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EU slams Rafah attack as `completely disproportionate,` says action shows `reckless disregard for human life` (Reuters)

The army has received information in recent days regarding a shipment of Strella shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, Sagger anti-tank missiles, and other long-range rockets that are waiting on the Egyptian side of the border to be smuggled through tunnels into the Gaza Strip, a senior IDF officer said on Tuesday. As the IDF launched Operation Rainbow against the terrorist network in Rafah, current assessments show that at least three or four tunnels are still operating in the area, the officer said. The weapons are brought to the area by boats anchored at El-Arish, tunnels dug underneath the Suez Canal, and from...

Breathless, the gunman dashed up the hill, blood smeared on his face. Five bullets from an IDF sniper had whistled through Rafah's Tel e-Sultan neighborhood Tuesday afternoon, badly wounding two of his fellow gunmen as they took cover in a nearby house, but apparently missing him. Less than a minute passed before an ambulance screamed to the site, dumped the wounded aboard, and sped away. Dozens of children and teenage boys, curious bystanders and supporters of the resistance against Israel, pointed the way to ambulance drivers. The Gaza Strip's southernmost city of Rafah, the epicenter of the fiercest fighting between...

Israel learned lessons from its military campaign in Jenin in 2002 and decided to embed a handful of Israeli and foreign reporters with the IDF to cover the current fighting in Rafah. One of the mistakes made in Jenin, said Gideon Meir, the Foreign Ministry's deputy director-general for public affairs, was to keep reporters away. The result, he said, was that it seemed Israel was trying to hide its actions, when it wasn't. It also led to the publication of wild tales about large-scale massacres. Meir said he hopes the foreign press, which in many cases reported rumor as truth...

There is "no other force besides the IDF" that can prevent the Gaza Strip from being flooded with weaponry that threatens Israel, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon said Tuesday. Ya'alon, who was briefing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on operations in the southern Gaza Strip, said that ceding control of the Philadelphi Route would result in the Gaza Strip becoming "inundated with weaponry" that would pose difficulties for Israel in the future. Ya'alon said the IDF operation in Rafah, aimed at improving the military's ability to fight weapons smuggling, is still under way. The quality...

The Palestinian Authority Tuesday urged the international community to interfere with Israel to stop the "brutal massacre" in Rafah. "The Palestinian leadership calls on al the world countries, the US, the Quartet, the Arab brothers, the European Union and the UN Security Council to stop this big brutal massacre decided by the Israeli government," said a statement issued by PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's office. "The Israeli government's goal is to destroy Rafah and its refugee camps and to displace their residents," the statement charged. "So will the world remain silent in the face of this crime of genocide and displacement?"...

“We told the soldiers to kill as many terrorists as possible”, a senior IDF source told Maariv Tuesday evening regarding the IDFs operation in Rafah. The source related how over the past three months the IDF exposed vast quantities of weapons of the caliber previously unheard of in Gaza. “That’s why we were forced to conduct this operation that will only end when we have achieved our goals”, the source said. Palestinian sources report 20 killed and 36 wounded in the Rafah operation so far. According to the Palestinians three of the dead are children including a brother and sister....

Chief of staff Lt.-Gen Moshe Ya'alon told a press conference Tuesday, "we are in the midst of an operation in Rafah, which is aimed at improving our ability in fighting against weapons smuggling The aim of the operation is to uncover as many tunnels as possible." The weapons have been arriving at Sinai beaches, and from there they are transported to the Gaza Strip. "The operations are being financed almost entirely by Iran and organized via Damascus and Lebanon with the aid of the Hizbullah," Ya'alon continued. There has recently been an improvement in the quality of arms being smuggled...

Translation from reports by me (Hebrew to English): IDF begins large scale operation in southern Gaza strip. Goals are to eliminate terrorists by capturing or killing them, targetting weapons tunnels and other terrorist structures such as bomb labs. The IDF has began to enter Palestinian Authority terrorist controlled Rafiah (Walla! News Israeli portal). Infantry forces including Givati and Golani, with Engineering Corps, covered by IDF helicopters have began to move into the town. IDF troops have been reported to have taken up positions in various buildings as well. In the opening incidents of the operation, 5 terrorists were killed by...

U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice criticized Israel on Monday for its plan for mass demolition of Palestinian houses in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. Rice, speaking in Berlin after a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, said the United States had told Israel "that some of their actions don't create the best atmosphere." "It's a subject of conversation and it's a subject of concern," Rice said. A senior Palestinian official told Reuters that Qureia appealed to Rice to stop Israel's mass demolition plan in Gaza's Rafah refugee camp, where thousands of Palestinians could be...

alestinian sources report large IDF forces in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of expected operations to widen the Philadelphia corridor. Meanwhile, some 3000 Palestinians fled their homes in Rafah on Sunday following the High Court of Justice's turning down of a petition filed by 13 Palestinian residents against the IDF's decision to demolish houses adjacent to the Phildelphia Route in Rafah, Ynet reported. Advertisement The IDF revealed plans Sunday to create a 60 meter wide underground canal, 20 meters deep that is aimed at preventing the forging of arms-smuggling tunnels from the Egyptian side of Rafah to the Palestinian side....

Palestinian sources report large IDF forces in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of expected operations to widen the Philadelphia corridor, after the High COurt rejected petitions by 13 Palestinian residents in Rafah against the destruction of houses in Palestinian Rafah, reported channel one news Sunday evening. The IDF revealed plans Sunday to create a 60 meter wide underground canal, 20 meters deep that is aimed at preventing the forging of arms-smuggling tunnels from the Egyptian side of Rafah to the Palestinian side. This is one option to widening the Philadelphia Corridor, reported Channel 2 news Sunday. The army is considering...

IDF tanks entered the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, near the border with Egypt, late Tuesday, residents said. IDF officers said a routine operation was underway to find arms-smuggling tunnels. Residents said the tanks moved about 60 meters into the camp, an area where buildings were destroyed in earlier operations. No clashes were reported, but Israeli soldiers were firing machine guns, they said. The Rafah camp has been a frequent center of clashes. IDF forces enter the camp to search for and tunnels used by Palestinians to smuggle weapons in from Egypt.

Dec. 23, 2003 Two hurt after Kassam falls in Gaza settlement By JPOST.COM STAFF Two Israelis were hurt Tuesday night after a Kassam rocket made a direct hit on a home in the Gaza Strip settlement of Nisanit. The condition of the wounded was still unclear. Meanwhile Tuesday, eight Palestinians were killed and 42 wounded during an IDF incursion into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip to find tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt to the Palestinians, Palestinian sources said. There were no injuries to IDF troops. On Monday, two IDF officers of the Givati Brigade were killed and...

Israeli Tanks Enter Rafah Refugee Camp Tuesday October 14, 2003 4:16 AM By IBRAHIM BARZAK Associated Press Writer GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Dozens of Israeli tanks entered the Rafah refugee camp before dawn Tuesday, just days after another incursion into the Gaza site left eight dead and hundreds homeless. On Monday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat delivered yet another blow to his new premier, appointing an acting security chief over interim Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia's opposition. Qureia, in office about a week, already has threatened to resign several times because of disputes with Arafat. The latest threat came Sunday,...

IDF In Pictures October 10, 2003 As part of IDF activity in the city of Rafah to uncover weapon smuggling tunnels, IDF forces exposed two tunnels used for weapons smuggling - which were dug under buildings in the area. Photos: Yonatan Na'aman, IDF Spokesperson's Unit IDF In Pictures October 11, 2003 As part of ongoing activity in Rafah (initiated October 9, 2003), IDF forces uncovered three weapon smuggling tunnels dug under buildings in the areaa. Photos: IDF Spokesperson's Unit IDF In Pictures September 8, 2003 Israel Air Force attack helicopters targeted a Hamas arms depot in the Gaza Strip...

UN Chief Kofi Annan condemns IDF raid in Rafah as `disproportionate use of force in densely populated areas` (DPA)

IDF ENTERS GAZA TO CLOSE TERROR TUNNELS By INA and AP Jerusalem---October 10......The Israel Defense Forces sent tanks and elite ground units into a Gaza refugee camp early Friday to destroy tunnels used by Palestinian terrorists to smuggle weapons from Egypt. Military officials said they acted on warnings that terrorists were trying to acquire anti-aircraft missiles. The raid followed a day of political uncertainty and sporadic violence in the region. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia suffered a severe blow when legislators failed to vote on his Cabinet, casting doubt on his plan to reach a truce with Israel. And a...

========= FINAL ================== GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 09/13/03 - Natanz, Bushehr, Fallujah, Tikrit, Bagram, Gaza, Hebron, Kabul, Manhattan, New York, Rafah BREAKING: Tikrit Raid BREAKING: Bagram, 911 memorial BREAKING: Gaza, air strike on Zahar - groundtruthing BREAKING: Kabul women and girls in school BREAKING: ABP - Buffalo, New York BREAKING: Bushehr, Natanz, Irans' nuclear facility ========= Afghanistan: Kabul ========= FREED BY THE USA AND IGNORED BY THE AMERICAN MEDIA (as is their way) In Kabul, Afghan girls rush to school. Before intervention of the valiant US military, they would have been raped and killed by the...

May 1, 2003 IDF Activity Overnight in the Gaza Strip City of Rafah As part of the ongoing war against terrorism and its infrastructure, IDF infantry, armor, and combat engineering forces operated overnight (April 30, 2003) in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. During the operation, IDF forces searched a number of buildings suspected of concealing weapon smuggling tunnels. In addition, IDF forces demolished four abandoned structures located along the demarcation line of the Israel-Egypt border, an area under full Israeli security control. In this area, weapons smuggling tunnels are dug, as are explosive tunnels meant to...