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Israeli Defense Minister Threatens Gaza Invasion
Israelâs defense minister on Sunday raised the specter of an Israeli invasion in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian militants already face a deadly air campaign. Israeli military commentators say a ground offensive in the densely populated Gaza Strip, home to more than one million people under Palestinian control, would cause heavy Israeli and Palestinian casualties."Donât make us come in there!" "We always have the option of a ground operation in Gaza," Shaul Mofaz said. "We will exercise it when we decide it is right to do so, at the appropriate time." Israel has killed 13 Palestinians, including 10 militants, in helicopter missiles strikes since a Hamas suicide bomber killed 21 people on an Israeli bus in Jerusalem on August 19. Mofaz spoke to reporters hours after a Palestinian gunman shot and wounded an Israeli truck driver at the Jewish settlement of Rafiah Yam in the southern Gaza Strip, the latest violence to batter a U.S.-backed peace "road map." The shooting, claimed by the militant Islamic group Hamas, followed an Israeli helicopter missile strike Saturday that killed Abdullah Aqel, leader of its armed wing in central Gaza, and another Hamas member. Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said the attack in the Bureij refugee camp destroyed any chance for the resumption of talks with Israel and called on the United States to intervene and halt the cycle of violence. I think Israelâs done talking, Asshat "Israelâs continuation of such policy means that it is completely turning its back on... calm and the possibility of implementing the road map," Amr said about the plan that envisages creation of a Palestinian state by 2005. then his lips fell off.... of course, the 2005 date was predicated on actions, still not taken by the Paleos, in mid 2003.... so donât etch that number in the sand Amr In a separate Gaza incident, an eight-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by an Israeli tank shell while riding her bicycle near her home in the city of Khan Younis Palestinian security sources and medics said. The army said troops opened fire in the area after an explosive device blew up near a patrol, damaging a military vehicle. An army spokesman could not confirm anyone was hit. Sad incident, but unlike the Paleos, it wasnât deliberate Israeli security sources said that Akel, 37, was behind recent rocket attacks on southern Israel from northern Gaza. "Ashkelon will not become the frontline — neither Ashkelon nor any other place," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told reporters Sunday, referring to the southern city hit on Thursday by a makeshift Qassam rocket that caused no casualties or damage. Saturdayâs missile attack in the Gaza Strip came a day after Palestinian gunmen shot dead a Jewish settler in the West Bank. Posted by: Frank G 2003-08-31 |
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