Israeli Troops Advance On Gaza City
Militants Say They Are "Closer To Victory" As Israel Pushes Deeper Into Gaza With More Firepower
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Israel Deploys Reserve Troops
President Bush held his final news conference with a spirited defense of his policies and a look back at his mistakes. Jim Axelrod reports with commentary from political consultant Dan Bartlett.
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Little Progress In Gaza
Israeli forces advanced deeper into Palestinian territory and as Mark Phillips reports, the international call for cease-fire has done little to quell the violence in Gaza.
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Journalists Amid Gaza Conflict
Over 800 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip over the last two weeks as fighting between Israeli and Gaza intensifies. Richard Roth reports on the media coverage of this conflict.
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Palestinian medics carry a wounded boy who according to Palestinian medical sources was injured in an Israeli strike, into Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
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An Israeli army mortar squad fires a round from the Israel side of the border towards a target in the Gaza Strip, Jan. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
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Smoke and fire is seen rising from fuel tanks following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
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A Palestinian boy carries his family belongings from the rubble of a building in an area targeted by Israeli airstrikes in Rafah southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Khaled Omar)
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Israel Hammers Gaza
Palestinian militants launch rocket attacks, Israel hits back hard.
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In-Depth:
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Hamas showed no signs of wavering, however, with its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, saying the militants were "closer to victory."
Despite the tough words, Egypt said it was making slow progress in brokering a truce, and special Mideast envoy Tony Blair said elements were in place for a cease-fire.
As Olmert spoke in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, Israeli tanks, gunboats and warplanes hammered suspected hiding places of Hamas operatives who control the poor, densely populated territory just across the border.
After nightfall, flares and explosions lit up the sky over Gaza and heavy gunfire was heard in parts of the coastal territory of 1.4 million people.
There was some disagreement in the Israeli war cabinet on whether to push further into Gaza's urban areas and cause more civilian casualties, or declare victory and stop, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.
Either way, Israel's Foreign Minister told CBS News that Israeli troops may be forced to stay in Gaza for some time.
"We hope to find a way to live in peace and protect our citizens without re-occupying Gaza, but at the end of the day, in the Middle East the choice is between bad options," Tzipi Livni told Phillips.
Hamas fighters battled Israeli troops on the outskirts of Gaza City and launched 15 rockets at southern Israel.
Fighting picked up early Tuesday, as Israeli forces, backed by artillery and naval shelling, advanced closer to Gaza City from the south, witnesses said.
Khader Mussa, 35, a resident of the area under attack, told The Associated Press by telephone that he saw two apartment buildings on fire. He said he was huddling in the basement of his building with 25 other people, including his pregnant wife and his parents. "The gates of hell have opened," he said. "God help us."
Gaza's Hamas prime minister insisted on an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the opening of blockaded border crossings as part of any truce.
"As we are in the middle of this crisis, we tell our people we, God willing, are closer to victory. All the blood that is being shed will not go to waste," Haniyeh said on Hamas' Al Aqsa television. But he said the group was also pursuing a diplomatic track to end the conflict that "will not close."
Haniyeh sat a desk in a room with a Palestinian flag and a Quran in the background. His location was unclear; Israeli airstrikes have targeted militant chiefs, and most are in hiding.
The Israelis say that they have intelligence from within Gaza that the Hamas leadership there - unlike the brave talking leadership in exile in Syria - is beginning to crack, reports Phillips. And so they are determined to pile on the pressure until it does.
The fighting began Dec. 27 and has killed more than 900 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, according to Palestinian medical officials. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have been killed.
As diplomats struggled for traction in truce efforts, Olmert said Israel would only end military operations if Hamas stops rocketing Israel, as it has done for years, and is unable to rearm after combat subsides.
"Anything else will be met with the Israeli people's iron fist," Olmert said. "We will continue to strike with full strength, with full force until there is quiet and rearmament stops."
A few hours before Olmert spoke, a rocket hit a house in Ashkelon but caused no casualties. Olmert addressed regional mayors in the relative safety of the basement of a public building during his two-hour visit; he has toured other towns hit by rockets since the war began.
Later, he tempered his tough talk, saying: "I really hope that the efforts we are making with the Egyptians these days will ripen to a result that will enable us to end the fighting."
Ashkelon is 10 miles from the border with Gaza. The Israeli military says Hamas has Iranian-supplied rockets that can reach 25 miles into southern Israel.
Inside Gaza, an Israeli battalion commander identified only as Lt. Col. Yehuda said troops had not met significant resistance and had found several houses booby-trapped either with regular explosives, or by sealing the windows and doors and opening cooking gas valves.
"A couple of days ago, an armed squad popped up from a tunnel that was concealed by a nearby building. We took them out with tank fire and a bulldozer," he said.
In another incident, the commander said, his men spotted a suicide bomber on a bicycle.
"He ran off to take cover in a building, presumably to draw us in," Yehuda said. "We demolished the building on top of him with a bulldozer."
Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg said troops were "tightening the encirclement" of Gaza City and were "constantly on the move."
The comments by Yehuda and Eisenberg were approved by Israeli military censors. They spoke to a small group of reporters who accompanied Israeli units inside Gaza. Israeli forces have not allowed journalists to enter Gaza to cover the war.
Israeli warplanes pounded suspected Hamas positions in Gaza City, and navy gunboats fired at least 25 shells. Smoke billowed over buildings.
At least 20 Palestinians died Monday, some of them from wounds suffered on previous days, Gaza health officials said.
A girl, a doctor and a Hamas militant were killed in the northern Gaza Strip, said Basim Abu Wardeh, head of Kamal Adwan hospital.
The doctor rushed to evacuate the wounded from a building where two airstrikes had taken place and was killed by a third, Abu Wardeh said. Four other medics were injured, one critically.
The Israeli military said four soldiers were injured, one seriously, in what an initial inquiry concluded was a "friendly fire" incident in northern Gaza.
Israel has sent reserve units into Gaza to help thousands of ground forces already in the territory, and fighting has persisted despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire. Egypt has assumed a role as mediator between Israel and Hamas.
Talks "are progressing slowly but surely because each party wants to score some points," Hossam Zaki, the spokesman for Egypt's Foreign Ministry, told the British Broadcasting Corp. "We would like to be able to bridge some gaps and then proceed immediately to a cease-fire."
Zaki, however, said Egypt could not provide certain guarantees that Israelis seek, such as a halt to rocket fire.
"We'll enhance our efforts, but this is not an issue between Israel and Egypt," Zaki told the BBC. "It is an issue between Israel and Gaza, and this is something that will have to be worked out, as the (U.N.) Security Council says, in Gaza."
Much of the diplomacy focuses on an area of southern Gaza just across the Egyptian border known as the Philadelphi corridor that serves as a weapons smuggling route, making Egypt critical to both sides in any deal. The name of the corridor is an Israel military label.
Israel wants those routes sealed and monitored as part of any peace deal, and has been bombing tunnels that run under that border.
"I think the elements of an agreement for the immediate cease-fire are there," Blair said in Cairo. He added that, while more work needed to be done, he hoped to see a cease-fire "in the coming days."
Israeli Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad planned to travel Tuesday to Egypt for talks.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said European military observers should be sent to Gaza to monitor any eventual cease-fire.
Israel's chief military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu, said the fighting was "difficult and complex" and that Hamas militants were setting boobytraps and firing missiles from the rooftops of civilian homes.
"There is a whole city built underground in Gaza. Lots of big weapons warehouses," Benayahu said. Soldiers also uncovered a tunnel dug inside Gaza that led 300 yards into Israel, he said.
In Monday's fighting, the army said it carried out more than 25 airstrikes, hitting squads of gunmen, mortar launchers and two vehicles carrying Hamas militants.
It said ground troops came under fire from militants in a mosque. An Israeli aircraft attacked the squad, and Israeli troops then took over the mosque, confiscating rockets and mortar shells.
With Israeli troops surrounding Gaza's main population centers, Israeli leaders have said the operation is close to achieving its goals. Security officials say they have killed hundreds of Hamas fighters, including top commanders, but there has been no way to confirm the claims.
Aid agencies said they have resumed relief operations in Gaza, but fighting still prevents them from evacuating the sickest people and reaching all those who need help.
The international Red Cross said it brought in seven truckloads of medical supplies and would distribute them to hospitals overwhelmed by the influx of patients.
International aid groups, however, say Israel is not doing enough to protect Palestinian civilians as well as aid workers. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced and many basic food items are no longer available, the office of the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator said.
As many 88 percent of Gaza's residents now require food aid, up from 80 percent before the war, said Helene Gayle, president of the international aid agency CARE.
The three-hour lull in fighting that Israel allows for humanitarian aid to move around Gaza is not sufficient, she said.
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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See all 484 CommentsPosted by Truthin2009 at 07:00 AM : Jan 12, 2009
-Good. Had the Arabs absorbed the Palestinian refuges, they themselves would be refugees. With the clear intentions of Israel to establish the Greater Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and a part of Trukey and KSA would be refugees in your Biblical Greater Israel!
Posted by Truthin2009 at 07:00 AM : Jan 12, 2009
-Good. Had the Arabs absorbed the Palestinian refuges, they themselves would be refugees. With the clear intentions of Israel to establish the Greater Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and a part of Trukey and KSA would be refugees in your Biblical Greater Israel!
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Posted by wvu7462 at 07:46 AM : Jan 12, 2009
-What do you see in your crystal ball?
God is with Israel and may He lead them to victory in all that they do. Let God be true and every man a liar.
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Posted by wvu7462 at 07:49 AM : Jan 12, 2009
-I guee reverend miesse was on duty trashing the net with Bibull.
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Posted by wvu7462 at 07:51 AM : Jan 12, 2009
-And your predictions in 12 months?
Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD ? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places. "
Posted by Truthin2009
That deserves reposting because He is also my shield and helper and has saved me. This is one American that will never turn their back on Israel no matter what Obama conspires with Hamas.
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Posted by wvu7462 at 07:55 AM : Jan 12, 2009
-Tell us what may happen, since you and rev miesse seem to be in the secrets of God! Not what may not!
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Israel better hurry. It only has a week before it''s lap dog leaves the White House and the U.S.''s blind support for the slaughter of Palestinians comes to an end....
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Israel better hurry. It only has a week before it''''s lap dog leaves the White House and the U.S.''''s blind support for the slaughter of Palestinians comes to an end....
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Posted by exusmcsgt
The problem is that Obama being president will not stop Israel from doing what they want in that region. Obama may not agree with everything Israel does, but he sure is not going to be the first president to totally go against them either.
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Israel better hurry. It only has a week before it''''s lap dog leaves the White House and the U.S.''''s blind support for the slaughter of Palestinians comes to an end....
Posted by exusmcsgt
Israel did hurry before the new Islamic Presidents takes the Oval Office. That lap dog you speak of had the back-bone to fight terrorist. Your new Islamic, Hamas loving one will have tea with the enemy and give them new ground here in America while he stabs Israel in the back.
The specific threats against Israel are laid out in Psalm 83:4, and the verses following it.
you can either read it, and listen to what the Lord has to say, or ignore Him, it''''s your choice.
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Posted by Truthin2009 at 08:09 AM : Jan 12, 2009
-I''ll ignore Him, but not you, reverend Miesse! Come on!
The specific threats against Israel are laid out in Psalm 83:4, and the verses following it.
you can either read it, and listen to what the Lord has to say, or ignore Him, it''''s your choice.
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Posted by Truthin2009
Your right truthin, but you do understand that the Bible also declares that Israel will have its tribulation period.
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Posted by claytonantho at 08:08 AM : Jan 12, 2009
I pray you are right on this ne for everyones'''' sake.
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Posted by wvu7462
Whether you like Obama or not, you must realize that he is not stupid and is a politician as well. Meaning that he is not (I pray) going to do undermine that which goes against American interest. Supporting Israel (not in everything) is basically the American way and an interest that every American president, whether democrat or republican has engaged in.
Posted by onlythereal- at 08:06 AM : Jan 12, 2009
Hamas, Hezbollah, The Taleban, and al Qaeda are not continuing to stymie the very best militaries in the world year after year by simply sacrificing themselves as you propose.
You contend that they are cowards because they do not face armor and air power with small arms.
It''s called "assymetrical" warfare and, as they have no standing armies, guerilla tactics are all they have at their disposal.
Facilitating the enemy''s cause is not of interest to them. Only an idiot would expect that it would be.
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Posted by Truthin2009 at 08:10 AM : Jan 12, 2009
I thought you were because you made a refrence to your sixth graders one time.
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Posted by wvu7462 at 08:11 AM : Jan 12, 2009
-He was talking of himslef. The highest grade he reached before he learned how to write and thrash us with insanity over the net!. A sixth grader!
Deuteronomy 33:29
Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD ? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places. "
Posted by Truthin2009 at 07:36 AM : Jan 12, 2009
I think the people of Israel will find the numbers of their enemies growing by leaps and bounds from every corner of the earth. Everywhere humans have a love of truth and humanity and hate of atrocity, hypocrisy and ignorance. The world is losing much more than it''s soul by standing by and allowing this atrocity to go unchecked, and I have no doubt that Israel''s God is it''s greatest enemy and it will be humanity that finally carries out God''s will on Israel, as God will ultimately judge humanity for it''s role.
When more good people from all countries world-wide, all faiths and all walks of life feel every death and injury of this violence and atrocity against the people of Gaza while politically paralyzed and emotionally and morally corrupt leaders and institutions world-wide DO NOTHING, more will find not only find courage but solace in understanding what must be done, not to save Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon or even the Middle East, but our selves, our souls. For truly an evil even greater than Israel is in our midst.
Can everything happening world-wide to those of us allowing the parasite state of Israel to continue its atrocities really be a coincidence?
God bless those that bless Israel!
This is the question of our time.
For sixty years Israelis have been stealing Palestine from Palestinians. There are maps available on the Internet and in Israeli publications showing the shrinkage over time of what was once Palestine into what Palestine is today--a small number of unconnected ghettos or bantustans.
Palestine became %u201Cthe occupied territory%u201D from which Palestinians were ejected and Israeli settlements built for %u201Csettlers.%u201D Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are full of refugee camps in which Palestinians driven off their lands by Israeli force have been living for decades.
Driving people off their land is strictly illegal under international law, but Israel has been getting away with it for decades.
Gaza is a concentration camp of 1.5 million Palestinians who were driven from their homes and villages and collected in the Gaza Ghetto.
Your little book of fairy tales was NOT meant to be taken literally.
Posted by slownewsdaze
For those of us that are Christians, this is the Word of God written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which is what the "book" itself says. If you do not believe it, that is your right. Do not tell me what to believe, you will see God face to face one day, take it up with Him at that time.
I think the people of Israel will find the numbers of their enemies growing by leaps and bounds from every corner of the earth.
posted by samael2014
-All predicted to occur in the Bible, samael2014, just like how the world hated Christ when He was on earth.
The Bible predicts the Arab nations that will attack Israel. It also predicts how the rest of the world will turn on Israel.
It also says that all who bless Israel will be blessed and all who curse it will be cursed.
It''''s no coincidence that the USA is the most blessed, prosperous nation on the planet. We have blessed Israel, while the Muslim Arab nations (as predicted in the Scriptures) have cursed it.
See Psalm 83:4
Posted by Truthin2009 at 08:25 AM : Jan 12, 2009
It''s just that living in America, the LAST thing I would say about EVERY THING that has been thrown back in our face because of despicable and corrupt governance and non-majority supported pro-Israel feeding American taxpayer dollars over the past 30 years, and very particularly the past eight, is that we are BLESSED.
In fact, it''s almost as if we are directly suffering in the most acute and ironic ways. I feel almost like the last THING this country and PLANET should be doing right now is associating itself in ANY way with Israel and Jewish belief systems. Yes, I would say God is quite fed up.
Posted by jediservant
You pretend to know God''''s intent?
The only way that could be is if you ARE God.
Posted by slownewsdaze
The Bible tell us so, there is only one God!
There''''s a reason - your numbers are dwindling because people are waking up to the fact that blind belief is just that and nothing more.
People have not woke up to the truth, that''s why there is more and more craziness in the world. So that statement cannot be true. What they have done is put on blinders so they cannot see the truth and choose to reduce God to be no more than a Tooth Fairy to justify their own agendas. If you call that statement the truth or being wise then look who believes in fairy tales. That is why our numbers have dwindled. But don''t be fooled, there are far more of us than you think or know. You only see what the media protrays and Hollywood. They have become your leaders and gods.
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Posted by zgriner
Waiting on the side until Israel had the "nerve" to defend itself. These Human Rights groups (especially CARE) are sleeping in the same bed with terrorist groups. You don''t hear from them until somebody reacts to the terrorism.
There is no way America would have tolerated 8 years of missiles from Mexico. The American people would have been outraged.
Hams is nothing but a terrorist group destroying the Palestinian people and robbing them of a democratic society.
Posted by Truthin2009
Too many translations of that line, Truth. Gee, which one is right? Probably none of them.
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Posted by slownewsdaze
Give me an example of the other translations slownewsdaze.
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Posted by claytonantho
Go look it up yourself. Your Google works, doesn''''t it? You''''ll find a ton of ''''em on the first page.
If you don''''t know Aramaic, you are reading a faulty "Word".
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Posted by slownewsdaze
If you did not know, there are verses in the Bible that are translated from Aramaic. Did you not know that that was the language Jesus spoke?
Maybe if you read the Bible or knew anything about it''s history you would be able to make a more informed opinion about what''s going on in the Middle East. After all, these "men" who wrote it actually lived back then, not you or those you listen to. The Palestinians are modern day Philistines who were always persecuting the Israli people which stems from their jealousy of the Jewish people as being the chosen people of God. It goes way back to the time of Abraham. They have always tried to take over Isreal but have never been successful. They consider themselves to be the true heirs of God''s promises, but if that were true then they would have succeeded already. They''ve only changed their cover not their contents to fool people like you who scoff at the Bible and the truth. God has never changed and neither does His word and that''s the "truth".
samael2014
To live in America and have a job is to be better off than 85-90% of the rest of the world''''s population.
To say that we aren''''t the most blessed nation on the planet is not only intellectually dishonest, but down right disgusting.
Posted by Truthin2009 at 08:42 AM : Jan 12, 2009
Actually what is disgusting is what has happened to America. The point I''ve been making is that what has happened to America and why, is an extremely acute and ironic indicator that we are definitely on the WRONG PATH, and everything about this WRONG PATH stinks to rotting of hell of Judaism, Jewish culture and Jewish idealogy.
It''s amazing that someone who is so use to quoting the Bible instead of actually communicating with God and/or Jesus wouldn''t at least notice the rapid downward trend. But that''s Ok, I''m sure there will be a forgotten place of suffering for you and those like you. Of that there should be no doubt to the Bible quoter (and Old Testament too, Jesus).
my eyes must dwell on their hostility. (NIV)
2Surely there are mockers and mockery around me, and my eye dwells on their obstinacy, insults, and resistance. (AMP)
Surely mockers are with me,
And my eye gazes on their provocation. (NASB)
Different wordings but they all mean the same thing. Is this what you are talking about slownewsdaze??? Different translations does not always mean that the meaning or context is totally different.
You said you were leaving....
Jesus doesn''''t like liars.
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Posted by slownewsdaze
Don''t go truthin. I love the knowledge and wisdom, unlike others.
Posted by slownewsdaze
It is easy to see you are your god but for the believing community there is only one God and He our God and there are none like Him.
We worship and praise His name.
Averjane, the ancient Pilishtim of the Bible were seafaring people who were probably closer to ancient Cretans than the Arabs who now live in Gaza. The use of the term Palestinian is a misnomer. The Romans called the area Palestine using the name of the ancient enemy of the Jews as an effort to humiliate the Jews who fought ferociously against Roman occupation.
There are some people in America that want to take that away from Christians.
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Posted by wvu7462
Understand that the "political correct climate" in America wants to brand any Christian discussion as harrassment and forcing one''s view on others. Notice that this crowd of people NEVER accuse Muslims (who sale their materials on the streets) or Jehovah Witnesses (who go door to door) of the same things. It is only Christians who believe in the Bible.
I don''t understand how christian fundamentalists do not question the effects of the establishment of Israel, given that it resulted in the weakening of Christian culture in the Holy Land and its replacement it with a Jewish state that is now surrounded by radical Islam on most sides. Only 2000 Christian Palestinians live in Gaza today. And more Jerusalem Christians live in Sydney, Australia than in Jerusalem.
Read "Three Christian Fatalities Inside Gaza"
While Khaled Meshaal, the leader of the Palestinian militant group, sits safe and snug in a five star hotel in Damacus, his senior staff on the ground in Gaza are paying the price for the continued war.
Senior Hams operative Hussam Hamdan was killed in an IAF strike on Khan Yunis Sunday noon. Hamdan was in charge of Grad-type rocket launches into Beersheba and Ofakim.
In the same strike senior Hamas operative Muhammad Hilo was also taken out. Hilo was in charge of Hamas special forces in Khan Yunis
Among those earlier killed was Mohammad Al-Jammal, who Gaza sources said was a Hamas military commander responsible for the rocket launching enterprise in Gaza City.
Another missile hit a car near the southern city of Khan Younis, killing two men, including Mohammed Ma%u2019aruf, senior Hamas military commander in southern Gaza, according to medics and Hamas security sources.
Posted by oldtimer1942 at 09:19 AM : Jan 12, 2009
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Good justification to keep slaughtering civilians.
Give your crybaby sanctimony a rest. You''''re getting what you gave......
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Posted by FloydZeppd
Christians get this everyday. The difference is, which you should be glad about, we don''t have suicide bombers killing people who disagree with our faith. Nor do we put anybody in concentration camps. I dare you to go over to the Middle East and make the same claims against Islam. I gaurantee you, first you don''t have the guts, second you won''t be coming back to America alive.
Posted by slownewsdaze
Dead is what you will receive without Yeshua (Jesus).
20% of Palestinians were Christian before 1948, there are only 2000 Palestinian Christians Gaza today and they are regularly firebombed by Hamas.
CAIRO %u2014 Arab countries appeared deeply divided on Wednesday over how to respond to the latest escalation in fighting between Israel and Hamas, with sharply differing comments from foreign ministers at the opening of an emergency Arab League meeting here.
Moderate Arab states generally allied to the United States blamed Hamas and Palestinian disunity for the crisis and more radical states, some of whom did not attend, urged collective action to defend the Palestinians against Israel.
In the most striking comments, Saudi Arabia%u2019s foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, took shots at Hamas and criticized the Palestinians for their inability to remain united behind President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah %u2014 an implicit condemnation of Hamas, which took over Gaza entirely in 2007 in a brief but violent civil war with Fatah. Normally, during periods of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Arab leaders only condemn Israel.
%u201CThis terrible massacre would not have happened if the Palestinian people were united behind one leadership, speaking in one voice,%u201D Prince Saud said at the league meeting%u2019s opening.
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