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Israeli political officials have been taken aback by the rocket attacks from Gaza over the past few days, considering that the deal with Hamas for the release of Gilad Shalit has not been completed. Israel is supposed to release another 550 terrorists in the coming weeks, but some MKs have begun calling for that part of the Shalit deal to be cancelled if Hamas continues to allow rocket attacks on Israel. Attacks began last Wednesday, when a Grad Katyusha rocket was fired at Ashdod, setting off Red Color warning sirens throughout southern Israel, as far north as Rishon Lezion. The...

Terrorists from the Gaza Strip fired at least three Grad missiles at southern Israel early Friday morning. The Iron Dome missile interceptor was successfully employed against some of the Grads, but one missile, fired later in a second round of launchings, hit a synagogue in Ashdod at 8:15 a.m. Three were hurt moderately, but since the morning prayers had just finished, most congregants had left the bulding. One of the early morning missiles exploded in the vicinity of the city of Be’er Sheva. Two other missiles exploded near Ashdod. At that point, there were no reports of physical injuries or...

"Gaza flotilla: 2 dead, dozens injured in navy boarding." By JPOST.COM STAFF AND YAAKOV KATZ 05/31/2010 07:00 SNIPPET: "Passengers tried to wrest weapons from soldiers, Army Radio reports; Turkish leadership in emergency meeting to discuss response to attack at sea. Passengers tried to grab weapons away from soldiers boarding the Gaza protest flotilla, starting the violence, Army Radio reported Tuesday morning, responding to accusations that Israeli commandos assaulted the ships guns blazing."

IDF: Soldiers were met by well-planned lynch, concealed handguns. Armed Navy ships escorted boats from the Gaza protest flotilla to Ashdod on Monday afternoon, hours after IDF soldiers and activists clashed in a fatal raid. International activists aboard the ships opened fire on IDF soldiers who boarded the ships to prevent them from breaking the Israeli-imposed sea blockade, the IDF said Monday.

"Air Force strikes in Gaza" SNIPPET: "IDF retaliates for deadly Qassam attack: Air Force hits several Gaza targets, including metal foundry, smuggling tunnel; Vice PM Shalom says Israel to offer strong response to rocket attack that killed Thai worker Thursday" SNIPPET: "IDF aircraft struck at least four targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday, a day after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave killed a Thai worker in Israel, Hamas security officials and witnesses said." SNIPPET: "Israel also sent a letter of complaint to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Israel at the weekend,...

(IsraelNN.com) The cabinet has voted to accept a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza. Two ministers voted against the proposal and one abstained from voting.

(YNET NEWS.com) January 16, 2009 "THE GUARDIANS OF ISRAEL NEITHER SLUMBER NOR SLEEP" SNIPPET: "Israel and the US succeeded in preventing a United Nations announcement condemning the Jewish state for its strike on a UN compound in Gaza Thursday. The condemnation was proposed by Britain among other countries." SNIPPET: "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized for the incident before UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, but stressed that IDF forces were attacked from the building before it was hit."

"HAMAS AND THEIR SYSTEMATIC VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAWS (NOT TO MENTION BASIC HUMAN DECENCY)" "Video follows"

Note: See map inlcuded on this report. Note: The following text is a quote: JANUARY 9, 2009...17:54 Captured Hamas Intelligence, 9 Jan 2009, 16:26 IST Jump to Comments Confiscated Intelligence Map from Hamas Hamas turn a Gaza neighborhood into a warzone. This map, confiscated Wednesday (Jan. 7) by IDF paratroopers operating in the north of Gaza, shows how Hamas uses an entire neighborhood, rigging it with explosive devices and putting the entire civilian population at great risk. The map shows the al-Tatraa neighborhood in Gaza City divided into three areas of operation (red, blue and green). The dots on the...

SNIPPET: "The fundamental truth is that Hamas' road to Iran runs through the international Muslim Brotherhood, and has for two decades. What is often missing in the discussion of the Muslim Brotherhood is that Hamas, according to its own founding charter, is an integral and armed part of the Ikwhan, not separate from it."

"THE BRIEF LIFE AND EXQUISITE MARTYRDOM OF A HAMAS MORTAR CREW" Snippet: "Via Hamas' al-Aqsa TV station, said to be filmed in Jabaliya on 06 January 2008. At about 1'15" the crew is hit by an apparent Israeli counter-strike."

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Ttragedy_school_Jebaliya_6-Jan-2009.htm Behind the Headlines: The tragedy at the school in Jebaliya 6 Jan 2009 An initial inquiry by forces on operating in the area of the incident indicates that a number of mortar shells were fired at IDF forces from within the Jebaliya school. In response to the incoming enemy fire, the forces returned mortar fire to the source. Preliminary Background Briefing Today, a reported 30 Palestinians were killed in a heartrending tragedy at a school in Jebaliya. Initial investigations indicate that Hamas terrorists fired mortar bombs from the area of the school...

Cheney stressed the US support for the Gaza operation, saying the rocket fire on Israel must stop.

"Summary of Overnight Events, 03 January 2009"

Home Front Command reiterates that residents should immediately take cover if they hear the siren sound, or if they hear an explosion.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited a Beersheba school hit by a Grad rocket. During the visit, Barak said that "we delivered a serious blow to Hamas, and it continues to be hit – but it's also responding, as we can see." (Ilana Curiel)

The article is in Hebrew, so anyone who can read it is welcome to check out the link, but the following photos are from the article: While the exact location has not been disclosed in order to avoid providing artillery spotting intelligence to the terrorists, the release of this photo of the vicinity was permitted, and you can see the playground and weightlifting equipment in the background. This shows the shrapnel's effects on a steel fence, which helped deflect the blast from an adjacent bus stop and playing fields. Memorials to earlier victims of terrorists were placed on the bench.

Israel.INTERNET-HAGANAH.com: "OPERATION CAST LEAD The IDF's Fight Against Terror in Gaza"

SNIPPET: "Rocket range extended: Palestinian gunmen respond to IDF operation in Gaza by firing three rockets beyond Ashkelon area, some 40 km away from Strip. Building in moshav near Ashdod; air raid siren sounds in Yavne area" ARTICLE SNIPPET: "After a day which saw dozens of Qassam rockets fired at Israel, Palestinian gunmen resumed the fire on Sunday morning. Three rockets, believed to be Grad missiles, were fired from the Gaza Strip and landed east of the city of Ashdod. One of the rockets caused damage to the windows of a house in a moshav near Ashdod. Explosions were also...

(IsraelNN.com) The city of Ashdod, several kilometers north of Ashkelon on the Mediterranean and home to over 200,000 residents, is preparing to be the next city to come within range of rockets from Gaza. The Ashdod Municipality says it does not intend to wait for the rockets to fall and is making preparations to protect its residents already, together with the IDF’s Home Front Command. In the security establishment, it is already acknowledged that Iran may have already supplied Hamas with missiles capable of reaching double the distance the Grad-type Katyushas landing in Ashkelon can reach. The fifth largest city...

<p>According to polls taken after the assassination last Monday of Hamas terrorist leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin, a majority of Israelis agree that the attack has made us more vulnerable to terrorism. Yet that same majority -- which, presumably, will pay the price in the form of revenge attacks by Hamas -- believes that the assassination was not only justified, but inevitable.</p>

(JTA) TEL AVIV – With this week’s suicide bombings in Ashdod, Palestinian terrorists may have hoped to see a toxic cloud hanging over an Israeli city – the embodiment of a new, higher level of terrorism. Although luck and security spared Israel a chemical cataclysm, Sunday’s double suicide bombing at Israel’s second-largest port devastated scores of families, killing 10 people. The attack wounded at least 16, and raised alarm in the Israeli government. The two teenage bombers came from the Gaza Strip, and their attack marked the first successful terrorist strike launched by Palestinian infiltrators from the fenced-in strip during...

In both attacks, the bombs were carefully placed in public areas with the goal of inflicting maximal carnage on innocent civilians.  In both incidents, the architects of these terrorist atrocities were Islamic radicals who are inspired by a profound hatred of Western civilisation.  In one case this bloody act elicits universal expressions of solidarity with the victims of terrorism, and declarations of unrelenting war against the perpetrators of such crimes.  Yet, in the other instance the tormented are urged to empathise with the motivations of their tormentors, and to attempt negotiation with those who seek their destruction. The Spanish capital...

Israel’s General Security Service (GSS) is investigating whether the Palestinian suicide bombers who perpetrated Sunday’s attacks at the Ashdod Port, arrived in the container that left Gaza and was discovered today (Wednesday) featuring a hidden sidewall stashed with grenades as well as food, water and personal gear. Another possibility being examined is that the terrorists intended to carry out an attack at the nearby navy base using the grenades. The container, which was discovered at dock 12, was en route to deliver marble boards to Haifa. A senior defense official told Maariv Online that the sidewall has signs indicating people...

Negba Assulin threw herself on top of her husband's wreath-laden grave in the Ashdod Cemetery Monday evening. "Where is your smile, Danny?" she cried. Friends and family tried to help her back on her feet. "Don't take me away from him," she said as they led her away. Only a few meters away from the grave, she collapsed. As the sun set and the wind turned cold, mourners in Ashdod finished burying six of the 10 victims from Sunday's twin bombings in the port. The other four were buried elsewhere in the country. For four hours, thousands of mourners came...

w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m Last update - 16:32 15/03/2004 Victims of Sunday's suicide attack By Haaretz Staff Gil Abutbul38-year-old Ashdod resident Gil Abutbul was married, a father of two. He was the goalie of the M.S. Ashdod veterans soccer team. His group was scheduled to play on Monday, a match that was cancelled due to the terror attack. Ophir Damari31-year-old Rehovot resident Ophir Damari was the best friend of Moshe Hendler, who was also killed in Sunday's suicide attack. Damari's sister, Meirav says her brother...

EU condemns Ashdod Port suicide bombings, demands Palestinian radicals call immediate, unconditional cease-fire

Ten people were murdered today (Sunday) when two terrorists detonated explosives in a port facility in Ashdod. The terrorists, who were residents of Gaza, killed themselves in an attempt to carry out a ‘mega-attack’ that would have released deadly chemicals into the port city. One of the terrorists made his way into the port’s inner workshop and blew himself up at 4:30 PM. Soon after the first explosion, the second terrorist detonated his explosive vest outside the fence of the port compound. A port official told Israel Radio that it was a miracle the blasts did not rupture a bromide...

Suicide bombs kill 10 Israelis - By Ohad Gozani in Ashdod (Filed: 15/03/2004) At least 10 Israelis were killed and about 20 injured yesterday when two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Israeli port of Ashdod. The blasts went off almost simultaneously. One took place at a caravan serving as an office for an Israeli refrigeration firm close to the port's main gate and another at a warehouse further inside the facility. Mohammed Salam and Nabil Masoud Two militant Palestinian groups, Hamas and the Al Aqsa Brigades, linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah organisation, took joint responsibility for the...

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli attack helicopters fired at least 10 missiles at a metal foundry and other targets around Gaza City early on Monday, Palestinian witnesses said. It was not known what other targets were hit and there were no immediate reports of casualties in the early morning air strikes, which came hours after two Gaza suicide bombers killed 10 people at Israel's port of Ashdod. Much of northern Gaza was plunged into darkness as the missiles knocked out electricity supplies. The Israeli military, which has used its helicopter fleet to track and kill scores of militants waging a more...

ASHDOD, Israel — Two Palestinian homicide bombers attacked this closely guarded Israeli port Sunday, killing 11 Israelis and wounding 18 in the first deadly assault on a strategic installation in more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The bombings raised serious questions about Israel's vulnerability. Police said the bombers may have been trying to blow themselves up near chemicals, causing far greater loss of life. Israel raised its overall terror alert to its highest level after the attacks, Israel Radio reported, as police increased security at all Israeli seaports, airports and train stations. The bombers were identified as residents of...

Members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Two explosions in the southern Israeli port of Ashdod were carried out in a joint operation by the hardline Palestinian groups Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a Brigades source said.(AFP/File/Mahmud Hams) JENIN, West Bank (AFP) - Two explosions in the southern Israeli port of Ashdod were carried out in a joint operation by the hardline Palestinian groups Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a Brigades source said. Hamas also claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement published on its website. The Al-Aqsa source, speaking on condition of anonymity in a phone call...

Palestinians celebrate "revenge attack in Ashdod" Despite official PA condemnation, Jenin residents hit streets, hand out candy. Maariv Online Despite an official statement issued by the Palestinian Authority condemning today's (Sunday) terror attack at the Ashdod Port, Palestinians have hit the streets in celebration across the West Bank. Meanwhile, scores of well-wishers rushed to mourning tents set up at the villages where the two suicide bombers hailed from. Scenes of jubilation were also seen in Palestinian cities, most notably Jenin, where candy was handed out to passerby on the streets as shots were fired in celebration. Many residents in...

Jerusalem In The Snow J'lem roads gradually reopen; schools closed in W. Bank, North Jerusalem residents taking advantage of the snow in the capital Tuesday morning. (Photo: Lior Mizrahi / Baubau)Authorities were considering closing part of the Ayalon freeway Tuesday evening as the water level in the Ayalon River rose to within half a meter of the road level, threatening floods. Meanwhile, roads to Jerusalem reopened Tuesday afternoon after heavy snow brought the capital to a halt earlier in the day, with schools shut in the city and the surrounding area after some 20 cm fell overnight. The storm is...