Posted on 06/28/2006 10:09:49 AM PDT by george76
Israel turned up the pressure on Palestinian militants to release a captive soldier Wednesday, sending its warplanes to bomb a Hamas training camp after knocking out electricity and water supplies for most of the 1.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-led Palestinian government called for a prisoner swap with Israel, saying the Gaza offensive would not secure the soldier's release.
Hamas-affiliated militants holding the hostage previously made that demand, but this was the first time the government did.
Tensions escalated Wednesday evening as the military fired artillery near Gaza City - the first time Israel has targeted that area during the offensive.
It was Israel's first ground offensive since pulling its soldiers and settlers out of Gaza last summer.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would not balk at "extreme action" to bring Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, home but did not intend to reoccupy Gaza.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.ask.com ...
Good for the Israelis! They're the Jack Bauers of the military world. Smart people don't mess with them.
It would be a supremely bad idea for them to kill either that soldier, or the settler they kidnapped last weekend.
And if they DID negotiate a swap, Palestinians militants would conclude "that they should capture more soldiers,"
20:02 IAF warplanes fly over palace of Syrian President Assad (Haaretz)
Now, there's a message!
I think, but am not 100% positive, that they did kill that settler, who was just a boy, really...
And if they get their asses kicked, their weapons destroyed, and their hideouts bulldozed, they'll conclude...
"that they should capture more soldiers." They're a stubborn bunch.
Is that in Damascus?
Yes.
Well, it wouldn't be the first time they have had some supremely bad ideas.
ALLAHU FUBAR! Maybe that pencil necked ferret Bashir will get the message!
Yes. As in soon to be 'smoking ruin' damascus.
I wish they'd buzz Iran's Imanutjob while they're at it.
"From now, according to instructions given by myself and the defense minister, Gaza is sealed off by sea and by land. No one goes out and no one goes in.
This is the first step in a series of steps that we are considering, with patience but also with uncompromising determination that this terrorism has to end."
Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio on Tuesday that, "They have to understand one thing, that nobody is immune, including [Hamas' Damascus-based leader] Khaled Meshal.
Nobody is immune."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/731555.html
If Shalit is not released immediately and if, heaven forbid, he does not survive captivity, the Palestinians have two scenarios to fear: a major IDF ground invasion of Gaza, and attacks on senior Hamas officials.
The fate of the Hamas government is now dependent on the fate of the kidnapped soldier.
Harming him is liable to constitute a death sentence for the government and some of its ministers.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/731447.html
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