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NEWS FROM ISRAEL



IDF: Hamas gunmen falling like flies, cowering in holes
Senior Israeli military officials told local media at the weekend that the ground war against Hamas in the
Gaza Strip is going extremely well.
According to one official cited by Ynet, some 300 terrorist gunmen have been killed since Israeli ground
forces were sent into Gaza more than a week ago.
"Some Hamas companies and battalions were simply wiped out," said the officer. "We also see cases of
desertions and unauthorized leaves, while some terror activists are scared to undertake moves that
would jeopardize them."
He recounted that when Israeli forces cornered Hamas' top rocket commander on Saturday, the terror
chief's subordinates all refused to come out of hiding and help him fight back.
Amir Mansi, who commanded Hamas rocket crews across northern Gaza, was forced to fire mortar shells
at the advancing Israelis on his own before being taken out.
Israeli forces have been advancing very slowly on major population centers in Gaza, both in an effort to
reduce their own casualties and to avoid putting unarmed Palestinian civilians in harm's way.
The first major clash in Gaza City took place on Sunday morning, when Hamas says a company of its
fighters ambushed an Israeli force. However, the Israelis apparently got the upper hand rather quickly, as
Palestinian sources reported Hamas had lost 10 men in the battle, while there were no Israeli casualties.
Another 40 terrorists were reportedly killed Saturday night and early Sunday morning as Israeli aircraft
pounded Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip.


Olmert scolds world for criticizing Gaza offensive
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday took the international community to task for criticizing
Israel's war on the Gaza terrorist infrastructure and for demanding a ceasefire before its security goals
had been met.
"No country in the world, including those that preach morals to us, would have shown restraint as we
have," Olmert said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
He noted that when it comes to self defense, "what is acceptable for every other country in the world is
barely accepted when it comes to Israel."
Olmert went on to say that Israel was nearing the completion of its security goals in Gaza, but insisted on
patience from the international community and determination from Israelis. That is the only way Israel can
"change the security situation in the south" in a way that provides "long-term security and stability."
In response to last week's UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cessation of violence in
Gaza, Olmert was adamant that "no resolution that was made or will be made in the future that will deprive
us of our basic right to defend the residents of Israel."
Israeli officials complained that Resolution 1860 had failed to adequately take Israel's long-term security
concerns into account, and provided absolutely no guarantees against Hamas violations.
Forgotten or buried in most of the foreign media reports that blasted Israel for rejecting a ceasefire was
the fact that Hamas, too, spurned the notion of halting the violence for anything less than terms that
provided it with victory.
In particular, Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said his group would never agree to a
ceasefire monitored by outside forces, as suggested in Resolution 1860.


Gaza rockets prevent Israelis from returning to school
Israeli children tried to return to school in the southern city of Beersheva on Sunday morning, but were
quickly sent back home when missiles from Gaza began slamming into their neighborhoods.
One missile hit a car, wounding two people and sending three others into shock. Two more missiles hit
Beersheva during the morning hours.
Later in the day, rockets also hit the southern coastal city of Ashkelon and nearby communities.
Israel's Home Front Command still hopes to reopen most schools in Beersheva this week, noting that
military operations in Gaza had started to decrease the rocket threat, and that early warning systems
were now all fully operational.
Nevertheless, those schools closest to Gaza were expected to hold all classes in cramped bomb shelters
instead of the more vulnerable regular classrooms.



Israelis in Egypt for Gaza ceasefire talks
Israeli defense officials traveled to Cairo on Thursday to discuss the basic details of an Egyptian-French
ceasefire initiative for Gaza.
The plan calls for a temporary ceasefire and the opening of all Gaza border crossing to massive
humanitarian aid, followed by negotiations on a permanent truce.
The Israeli government voiced approval for the ceasefire efforts, but stopped short of outright accepting
the proposal.
Israel and the US are pushing for the official wording of the plan to include demands for an immediate
and permanent halt to Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel and a cessation of arms smuggling under
the Gaza-Egypt border.
Israel views those two demands as the minimum requirements for a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to attack Hamas targets in and around Gaza City. One Israeli officer
and several of his soldiers were wounded when Hamas terrorists they were battling fired an anti-tank
missile at them.
Israeli forces also intensified operations against arms smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza border
town of Rafah.
Hamas and its allied terror groups fired several dozen missiles and mortar shells at southern Israel on
Thursday. Four Israelis were wounded when a mortar shell hit their community.
A school in the coastal city of Ashkelon also suffered a direct hit, but was empty at the time.

Hamas war crime leaves 40 dead at UN school
Israel is considering filing an official complaint with the United Nations after 40 Palestinians were killed on
Tuesday when Hamas terrorists used a UN school as cover while attacking Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
Aerial surveillance released by the Israeli army shows Palestinian forces moving into position next to the
school and then firing mortar shells at Israeli troops in another part of the city.
Israeli forces then returned fire in self defense, which in turn set off a series of bombs Hamas reportedly
set as booby-traps in the school. Some 40 Palestinians who had taken refuge in the facility were killed.
On cue, the Palestinians, the international media and world leaders blamed Israel for the "massacre."
But Israeli officials noted it was Hamas that had actually committed a war crime by engaging in hostilities
from the cover of a crowded protected area, knowingly putting the unarmed occupants at risk. [Fourth
Geneva Convention, Annex I, Article 2; Article 28 of the same convention gives legal backing to Israel's
right to return fire on the protected area.]
A spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) insisted in remarks to the press that
terrorists are not allowed inside the agency's schools, and rejected an internal Israeli army probe that
determined soldiers had reacted properly to a threat emanating from the school.
The spokesman was reminded that terrorists had fired from the grounds of the same school in the past,
and that one of the teachers at an UNRWA school in Gaza had even been revealed to be an Islamic Jihad
bomb maker.
Two local Palestinians who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity said they saw four
terrorists firing mortar shells from a street adjacent to the school just before the Israelis fired back.
Their testimony suggested that the offending terrorists may not have actually been in the school grounds,
but close enough to still be using its occupants as human shields.

Israeli baby wounded as Hamas widens missile range
A 3-month-old baby girl was wounded by shrapnel on Tuesday morning when a Hamas missile slammed
into her house in the central Israel town of Gedera.
Gedera lies some 25 miles from Gaza, and marks a slight widening of the terrorist missile range. Several
large Tel Aviv suburbs lie just a few miles north of Gedera.
At least 20 more Palestinian missiles hit cities and towns across southern Israel on Tuesday morning,
causing widespread damage, but no injuries.
More than 40 rockets and mortar shells were fired at southern Israel on Monday. Two Israelis in the
southern town of Sha'ar Hanegev were lightly wounded.
Another missile scored a direct hit on a kindergarten in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon. The
building was empty, as Israel's Home Front Command has ordered all schools within 25 miles of Gaza to
remain closed for the time being.
News From Israel
Provided by Israel Today