Israel Focuses Assault On Hamas Leaders

Missiles Rain Down On Gaza For 7th Day - Now After A Warning - Striking Hamas Militant Leaders

(CBS/AP)  Israel destroyed the homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives and bombed one of its mosques on Friday, the seventh day of a blistering offensive in Gaza and the day after a deadly strike killed a prominent Hamas figure.

In what appeared to be a new Israeli tactic, the military called at least some of the houses ahead of time to warn inhabitants of an impending attack. In some cases, it also fired a sound bomb to warn away civilians before flattening the homes with powerful missiles, Palestinians and Israeli defense officials said.

Israel launched the aerial campaign last Saturday in a bid to halt weeks of intensifying Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza. The offensive has dealt a heavy blow to Hamas, but has failed to halt the rocket fire. New attacks Friday struck apartment buildings in a southern Israeli city. No serious injuries were reported.

After destroying Hamas' security compounds, Israel has turned its attention to the group's leadership.

In air strike after air strike early Friday, Israeli warplanes hit some 20 houses believed to belong to Hamas militants and members of other armed groups, Palestinians said.

They said the Israelis either warned nearby residents by phone or fired a warning missile to reduce civilian casualties. Israeli planes also dropped leaflets east of Gaza giving a confidential phone number and e-mail address for people to report locations of rocket squads. Residents stepped over the leaflets.

Israel used similar tactics during its 2006 war in Lebanon.

Most of the targeted homes Friday belonged to activist leaders and appeared to be empty at the time, but one man was killed in a strike that flattened a building in the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

More than 400 Gazans have been killed and some 1,700 have been wounded in the Israeli campaign, Gaza health officials said. The number of combatants and civilians killed is unclear, but Hamas has said around half of the dead are members of its security forces and the U.N. has said more than 60 are civilians, 34 of them children.

Three Israeli civilians and one soldier have also died in the rocket attacks, which have reached deeper into Israel than ever before, bringing an eighth of Israel's population of 7 million within rocket range.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has caused a significant shift in the country's mood, replacing a lingering sense of helplessness and frustration over rocket attacks with a sense of might and vindication.

Leaders who were unpopular only a week ago have suddenly surged in the public's esteem, reflecting a satisfaction with Israel's crushing aerial assault. But that could change quickly if the fighting drags on or Israel starts taking heavy casualties.


The mosque destroyed Friday was known as a Hamas stronghold, and the army said it was used to store weapons. Hamas has boasted that more than 100 of the mosque's worshippers have been killed in the past on missions against Israelis.

It also was identified with Nizar Rayan, the Hamas militant leader killed Thursday when Israel dropped a one-ton bomb on his home. The explosion killed 20 people, including all four of Rayan's wives and 10 of his children.

The strike on Rayan's home obliterated the four-story apartment building and peeled off the walls of others around it, carving out a vast field of rubble.

Rayan, 49, ranked among Hamas' top five decision-makers. A professor of Islamic law, he was known for his close ties to the group's military wing and was respected in Gaza for donning combat fatigues and personally participating in clashes against Israeli forces. He sent one of his sons on an October 2001 suicide mission that killed two Israeli settlers in Gaza.

CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports that on the day before his death, Rayan (left) appeared on Hamas TV saying God promised either victory or martyrdom.

Hamas has vowed to take revenge for the killing, and the militant group continued launching rockets into Israel Friday, says Phillips, causing damage but, in the past few days, not killing anyone.

Israel's military said the homes of Hamas leaders are being used to store missiles and other weapons, and the hit on Rayan's house triggered secondary explosions from the stockpile there.

Israeli defense officials said the military had called Rayan's home and fired a warning missile before destroying the building. That was impossible to confirm. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss military tactics.

Israel has targeted Hamas leaders many times in the past, but halted the practice during a six-month truce that expired last month.

Most of Hamas' leaders went into hiding at the start of Israel's offensive. Rayan, however, was known for openly defying Israel and in the past had led crowds to the homes of wanted Hamas figures - as if daring Israel to strike and risk the lives of civilians.

The offensive has not halted rocket fire at Israel, and a barrage landed in the city of Ashkelon early Friday. Two rockets hit apartment buildings, lightly wounding one man, police said. Sirens warning Israelis to take cover when military radar picks up an incoming rocket have helped reduce casualties in recent days.

The military said aircraft destroyed the three rocket launchers used to fire at Ashkelon.

Israel has been building up artillery, armor and infantry on Gaza's border in an indication the punishing air assault could expand with a ground incursion. At the same time, international pressure is building for a cease-fire that would block more fighting.

Israel appears to be offering an opening for the intense diplomatic efforts, saying it would consider a halt to the fighting if international monitors were brought in to track compliance with any truce with Hamas.

Concerned about protests, Israeli police said they would step up security and restrict access to Friday prayers at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque. Devout Muslims attend large, communal prayers on Fridays.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said thousands of police would be deployed throughout the city, and that only Palestinian men over the age of 50, along with women of all ages, would be permitted to enter. He also said that police were in contact with Muslim leaders to ensure things remain quiet.

The army also imposed a closure on the West Bank, barring nearly all of the area's more than 2 million Palestinians from entering Israel.

However, nearly 300 Palestinians who hold foreign passports are being allowed to pass through the Israeli-controlled Erez border crossing and flee the fighting in Gaza, an army spokesman said.

He said the Palestinians hold citizenship from a number of other countries, including the U.S., Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan.

At the Erez checkpoint, one woman leaving Gaza said of the situation there: "It's very bad, there is no food, no nothing, and lots of people are dying."

"Where are you, Arabs? Where are you? No one's coming to help us and it's very bad," she said.

Israel has long restricted movement across its border with Gaza, but it closed the area to all but essential supplies on November 5 last year after an upsurge in Palestinian rocket fire.

[barsellers]

The issue goes far deeper than religion. Gendercide is normal in Iran.

Check out www.SurviveIran.com

[kawosa]

All well and good from SJordan. However one has to wonder why this terrorist activity is going left unchecked by the people who live there. More important, why are the women and children ending their lives to get back you Israel. Look around you and answer this very important question, "Who loves you Israel". Your government has removed innocent people from the streets, tortured and even murdered them with no explanation. You fire your precision missiles at playgrounds to provoke more pain and hatred. You now have exactly what you wanted. Hatred from almost every walk of life.
If you would only understand that these undercover tactics reach out faster than the 80 missiles on Friday because most know just how your leaders function. Hitler would have been proud of you.

[shirajordan]

To all the people who sleep safely in their beds at night and have the audacity to criticize the Israeli government, this is for you:
None of you spoke in the past 8 years when rockets and bombs fell in southern Israeli cities, causing death and destruction without any provocation on our part.
What you need to understand are two things-
First of all, there is no functioning government in Gaza. The Hamas took over (in a military coup!) and they are running the show. The Hamas, in case you didn''t know, is a terror organization. Just like Al-kaida and Hezbollah. Israel is dealing with terror organizations all through its borders. Not with governments. And not with civilians. We have nothing against the Palestinians. Only the terrorists.
The second thing you need to know is that the Hamas is a very cynical organization which uses innocent women and children to fight Israel. They launch their missals from civilian''s houses, not from open fields or military camps, and when the Israeli army wants to destroy those missals launchers- sometimes innocent people die.

[shirajordan]

-continue-
They stash weapons; bombs etc. in hospitals, mosques, civil houses and schools exactly for this reason- they know that the Israeli army will not bomb those places. Over the years, they have dig tunnels between Egypt and Gaza to smuggle everything, including weapons which is being used against us.
The Israeli army has such advanced technologies they can surgically hit those places. And that is exactly what we are doing. The manipulations in the media, done by the Arabs are ridicules, at best.
Ask yourself- what would you do if your life was constantly under threat? Look at the map. Maybe that will help you grasp our geographic situation.
The purpose of the Israeli army is to defend. Not attack.
So next time you think about how miserable and poor the Palestinians are, and how powerful and evil the Israelis are- think again. Israel has left Gaza more than 3 (!) years ago- their chaos and fights among themselves are not our responsibility.
(Written by a left-wing Israeli who thinks terror should not win anywhere in the world).

[wardoglrs]

Israel Focuses Assault On Hamas Leaders:
In other words we are still killing everything in sight including women & children.
Google
BENJAMIN FREEDMAN SPEAKS: A JEWISH DEFECTOR WARNS AMERICA

[harrika-2009]

No israel no peace and no palestine no peace so let them learn to live together for their own peace.

[wardoglrs]

Israel Is a forged country by the United numnuts.A real Jew does not recognize Israel as a nation so this is occupation through deception of who the real jew is and who the phoneys are such as olmart liven bolton bush obama and so on

[souljam76]

looks like we need to send some U.S. Troops down here now?

[samthetvcat]

So long as two sets of people both claim ownership and neither can be subjugated, there''ll never be peace, will there?

:(

[abrame]

Stupid, there was no war in 1948.
Posted by nittygritty6

Note how the person using the name "nittygritty6" is so sick with prapaganda induced mental illness they deny reality:

"1948 Arab%u2013Israeli War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, known by the Israelis predominantly as War of Independence and War of Liberation, and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe (Arabic: al Nakba), was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict...."

http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/1948_Arab-Israeli_War

[abrame]

Stupid, there was no war in 1948.
Posted by nittygritty6

Note how the person using the name "nittygritty6" is so sick with prapaganda induced mental illness they deny reality:

"1948 Arab%u2013Israeli War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, known by the Israelis predominantly as War of Independence (%u05DE%u05DC%u05D7%u05DE%u05EA %u05D4%u05E2%u05E6%u05DE%u05D0%u05D5%u05EA) and War of Liberation (%u05DE%u05DC%u05D7%u05DE%u05EA %u05D4%u05E9%u05D7%u05E8%u05D5%u05E8), and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe (Arabic: al Nakba), was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict...."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab-Israeli_War

[abrame]

You think the kikes have the right to live on land that is not theirs?
Posted by nittygritty6

Here''s a prime example of racist mentally ill failure to realize he 1948 war is over.

[abrame]

---"It''''s astounding how ignorant and ill-informed people still are on this issue."---
Posted by fcuk_Israel

Ever since being called ignorant in College, I''''ve been afraid to ask questions out of fear of putting my foot in it, so I still don''''t really understand the situation.

Would there ever be conditions that Palestinians would for the most part accept that would allow Israel to exist? What would they have to do?

Posted by SamTheTVCat

No. None.

The Arabs lost the 1948 war and are still fighting it.

[abrame]

The kikes have no right to live on land not belonging to them.

The jews have no right to live anywhere on the planet.

Posted by nittygritty6

Spoken like a true racist genocidal terrorist maniac.

But we already knew that about you.

[samthetvcat]

---"It''s astounding how ignorant and ill-informed people still are on this issue."---
Posted by fcuk_Israel

Ever since being called ignorant in College, I''ve been afraid to ask questions out of fear of putting my foot in it, so I still don''t really understand the situation.

Would there ever be conditions that Palestinians would for the most part accept that would allow Israel to exist? What would they have to do?

[tmittelstaed]

"...What''''s the deal with Palestinians though - is it hatred of Jews or is it because Israel was created after the halocaust from land they believe is theirs ? Either way, they''''re never going to accept peace, are they..."

Both sides would eventually stop fighting if the rest of the world wasn''t funding military operations there.

What you see going on is the world''s Christians and Jews are funding Israel, and the world''s Moslems are funding the Palestinians, to do their fighting by proxy. It''s no different than 2 countries each with a volunteer army, going at it - their populations are paying those volunteers to fight for them. As long as the money is coming in then both sides will be buying military weapons and a state of war will exist. And as to what they are fighting over - it''s something that an atheist would never understand. Simply put, it''s access to the Holy Land. Both sides think they were given exclusive control of the land directly from God Himself. In previous centuries the cooler heads of both sides worked out various methods of sharing control and an uneasy truce existed. But today the cooler heads on both sides have fled the area, and the only people left in either Palestine or Israel, are the fanatics. And, Israel is the one getting desperate. The birthrate among Moslems is far, far higher and every year there''s more percentage of them than Jews in the area.

[stupidrules3]

Israel lost to Hezbollah because too many Israelis Soldiers were killed.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by lovegetpeace at 05:36 PM : Jan 02, 2009


Oh puuuhleeez, These rocket attacks are about as effective as the morons throwing rocks at tanks, but it is an act that demands a reply. Unfortunately, for the people of Gaza, the Israelis have a very effective military. Before you attack someone, it is usually wise to make sure you have some chance of success. Any sovereign nation on the planet would do the same thing as the Israelis, and they would be foolish not to.

[barsellers]

The World is ignoring human rights issues in the middle east. Check out www.SurviveIran.com

[wfraser11]

Great Drive
Dude, 6000 rockets were fired,,,thats an act of war.
hamas and the Gazans are getting what they deserve...
and check your history a little dude, the Jews have a right to live there too....99% of the Middle east is Muslim,,,,and you clowns still can''t ley go of the hate the Koran teaches you for others,,,this is why islam and islamofaxcicm is at the center of most of the worlds conflict zones,,Mumnai, kashmir, pakistam, afghanistan, Syria, Morrocco, the Phillippines, ad infinitum. I''m a former Marine infantry officer. Since 1805 US marines have been dispatched to deal with pirates in the Middle east....and they still are...so, leave the bull to the ignorant, israel is
a functioning democracy, something the arab world has scant knowledge or capability in. Sharia os 10th century ignorance,,,so,,,actually, do us all a favor, move to gaza, preferably close to a hamas building,because you have nothing to offer the rest of the workd wbf austin texas

[samthetvcat]

PS I wasn''t drawing a moral equivalency down below, by the way - like I know how threatened Israel feels.

What''s the deal with Palestinians though - is it hatred of Jews or is it because Israel was created after the halocaust from land they believe is theirs ? Either way, they''re never going to accept peace, are they?

I asked the same thing in College and somebody called me offensively ignorant or something like that - I''m sorry if I''ve offended anybody, I''m wishing everybody could live happily ever after in peace and am trying to figure out how that''s going to happen . . .