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IDF fires close to 200 shells at Gaza
 EFL - JPost UpdateFollowing a deadly suicide attack on Thursday night and the continued Kassam bombardment of the western Negev, the IDF over the weekend stepped up its operations and pounded the Gaza Strip with missiles from aircraft and warships, while IDF troops sealed off Nablus from the rest of the West Bank. festering boil to be lanced? Following an escalation on the Gaza front, which included last week's launching of a Katyusha rocket at Israel, the IDF decided over the weekend to step up its strikes on Gaza and, employing artillery forces as well as the IAF and the Navy, fired close to 200 shells at Kassam launch sites on Saturday alone. Early Saturday, IAF missiles flattened a building in the northern Gaza Strip that functioned as a hideout for terrorists and a launch site for Kassam cells. Under construction, the tall building was supposed to draw tourists and serve as a casino on the outskirts of Beit Hanun. draw tourists? Bwaahahhaahahahaa But those plans were thwarted on Saturday after the Southern Command's Intelligence Department recently discovered ditches built around the building which were used to provide cover for Kassam launchers. moats for tourist gondolas? On Friday, Abdel Karim Koka, a senior commander of the Salah-a-Din faction of the Popular Resistance Committees in the Gaza Strip, was killed when his car exploded in Gaza City. The army denied its involvement in the explosion but said that Koka was responsible for numerous Kassam attacks against Israel. it was a Pinto.... In the past, IDF artillery fire against Kassam rocket cells targeted empty fields in the vicinity of the launch sites but not the precise position of the launchers. The bombings of the casino building and additional empty areas within Gaza City were meant to send a message, military sources said, to the newly formed Hamas-run Palestinian government that they would suffer if they failed to rein in terrorism. The army also threatened to strike official Palestinian security personnel whose posts were often used as cover for Kassam launch cells. "We cannot promise that PA police will not be hurt during the strikes," one source said. The army also engaged in psychological warfare and dropped thousands of flyers over the Gaza Strip calling on the Palestinian public to expel terror elements from within. "How long will you let terrorists control your lives?" the fliers asked, warning that Israel's military response would grow harsher as long as Kassam fire continued. that's psych warfare? How about Google Earth photos showing their buildings with crosshairs? But despite the massive bombardment on Gaza, Kassam rocket fire continued. On Saturday night four rockets were launched from the northern Gaza Strip, with at least two landing near Kibbutz Zikim south of Ashkelon. On Friday night three rockets were fired from Gaza, landing south of Sderot. Meanwhile Friday, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz blamed the Hamas government for a suicide bombing a day earlier that killed four Israelis at the entrance to the Samarian settlement of Kedumim. "A government that engraves terrorism on its flag and does not order PA security forces to fight terror is accountable for this attack and every other attack that emerges from Palestinian territories," Mofaz said. Mofaz ordered the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to "intensify their operations" in the West Bank and Gaza in an effort to crack down on terror infrastructure there. In response to the suicide attack, the IDF on Saturday sealed off Nablus, deemed a "terror capital" by the IDF, and implemented a series of stringent regulations at nearby checkpoints. Palestinians between the ages of 16-32 were banned from traveling south of northern Samaria and checkpoints between Nablus and the Jordan Valley were closed off to Palestinian traffic. Posted by: Frank G 2006-04-02 |
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