Israel Prepares For Next "Phase" In Gaza
Israeli aircraft kept up a relentless string of assaults on Hamas-ruled Gaza on Tuesday, smashing a government complex, security installations and the home of a top militant commander as thousands of Israeli ground troops, backed by tanks and artillery, massed along the border, waiting for a signal to attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told President Shimon Peres on Tuesday that the current, aerial phase of the operation is "the first of several" that have been approved, an Olmert spokesman said.
That statement indicated a change in tactics near on the horizon.
CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips, reporting from the Gaza-Israel border, said the Israeli campaign in Gaza was approaching a turning point Tuesday: "Either keep up the bombing and augment it with ground operations, or declare that the massive retaliation for rocket fire into Israel has done enough damage to force Hamas into another cease fire - or at least what the Israelis call a lower level of terror."
But, said Phillips, the killing of three more Israelis by Hamas rockets on Monday and overnight may have firmed up Tel Aviv's plans.
Four Israelis have now been killed by Hamas rocket fire since the assault began, and the fact one of the deaths occurred in the port city of Ashdod is a worrying sign that the range of Hamas missiles is increasing.
The recent image of an Israeli cabinet minister taking shelter under a car in an Israeli city is not the outcome that was foreseen by those who planned this operation, reported Phillips.
Israel says it is prepared for "long weeks of action."
The ground option is on the table, it's relevant," said Israeli Army spokeswoman Major Avital Leibovich. "Currently we continue with the aircraft operation, however, we have troops on alert along the border and other places in the country ready if we need to call them."
Warplanes launched their bruising offensive on Saturday after the Islamic Hamas defied Israel's warnings that it would not stand for the rocket barrages on southern Israel that resumed nearly two months ago, toward the end of a recently expired truce.
More than 360 Palestinians have been killed, most of them members of Hamas security forces but at least 64 of them civilians, according to U.N. figures. The toll includes two sisters, aged 4 and 11, who perished in an airstrike on a rocket squad in northern Gaza on Tuesday.
As the death toll rises, so does pressure from the International community on Israel.
CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk reported that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called the escalation of violence unacceptable and demanded an immediate ceasefire.
"The Secretary General said he has condemned Hamas in the past and now he is condemning Israel for excessive use of force," reported Falk. Ban's remarks came after the U.N. compound in Gaza was hit in a missile strike, killing eight teenage student trainers and a U.N. staff member.
While Israel has dropped tons of bombs on the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented show of force to make Hamas stop rocket attacks, it has not said it will try to topple the Islamic militants who have ruled the territory for 18 months.
CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reported on the history of Gaza under Hamas rule - a history which made the present conflict seem inevitable. (
.)Such a limited definition of goals gives Israel considerable flexibility in deciding when to end the assault, especially if international pressure mounts, while still calling it a success, wrote Associated Press reporter Karin Laub, in an analysis of the current conflict.
But this guarded approach also offers Hamas good survival odds, even if the onslaught leaves it badly weakened.
Israel's unwillingness to reoccupy Gaza or openly try to install a new ruler there gives Hamas considerable leverage in future cease-fire negotiations.
Ending the blockade could help Hamas recover quickly and prolong its rule indefinitely. That, in turn, would all but destroy prospects of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Israel has been negotiating for the past year with Hamas' rival, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who controls the West Bank. However, Israel says it cannot implement an agreement as long as the Iranian-backed Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, controls half of what would be a Palestinian state.
Domestic politics is also playing an underlying role in Israel's handling of the military operation. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's term is up in February, and his party will face former leader Benjamin Netanyahu in the polls.
Netanyahu, now the leader of the hardline political opposition, told CBS' The Early Show he has vowed to support the government's decisions in the current conflict, but he has taken a much harder stance on Hamas for years - a stance that could win him support if this fighting isn't resolved as a perceived win for Israel.
While Olmert's government has said toppling Hamas in Gaza is not an objective, Netanyahu told The Early Show: "Ultimately, we'll have to remove that regime. Not necessarily right away, but ultimately that will have to be done."
It all complicates the matter exponentially for President-elect Barack Obama, who vowed during his campaign to make Mideast peace a cornerstone of his foreign policy.
Obama's foreign policy advisers are lying low out of deference to President George W. Bush and are refusing to speak to the implications of Israel's three-day-old operation in the volatile Gaza Strip. But transition aides are being briefed by Bush administration officials and quietly pondering its effects.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has had "direct conversations" about the situation with both Obama and her designated successor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the State Department said Monday. An Obama aide said the president-elect would be discussing the matter with Clinton and his choice to be national security adviser, retired Gen. James Jones.