IDF: Operation in the Gaza Strip to intensify, likely to continue for at least two more months

PM: We must act with patience in Gaza to keep international support
Haaretz
Jul. 09, 2006

The Israel Defense Forces will intensify and broaden the scope of its raids into the Gaza Strip in the coming days, senior IDF sources told Haaretz on Sunday.

The same sources said that Operation Summer Rains was likely to last two months, and during the cabinet meeting Sunday Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned that this was a "war in which it is impossible to set time limits."

However, Olmert rejected calls for tougher measures against the Palestinians, saying that any extreme action would endanger the international good will that Israel currently enjoys.

"We can carry out missions like James Bond and lose the support we have in the international community. In order to preserve this support we must act with patience and cool heads," Olmert said.

The intensity of IDF operations in the Gaza Strip lessened noticeably on Sunday, but security sources stressed that this had nothing to do with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's call on Saturday for a cease-fire. The same sources warned that the operations would intensify in the coming days, following Israel's demand that the abducted IDF corporal, Gilad Shalit, be released immediately.

An Israel Air Force air strike killed a Hamas militant and wounded two others in the Gaza Strip before dawn Monday, medical officials said.

The IDF said it had fired at a group that was firing rockets into Israel.

A Palestinian civilian was killed and eleven others wounded in errant Israel Defense Forces strikes aimed at Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Sunday.

The civilian was identified as Bilal Sliman Rabah, an 18-year-old supermarket clerk. He was killed by an Israel Air Force aircraft which launched missiles at a car carrying Hamas operatives in the south Gaza town of Rafah Sunday afternoon.

The gunmen managed to jump out of the car before the missile reached the target. The aircraft subsequently fired a second missile, which struck the bystanders. Seven people were injured in the strike, one seriously.

This appears to have been the second time in 24 hours that an Air Force attack missed its mark and struck Palestinian civilians. A missile is believed to have struck the yard of a house in the eastern quarter of the Sajayiyeh neighborhood on Saturday evening, killing a mother and two children. The IDF confirmed that it had fired but said that it had targetted a group of Palestinians firing anti-tank rockets against Israel troops.

The IDF is currently concentrating its operations in two main areas in the Gaza Strip. The larger of the two is taking place in the area between the Karni crossing and the environs of the Sajayiyeh and Zeitun neighborhoods, east of Gaza City. Givati Brigade troops, backed by armored units, are searching for tunnels. The other operation, also involving Givati troops is taking place in the area of Dahaniye airport, south of Rafah.

A senior IDF source told Haaretz on Sunday that the operation near Karni was aiming to locate tunnels, following intelligence information about their existence. Late last week a tunnel was uncovered near Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

The same source said that the Golani Brigade troops that had participated in that operation, which ended on Saturday, would be redeployed in other raids in the coming days. The plan is to intensify operations by the middle of the week, in the hope that raids will replace long-term presence inside the Gaza Strip.

At the Southern Command preparations are underway for the possibility that the offensive operations will continue for about two months. The IDF assessment is that military pressure is causing sufficient concern among the Palestinian leadership, as evidenced by Haniyeh's call for a cease-fire.

IAF targets Gaza building it says used by Jihad to make weapons
Just after midnight Monday, an IAF aircraft attacked a building on the outskirts of Gaza City, setting it on fire, Palestinian witnesses said. No injuries were reported.

The strike mostly destroyed the building, which the IDF said was used by Islamic Jihad to make weapons. Palestinian witnesses said the site was used for storage.

Late Sunday evening, an IAF aircraft fired at a second car in Jabalya near Gaza City believed to be carrying Hamas operatives. The passengers in the car were not injured, but four bystanders were wounded.

After the missile hit the car, an additional explosion occurred in what military sources believe to be the result of a Qassam rocket or other weaponry inside the car.

Early Sunday morning, the IAF attacked a group of armed militants near the Karni commercial crossing, wounding three, Palestinian security sources said.

The IDF has been operating in Gaza for more than a week, in an effort to secure the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit and to stem the Qassam rockets fired almost daily at targets in southern Israel.

Sunday evening, an explosion injured a Palestinian north of Gaza City, medics said, but the cause of the blast was not immediately clear.

The man suffered from burns and was rushed to a nearby hospital, medics said. The IDF had no immediate comment.

PM: We cannot sit and ignore Qassam fire
Olmert said Sunday that the IDF would push forth with its offensive as long as necessary to stop militant rocket fire. "We will continue this battle with level-headedness and patience while making use of the proper means and maintaining the required obfuscation. We cannot sit and not respond to the Qassam rocket fire."

The prime minister was also critical of ministers who have appeared in interviews in recent days, saying that unless they coordinated their statements they undermined the government's position and created confusion.

Although Olmert avoided naming specific ministers, it was understood that he referred to Public Security Minister Avi Dichter who was quoted late last week as supporting the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

Dichter denied having made the statements attributed to him.

Olmert reiterated that Israel "will not negotiate with Hamas. We will not negotiate with terrorists. Such negotiations will encourage the next kidnapping. This is a war in which we cannot set a time limit. We have no intention to occupy the Gaza Strip and we have no intention to stay there. The military operation will last for some time and it will not follow a single pattern."

Olmert had come under attack by a number of ministers who demanded that the military step up its operation in the Gaza Strip.

The prime minister dodged recent claims that both he and Defense Minister Amir Peretz lack the relevant experience to handle a security crisis.

"I remember prime ministers with military experience who made decisions we would not want to repeat," Olmert said.

Olmert reaffirmed that he opposed the release of Palestinian prisoners and said "we will not negotiate with Hamas. He will not negotiate with terrorists. Such negotiations would support another kidnapping."

He also asked his ministers to refrain from discussing the ongoing developments relating to Shalit's release due to the sensitivity of the situation.

Peretz told the cabinet that IDF units would continue to enter and exit the Gaza as needed, to carry out military operations focusing on Qassam rocket launch sites and areas in which cross-border tunnels may have been excavated by militant groups.

The defense minister added the IDF is operating in a graduated and planned manner, while increasing pressure on militants in an effort to free Shalit without any preconditions. He added that diplomatic efforts were underway, in parallel to the military operations in Gaza.

The operations are being carried out through a variety of repetitive ground incursions, continued air strikes, artillery fire and other military means.

He also said he had directed the defense establishment to implement a plan to head off a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Peretz said the Karni, Sufa and Kerem Shalom border crossings between Israel and Gaza were closed Sunday morning to intelligence warnings of planned terror attacks. He emphasized that it is the terror organizations - headed by Hamas - who are harming the Palestinian civilian population.

The terror groups are now concentrating their efforts on striking the Israel-Gaza border crossings, and are thus harming the ability to bring food and pharmaceuticals into Gaza, Peretz said.

No change in Qassam strikes
So far there has been no significant change in the rate of Qassam rocket attacks, and an Israeli civilian suffered moderate injuries in Sderot from shrapnel after a rocket struck the town on Sunday.

The incident occured when a minor traffic accident at an intersection in the southern part of Sderot caused two drivers to emerge from their vehicles. At that point a rocket landed and injured one man who was evacuated to Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon.

In another Qassam related development, the IDF decided to alter the call-sign for the early warning system in place in the western Negev, and it will no longer be known as Red Dawn, but Red Color. The change came about following complaints by many Sderot residents whose children are called Dawn (Shachar in Hebrew), who argued that the call-sign hurt their feelings.

Earlier Sunday, a Qassam slammed into the home of Shlomo and Jaqueline Ohayun causing significant damage to the house but only minor injuries to two children.

A total of four rockets hit Sderot Sunday and its mayor, Eli Moyal, informed the Prime Minister's Office that he was boycotting a scheduled meeting to protest what he considered to be a failure by the government to deal with the Qassam threat.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Moyal asked that Sderot be declared a front-line town, whose status merits state-funded benefits.