Posted on 07/11/2006 8:19:06 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
I suspect that phrase will be appropriate many, many more times in the near future.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Monday he would not free the captive soldier, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit, security officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operation.
Mashaal called Shalit a prisoner of war and demanded a prisoner swap.
Ok, so Hamas is the elected government of gaza, and he just called Shalit a prisoner of war. So that means they have officially declared war on Israel, right......?????
He needs to have his name moved up to the top of the IDF target list!
BBC Story:
Massive air strike on Gaza house
No mention in the Headline that the house houses a Hamas terrorists......
****************************************************
At least five people have been killed and 15 injured in a massive Israeli air strike on the Gaza City home of a prominent Hamas figure.
The Israeli military says Mohammed Deif, a Hamas bomb-maker who has topped Israel's most wanted list for over 10 years, was injured in the attack.
Hamas have not yet confirmed that Deif was caught up in the raid, which was of sufficient force to destroy the house.
The attack happened as Israeli troops crossed the border into central Gaza.
Master bomber
The soldiers have moved a few hundred metres into farmland east of Khan Younis in an expansion of their offensive in the Palestinian territory, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza.
The massive Israeli operation is aimed at releasing a captured soldier and halting Palestinian rocket attacks.
The Hamas official's three storey home in Sheikh Redwan district north of Gaza City was completely destroyed in the Israeli air strike.
There was a great flash of light and then a thick could of jet black smoke rose into the night, our correspondent says.
Experts warn the crisis could trigger a major humanitarian problem
Although there are frequent Israeli attacks on Hamas targets, it is nearly three years since the air force struck in Gaza with enough force to demolish a whole building in this way, our correspondent adds.
Children are reported to be among the several dead who have yet to be identified.
Israeli forces have attempted to assassinate Deif a number of times before and there have been reports of him being wounded in the past.
Jerusalem says Deif is a master bomb maker who has been behind numerous suicide bomb attacks in Israel.
Palestinian sources also reported a second Gaza air raid in which a car was targeted and three people injured.
Essentials running low
The attacks come at a time of extraordinary tension in Gaza with Israeli troops mounting a two-week offensive following the capture of Cpl Gilad Shalit by Palestinian militants during a raid on an Israeli border post on 25 June.
Over 50 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed during the confrontation.
Most of the dead have been Palestinian militants, but civilians have also died under Israeli fire and air strikes.
The militants who seized Cpl Shalit, along with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, have been insisting that the soldier only be handed over in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ruled out any negotiations with the Hamas-led Palestinian government, calling the militant group a "terrorist bloody organisation".
Israeli defence sources say that Mr Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz gave the military a green light for "in depth" incursions into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
There are warnings that the military crisis could trigger a major humanitarian problem in Gaza, which is already having to deal with a Western aid embargo against the government led by Hamas, which is viewed as a terrorist organisation.
Reports in the Israeli media say supplies of essential goods such as flour and cooking oil are within days of running out, unless Israel reopens border crossings and allows free flow of good.
Israel withdrew settlers and troops from Gaza last September after a 38-year presence, though it kept control of its airspace and most borders.
Gaza - Top Hamas military chief wounded
***********************************EXCERPT ***********************
JERUSALEM - the supreme chief of the branch armed with Hamas, Mohammed Deif, was wounded at the time of a raid of Israeli aviation close to Gaza, indicated to Wednesday morning a military spokesman in Tel-Aviv.
"Mohammed Deif was wounded in the night at the time of a raid of aviation against a house of Sheik Radwan, close to Gaza, but we are unaware of the gravity of its wounds", it specified.
A Palestinian medical source confirmed with AFP that Mr. Deif was wounded and operated.
According to the radio of the Israeli army, Mohammed Deif that Israel regards as its public enemy number one, was wounded whereas it took part in this house in a meeting with at least three other high military persons in charge for Hamas.
This raid was carried out following information obtained by Shin Beth (interior Israeli service of rensoignements) and with the personal green light of the Minister for Defense, Amir Perertz, the radio specified.
At least six people, including two children, were killed and about thirty wounded during this raid, according to a new established assessment of Palestinian sedentary source.
That was my thought, too. Sounds like one to me, sufficient to blow Gaza to rubble.
Nice shooting boys!!! Hope they got all the puppies, wedding party guests and little terrorists, too!!
REALITY CHECK
To my Arab brothers: The War with Israel Is Over — and they won. Now let's finally move forward
By Youssef M. Ibrahim
A courageous open-letter.
Must-read!
Read more: http://jewishworldreview.com/0706/ibrahim.php3
Good news, I signed off early last night, missed this one ..
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