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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IAF pummels Gaza smuggling tunnels
2008-12-31
IAF aircraft on Tuesday evening were bombing smuggling tunnels along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt. Earlier, Al Jazeera reported that Egypt had closed the border crossing at Rafah for fear of an impending Israeli air strike.

The army confirmed that it was striking tunnels along the border.

Channel 10 reported that "many" jets were participating in the second wave of attacks on tunnels along the Gaza Egypt border near Rafah since Operation Cast Lead began on Saturday. On Sunday some 40 smuggling tunnels were bombarded by the air force.

Earlier Monday, the IAF struck two targets in Gaza City and the city of Khan Yunis, located in the south of the Strip. Army Radio reported that a Hamas police station was one of the targets. The IDF warned Gazans to leave their homes prior to the attacks.

Overnight Monday, at least 10 people were killed and 40 others wounded when IAF planes bombed a series of targets in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said.

The IDF confirmed air strikes against dozens of targets in the central Gaza town of El-Bureij, near Khan Yunis, and in Gaza City. Hamas's Interior Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Treasury, and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's offices were amongst the targets, as well as police stations.
Posted by:Fred

#6  Feeling a different vibe with Jan 20 on the horizon. Israel could have executed strikes such as these at will prior to now. It's about time.
Posted by: bradeous   2008-12-31 20:40  

#5  How does that work, swksvolFF? I was thinking the 30 minute delay was to give anyone in any adjacent tunnels time to get out. It doesn't seem to me the delay would buy much effectiveness even if 10% of the blast energy escaped through the tunnel the bunker buster made. Am I thinking in the wrong direction?
Posted by: gorb   2008-12-31 15:39  

#4  Had the same thought Glenmore - bunker busters on time settings according to soil composition?
Posted by: swksvolFF   2008-12-31 12:42  

#3  I don't believe that tunneling ground is very stable without lots of shoring. And I bet the tunnelers use as little as they can get by with. Big trucks driving by would probably collapse them. A Vibroseis line would do great - I bet Halliburton could do it.
Posted by: Glenmore   2008-12-31 10:40  

#2  I was wondering what magical technology the Israelis were going to employ to shut these things down. I guess it was a combination of "there is a tunnel every 10m" and "1000-lb JDAMS shut down everything within 50m" or something like that.
Posted by: gorb   2008-12-31 05:05  

#1  Good hunting IAF!
Posted by: Mark Espinola   2008-12-31 02:55  

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