Free Republic

New Year's Day ... Hamas bombings continue. No word of ground invasion. Hamas "run like a cheap movie extra" strategy becoming clear.. Over 170 updates and counting.

<p>ASHKELON, Israel - Banquet halls have canceled weddings, parents are holding makeshift day care centers in bomb shelters and motorists avoid driving during the day. As Hamas shells southern cities, hundreds of thousands of Israelis in rocket range are finding new ways of coping. "This is the situation and we have to deal with it," Linor Eliav, 31, said Wednesday, a day after getting married.</p>

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)

DEARBORN, Dec. 30--In one of the largest demonstrations in Dearborn in recent years, organizers estimated that some 5,000 people formed a human chain along Warren avenue in Dearborn, the heart of the Arab-American community in metropolitan Detroit, to express solidarity with the plight of the Palestinians now under siege in Gaza by the Israeli military. Chanting slogans such as "Free, Free Palestine", the crowd flew Palestinian flags on the street along Warren avenue as well as from automobiles driving up and down the streets surrounding the demonstration. Although most of the demonstrators were of Palestinian and Arab heritage, there were...

WASHINGTON: As Israel kept up its string of attacks on Gaza for a fourth day that has killed hundreds and injured hundreds more through air attacks, US President George W. Bush leaned on Palestinian leaders to urge Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel. Israel has said it will not cease its assault until Hamas stops firing missiles into its territory. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said yesterday in Crawford, Texas that Bush telephoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to discuss a “sustainable cease-fire” in the Gaza Strip. “They agreed that for any cease-fire to be...

RESIDENTS at certain addresses in the Gaza Strip have been receiving unusual phone calls since the Israeli air assault began on Saturday - a request that they and their families leave their homes as soon as possible for their own safety.

Chronicling the Gaza Strip action. 115 updates since it began. Latest: UPDATE 115. Israel all a twitter: Israel's New York Consulate will hold a "live citizen press conference" over Twitter on Tuesday hosted by David Saranga, consul for media and public affairs at the consulate. / But the Tuesday event, to be held between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Israel time, is "the first time that a government is holding such a conference on Twitter," the consulate said in a statement. / Twitter users can take part in the event by going to: http://www.twitter.com/IsraelConsulate and directing their messages to @israelconsulate...

Last week I was in the Middle East. I was meeting with renowned Muslim scholars, men who lead millions, in a move to condemn extremism and violence. We at the Quilliam Foundation made huge headway, with a high-profile regional event planned next year to help reshape the discourse surrounding Islam and the west. At home in England, behind the scenes, Muslim leaders were also moving in the same direction. The air was becoming ripe for outright rejection of suicide bombings. Everywhere. Tel Aviv. London. No exceptions. But now? After Israel's massacre of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, out on the streets...

Activists trying to bring aid to Gaza today claimed their boat had been rammed by Israeli gunboats in a "criminal attack" in international waters. The Free Gaza Movement said its vessel, the Dignity, was intercepted by several Israeli vessels as it was heading to the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli aerial bombardment since Saturday. One gunboat rammed the Dignity on the port bow side, causing heavy damage, although no one was hurt, the group said. "[The Dignity] is taking on water and appears to have engine problems," the movement said on its website. "When attacked, the Dignity was...

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

As President-elect Barack Obama went to play golf today with friends while vacationing in Hawaii, a small group tried -- but failed -- to give him a letter supporting the Palestinian cause. According to the press pool report, a couple from California and a Honolulu man approached the security checkpoint set up by the Secret Service and Honolulu police and asked if they could give a box and letter to Obama, who has carefully said it is up to President Bush to respond to the Israeli assault in Gaza in retaliation for rocket attacks. Bush has blamed Hamas, which controls...

RESIDENTS at certain addresses in the Gaza Strip have been receiving unusual phone calls since the Israeli air assault began on Saturday - a request that they and their families leave their homes as soon as possible for their own safety. More unusual than the recorded message is the Arabic-speaking caller, who identifies himself as being from the Israeli defence forces, The Australian reports. Dipping into their bag of tricks for the updated Gaza telephone numbers, Israel's intelligence services are warning Palestinian civilians in Gaza living close to Hamas facilities that they may be hurt unless they distance themselves from...

Continuously updated during conflict - UPDATE 107. FLASH - Bombing runs have begun. Just after 2AM Tuesday local time. IAF planes strike multiple targets throughout Gaza. Full text of article: IAF warplanes struck multiple targets throughout the Gaza Strip early Tuesday morning. / It was not yet clear what was bombed. The army hadn't immediately responded to the report. Prelude to a ground incursion?

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel is in an ''all-out war against Hamas.'' He added: ''We have nothing against Gaza residents, but we are engaged in an all-out war against Hamas and its proxies. ''This operation will expand and deepen as much as needed. We went to war to deal a heavy blow to Hamas. Barak recalled a conversation with Barack Obama during the US President-elect's June visit to Sderot city, which is regularly targeted by Gaza militants. He quoted Obama as saying, ''had anyone fired rockets against my home while my two daughters were sleeping I would have done...

3d day of tracking war. 90 updates over three articles. Will continue to update throughout the day.

IAF aircraft bombed the Islamic University and government compound in Gaza City early Monday morning, both centers of Hamas power. Witnesses saw fire and smoke at the university, counting six separate air strikes there just after midnight. Two laboratories in the university, which served as research and development centers for Hamas's military wing, were targeted. The development of explosives was done under the auspices of university professors. University buildings were also used for meetings of senior Hamas officials. The IDF said rockets and explosives were stored in the buildings. For the first time overnight Sunday, the IDF Navy began to...

Violent confrontations broke out at the Israeli Embassy in London today as up to 1,500 protesters against Israel's Gaza campaign gathered in a vociferous demonstration. Campaign supporters, Palestinians and British Muslims stood on the pavement of High Street Kensington, west London, and chanted in unison: “Five, six, seven, eight - Israel is a terror state.” Riot police were brought in to control the crowd, some of whom turned violent. Witnesses said some protestors were forcibly removed and others were seen with bloodied faces as violence erupted. One campaigner was seen throwing a bag and what appeared to be a book...

Mohamed al-Ashi, 28, was in a shock as he stood at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital's emergency room watching several relatives and police officers carrying the body of his brother, who died in the first Israeli airstrike carried out on Saturday at the main Hamas police headquarters. "I pray to Allah (God) to give us patience and strength, may God bless his spirit. We lost the best man in the family," said Mohamed, as he looked sad but kept his tears from flowing, while others shouted Allah Akbar (God is great). Faris el-Ashi, a 33-year-old explosive expert and an officer in...

TEL AVIV | The threat of an Israeli invasion of the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip loomed Sunday, with the call up of 6,500 reservists during the second day of an air offensive that sparked global protests and the deepest penetration yet by Palestinian rockets into southern Israel. Israeli bombers targeted 40 smuggling tunnels linking the Gaza Strip to Egypt, while Palestinian demonstrators clashed with Egyptian border police in an attempt to flee the bombing. The death toll approached 300 and demonstrations erupted throughout the Muslim world. The Syrian government broke off indirect peace talks started earlier this year with Israel. A...

For a second straight day, Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip took a much-needed pounding from Israeli forces. The terrorist organization's main security compound was among the marks that took a heavy beating from Israeli war planes.The campaign by Israel is retaliatory - a more-than-appropriate response to daily rocket and mortar attacks launched by Palestinian "militants" after a truce between the two sides expired last week.To no one's great surprise, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the Israeli operation.Their statement, in part, read: "Despite the public 'green light' given to the Israeli military by the Bush administration, American Muslims...