10 Killed As Israel Pounds Hamas Targets

Israel Attacks Hamas Targets From The Air As Palestinian Infighting Slows Some In Gaza Strip

(CBS/AP)  Israel pounded more Hamas targets with airstrikes, killing 10 people and wounding dozens as it stepped deeper into fighting between the Islamic militants and the rival Fatah fighters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The latest attack came early Friday morning as Israeli aircraft fired missiles east of Gaza City, killing four Palestinians, at least three of them Hamas militants, and wounding six people, Hamas and Palestinian doctors said. There was no immediate Israeli comment. Two other strikes followed but there was no word of any casualties, the doctors said.

Israel says the strikes are in retaliation for more than 50 rockets that Hamas has launched against Israel over the past three days in an apparent attempt to divert attention from Palestinian infighting, CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey.

"Hamas killed a lot of fellow Palestinians, some in brutal executions and ambushes, so a good way to divert attention from that was to draw Israel into the fighting," says CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. "If Hamas is targeted by Israel, it wins immediate sympathy from the public and also unites the Palestinians. Instead of fighting each other, they'll turn their attention to fighting a common enemy — Israel."

But the Palestinians have so far managed to kill more of their own than the Israelis have. Fatah gunmen even opened fire Thursday on a funeral for Hamas fighters killed in earlier street battles, adds Pizzey.

“Israel will take every defensive measure to stop these rocket attacks. We will defend our citizens against the rockets, against the weapons, against the Iranian-backed Hamas who are attacking Israel,” government spokeswoman Miri Eisen said.

The strikes, a series of Israeli attacks Thursday, and the reported movement of a handful of tanks a few hundred yards into the northern Gaza Strip, followed days of Hamas rocket barrages into Israel.

Street fighting between the Palestinian factions that has gripped Gaza since the weekend calmed under a truce agreement, but clashes still killed at least four people — a day after 22 died in the worst battles during a year of factional bloodshed.

There was no sign of any Israeli military buildup that would indicate plans for a serious intervention into chaotic Gaza, though a few tanks and soldiers moved just across the Gaza border. Israel's government said its attacks were intended solely to discourage rocket attacks on southern Israel.

Analysts said Israeli policy makers were likely trying to walk a narrow line to avoid uniting Palestinian factions into a common front against Israel.

Hamas mounted accusations on its Web sites, radio and TV that Abbas-linked forces were working with Israel — a charge dismissed as “absurd” by a Fatah spokesman.

Although Israel said it wasn't taking sides, the airstrikes did make it harder for Hamas gunmen to move around and that could help Fatah's fighters, who appeared to have been outfought in the latest round of battles. Hamas fighters have clearly been more motivated in the current fighting and earlier battles in December.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Israel had shown “great restraint” in exercising its right to self defense and warned Hamas it would never achieve a Palestinian state unless it chose peace and worked with Fatah.

“They're not going to see it by launching Qassam rockets into Israel. They're not going to see it by attacking the legitimate security forces of the Palestinian Authority. They're not going to see it by sending young people armed with suicide vests to blow up other Israeli youngsters,” McCormack said.

A day after bombing two Hamas targets, Israeli aircraft struck a Hamas command center, a trailer housing bodyguards and two vehicles Thursday.

Busloads of Sderot residents sought shelter away from the frontier. Israeli media said more than 2,000 of the town's 24,000 people had left.

Berger (audio) reports Sderot's terrorized residents are accusing the government of doing nothing.

Thursday's airstrikes came on the fifth day of factional fighting that appeared to be tearing apart a Hamas-Fatah unity government formed two months ago in hopes of ending such clashes and also killing any hope of renewed peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians.

In all, 46 Palestinians had been killed by the infighting since Sunday. But street clashes ebbed Thursday and Gazans who had been trapped in their homes the previous day hurried out to stock up on bread, bottled water and other supplies.

“I have run out of cigarettes and I'm almost out of mineral water. I don't have many diapers left,” said grocer Ghassan Abu al-Qas.

No one stayed outside long, though, fearing a resumption of fighting. Few cars and trucks ventured out.

Israel's airstrikes complicated an already chaotic situation in Gaza, making the embattled Abbas even more vulnerable to Hamas accusations that he is in Israel's pocket. With his aides citing security concerns, Abbas canceled a Thursday trip to Gaza for talks with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

[xzavierbrown]

its amazing how the liberal media is, again, diverting the attention away from the real cause of this chaos towards an easy target.
Oh well, whatever it takes to make 'chaos' or anything newsworth going..gotta keep those presses running.

[karlimhof]

israel pounds Hamas....supports Fatah

israel pounds Fatah, supports Hamas

israel pounds Hezbollah, supports Hamas & Fatah

gee, look like israel pounds fairly between all parties!

maybe israel would like to see them all pound themselves out of existance....but there are too many millions of palestinians to pound.

well, i guess pounding is better than a 2 state solution - at least that's what israeli neocons think.

[karlimhof]

israeli policy of apartheid in the occupied Palestinian lands since 1967 and their concerted effort to drive Palestinians from all of Palestine since 1947 has given birth to all terror groups;

Fatah, Hamas, Hezbollah, and splinter groups.

By returning what they have stolen to their rightful owners will remove the reason for continued violence and terror.

Americans must now think of their own safety and force the two parties to an agreement based on the 2 state solution.

[kretos-2009]

that news full of *** israel killed civilians .

[krotec54]

Now, We wait for Hezbolla to start their show of support for Hamas.
Then Iran and Syria will protest the strikes from Israel as unfair retaliations.

[feelfree1]

Israel has to be the most cowardly country ever. The only way that Israel bennefits the people of the U.S., is by saving us from being the most contemptable country on the planet.

Not only do Israeli forces have a long chronic policy of using "human shields", but they have pioneered the practice of "targetted" mass-murder from the cofort and safety of an aircraft.

They regularly imprison, torture, and kill innocent women and children, then try to blame the victims for their own misfortune. The Israelis have truly become their own worst oppressors.

If there is one thing that the overwhelming majority of Americans can agree on, it is that the billions upon billions of U.S. tax dollar funded welfare payments made to prop up the failing State of Israel, is a terrible investment.

Supporting the delluded goals of Israeli extremist leaders has cost our country a huge toll in blood, treasure, and dignity.

[feelfree1]

Israel has to be the most cowardly country ever. The only way that Israel bennefits the people of the U.S., is by preventing us from being the most contemptable country on the planet right now.

Not only do Israeli forces have a long standing chronic policy of using "human shields", but they have also pioneered the practice of "targetted" mass-murder from the cofort and safety of an aircraft, or even an unmanned drone.

The Israelis regularly imprison, torture, and kill innocent women and children, then try to blame the victims for their own plight. The Israelis have truly become their own worst oppressors. What a repulsive country.

If there is one thing that the overwhelming majority of Americans can agree on, it is that the billions upon billions of U.S. tax dollar funded welfare payments made to prop up the failing State of Israel, is a terrible investment.

Supporting the delluded goals of Israeli extremist leaders has cost our country a huge toll in blood, treasure, and dignity.

[feelfree1]

Israel has to be the most cowardly country ever. The only way that Israel bennefits the people of the U.S., is by saving us from being the most contemptable country on the planet.

Not only do Israeli forces have a long chronic policy of using "human shields", but they have pioneered the practice of "targetted" mass-murder from the cofort and safety of an aircraft.

They regularly imprison, torture, and kill innocent women and children, then try to blame the victims for their own misfortune. The Israelis have truly become their own worst oppressors.

If there is one thing that the overwhelming majority of Americans can agree on, it is that the billions upon billions of U.S. tax dollar funded welfare payments made to prop up the failing State of Israel, is a terrible investment.

Supporting the delluded goals of Israeli extremist leaders has cost our country a huge toll in blood, treasure, and dignity.

[krotec54]

Now, We wait for Hezbolla to start their show of support for Hamas.
Then Iran and Syria will protest strikes from Israel as unfair retaliations.

[krotec54]

Now, We wait for Hezbolla to start their show of support for Hamas.
Then Iran and Syria will protest strikes from Israel as unfair retaliations.

[randalds]

Israel pulled all of it's citizens from Gaza, making it look like it was a move toward peace, when actually it was just to make sure that they could launch rockets and helicopter attacks there without fear of killing Israelis. In other words they created their version of the same Warsaw ghetto that the Nazi's did to them in WWII. They drew all of the Palestinians in Gaza in one place to make it easier to exterminate them, just like the Nazi's tried to do to them. They learned from the Nazi's and now the world is learning that they are not much different from them.

[one_american]

"If Hamas is targeted by Israel, it wins immediate sympathy from the public and also unites the Palestinians."

Which is exactly why Hamas continues to provoke Israel with indiscriminant missle attacks and suicide bombs - it knows that the gullible people of the world will always feel sorry it, and the same gullible people will condemn Israel if it tries to defend itself from being attacked.

[bigal321321]

Methinks Hamas cares more about philosophy than human flesh and blood. Always playing the blame game. Here's what's strange here...both sides claim to be defending their side. If you're in a defensive posture then why are you shooting at people? Shooting would indicate offense vs. defense. What Hamas doesn't realize is they're fighting an 800 pound gorilla, who has the entire US arsenal at their disposal. Hamas, do a reality check (no really) and cut the deal with Israel, make peace and give your people something they haven't had in over 40 years.

[sharncedar]

It looks like the Israelis are losing the war. Because they just keep doing the same thing, beating and beating and killing Palestinians in the same violent manner. But they seme to have lost the initiative, it is a continual pattern, a tired pattern. They have to increase the violence level constantly to get the same results. As the US descends into chaos, Israel will lose a big source of funding and structure. They seem to be losing this thing, what do you all think?

[krenz4]

Every country on the planet can stop or prevent weapons from getting to the palestinians and they would find stones to bash in each others brains and blame that on America and Israel too.

[krenz4]

Every country on the planet can stop or prevent weapons from getting to the palestinians and they would find stones to bash in each others brains and blame that on America and Israel too.

[xzavierbrown]

Hamas is the Al Shaprton of the Palestinians. It uses someone else as an excuse to maintain power and authority. Instead of directing it misguide to assure itself 'job security'.

[ajmarine1]

"If Hamas is targeted by Israel, it wins immediate
sympathy from the public and also unites the Palestinians."

Why then did Israel play into Hamas hands then?

[krenz4]

Every country on the planet can stop or prevent weapons from getting to the palestinians and they would find stones to bash in each others brains and blame that on America and Israel too.

[karlimhof]

kkkk