GAZA IDF OPERATION SOON!
Sooner or Later the IDF must carry out a Major Operation in Gaza!
November 4, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
The Israeli Prime Minister has been holding back on a major intrusion into the Gaza Strip for quite a while, even though rockets have flown out of the Gaza Strip continuously since the Israelis pulled out, largely because of international pressure. Excerpts 1 and 2 paint a picture of developments in the Gaza Strip showing the growing power
of Hamas and the increase of al-Qaeda influence, which increasingly demands some sort of major operation to stop it. Excerpt 3 gives reason to see why an operation is likely to occur soon.
Begin Excerpt 1 from Jerusalem Canter for Public Affairs – Daily Alert
Hamas Strengthening Gaza Border Defenses
Abraham Rabinovich
November 2, 2007
Israeli incursions into Gaza now encounter increasingly effective resistance from forces organized by militants trained in Iran and by Hizbullah in Lebanon, Israeli officers say. Israel has resumed almost daily operations in Gaza in recent months in what it calls the “security zone,” a two-mile-wide swath on the Palestinian side of the fence separating Gaza from Israel. The object of these sweeps is to prevent the militants from digging tunnels underneath the fence or from firing mortars or rockets within the zone.
These incursions now are met by forward Hamas units, supported by auxiliaries from other militant groups. Hamas has organized every area with a coordinated network of observation posts and forces that include riflemen and anti-tank units whose rockets also are effective against infantry.
“They are building an army,” said Gen. Moshe Tamir, commander of the Israeli division assigned to Gaza, “and are trying to build bunkers and mortar positions along the border.” He said more than 200 militants have been killed since the beginning of the year. The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, Yuval Diskin, said Monday that Hamas has smuggled in more than 70 tons of explosives from Egypt since it took control of Gaza in June, bringing the total in its possession to 112 tons. He told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hamas forces in Gaza now totaled 15,000 trained men in a military-style structure.
(Washington Times)
Begin Excerpt 2 from Jerusalem Post
Fatah Policemen in Gaza “Defect to Al-Qaeda”
Khaled Abu Toameh
(Jerusalem Post)
November 2, 2007
Scores of Fatah policemen who used to serve in the PA security forces in Gaza and who recently lost
their jobs have now joined the al-Qaeda-affiliated Army of Islam, sources in the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry said Thursday.
The Army of Islam is headed by Abu Muhammad al-Ansari, also known as Mumtaz Dughmush.
A former PA Preventive Security Service officer, Ansari belongs to the Dughmush clan, whose members have kidnapped several foreign nationals, including BBC reporter Alan Johnston, and bombed Internet cafes, hair salons and restaurants.
The Army of Islam participated in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006, along with Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees.
After Hamas took over Gaza, the Army of Islam struck a deal permitting the group to retain its weapons on condition they only be used to attack Israel.
Over the past few months, the Army of Islam has been involved in the smuggling of large amounts of weapons and explosives into Gaza from Sinai, according to PA security officials, who said members of the group had established close ties with al-Qaeda operatives in Egypt and other Arab and Islamic countries.
See also “The Army of the Nation” – Ano ther Al-Qaeda Affiliate in
the Gaza Strip – Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi (ICA/JCPA)
Begin Excerpt 3 from Jerusalem Post
US okays IDF wide-scale Gaza op’
JPost Staff and Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST
November 3, 2007
The United States has given a “green light” to an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip, the Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar reported Saturday morning.
The report cites “credible diplomatic sources” as saying that American approval came after Israeli intelligence impressed on US officials the importance of a wide-scale operation as an answer to the unprecedented arms smuggling within Gaza.
According to the newspaper report, the intelligence was shared during Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s last visit to Washington. Sources told Al-Akhbar that the intelligence depicted a worrying picture of an “arms race” between Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
In addition, Israel presented details of money transfers between the Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aksa’s Martyrs Brigades.
In the past few days, Barak met a number of times with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to decide definitively on the timing of a wide-scale operation, Al-Akhbar cited the sources as saying. Further, the sources stated that despite the “green light,” Israel was hesitating to launch an operation out of concerns that it would complicate preparations for the upcoming US-sponsored Mideast peace summit in Annapolis.
Until the timing of the operation is decided, IDF forces stationed on the Gaza border will continue training for a massive military operation in the Strip, the report said.
Meanwhile, IDF forces discovered seven weapons-smuggling tunnels in the southern Strip along the Egyptian border on Thursday.
The kilometer-long tunnels were discovered near Dahiniye by an elite Engineering Corps unit and troops from the Golani infantry’s Battalion 51.
The tunnels were found within two kilometers of the border
with Israel and, according to the IDF, had been used intensively in recent months to smuggle weapons and explosives from Egypt into Gaza.
The troops destroyed the tunnels in controlled explosions. IDF sources said they had been large enough for people to pass through and were most probably used by terrorists to leave Gaza on their way to Iran or Syria for training.
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