 360 km².

The Gaza Strip is not currently recognized internationally as a de jure part of any sovereign country. According to the international community the Gaza Strip is occupied by Israel; in particular, the United States government recognizes it as "Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation" <1>. The Israeli government disputes this, especially after the withdrawal of Israel and the liquidation of its settlements in the strip in 2005.

Israel controls the Gaza strip's airspace and offshore maritime access. The Strip itself and its population is under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, which also operates the Strip's Rafah border crossing into Egypt under European Union supervision. The crossing has been closed due to Israeli demands since June 2006, after Israel recaptured parts of the Strip.
<more>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip

[Scurrilous]

3. IDF holds first Philadelphi raid since 2005 pullout

<snip>

"The Israel Defense Forces launched a major operation on Tuesday in the southern Gaza Strip along the Philadelphi Route. This is the first IDF offensive in this part of the Gaza Strip since the disengagement more than a year ago."

<snip>

"The operation near Rafah took place approximately 1.5 kilometers inside Palestinian territory. Infantry forces from the Givati Brigade entered the area near the Rafah border crossing and began searches for tunnels with the help of specialists from the Bedouin Scout Battalion. The raid was initiated on the basis of Shin Bet intelligence on the presence of tunnels in the area."

<snip>

"IDF sources said there are plans to broaden the operation in Philadelphi in order to locate more tunnels. The commander of the operation is Colonel Shlomi Dahan, head of the southern regional brigade along the border with the Gaza Strip.

So far the IDF operation near Rafah has met with no Palestinian resistance."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/776026.html