For those who want more than sound-bites and hysteria, read this summary of news reports on the Kassam barrage from Gaza and the IDF "Operation Autumn Clouds" .
From Arutz Sheva, 19:00 Nov 08, '06 / 17 Cheshvan 5767, by Ezra HaLevi ...
Rocket Hits Ashkelon For Second Day...
Kassam rockets were launched from Gaza throughout the day Wednesday, striking the western Negev and the city of Ashkelon for the second day straight.
One of the rockets landed near a children’s dormitory in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, others in open areas and two in Ashkelon.
In Ashkelon, one of the rockets struck the beach and another landed in a residential area near where one of the rockets struck the city Tuesday. Four Kassams fired from areas the IDF had just pulled out of struck the Ashkelon region Tuesday – one landing near a school, the other on a residential street and two near the city’s industrial zone, which is home to a major power station and chemical plants.
No injuries resulted from Wednesday’s attacks, though one woman went into cardiac arrest when a rocket landed in the center of Sderot Wednesday morning. Other rockets caused extensive damage and fires.
All PA Factions Call For Attack on Israeli Civilians
Both Hamas and Fatah, considered to be more moderate by the international community, issued explicit calls for attacks within Israel’s pre-1967 border targeting civilians Wednesday. The calls came on the heels of claims of an Israeli massacre in Gaza after eighteen Arabs were killed. The IDF is still investigating the incident, which may have been caused by a stray artillery shell. [See below for preliminary findings.]
Fatah’s northern Gaza commander Jamal Abed called for "cross-border attacks against Israel" Wednesday afternoon. He called upon the PLO’s Al-Aqsa Brigades militia to murder Israeli civilians in response to the Beit Hanoun incident. "I call on all the armed groups everywhere to avenge the blood of the dead with suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, as Israel murders Palestinians," he said. Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Nafez Azzam called upon members of his terror group to carry out attacks on Israeli civilians as well.Hamas Chief Khaled Mashaal said that suicide bombings in Israel would resume immediately. The group’s spokesman Ghazi Hamad echoed the words of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying that Israel “must be wiped off the face of the earth. This is not a country of humans. These are animals and a bunch of gangs, and this nation must be wiped off the face of the earth.”....
From THE JERUSALEM POST, Nov. 8, 2006, by josh brannon ...
IDF fire kills 20 Palestinians in Gaza
At least 20 Palestinians - 18 members of one family - were killed early Wednesday morning by IDF fire.
....Television footage broadcast live images of hysterical relatives and neighbors weeping as medics treated several women and children wounded in the barrage. Gaping holes were torn into several buildings, owned by four brothers from the Athamna family who lived alongside each other, and large pool of blood collected in front of the houses.
....The tragedy came one day after IDF troops withdrew from Beit Hanoun after a weeklong sweep meant to curb Kassam attacks on Israeli communities from the area. More than 50 Palestinians, mainly armed combatants were killed in that operation.
Soon after the artillery attack, Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered a halt to the use of artillery against targets inside the Gaza Strip, and promised a speedy investigation of the tragedy.
...OC Southern Command Yoav Galant said at press briefing Wednesday evening that the artillery barrage was ordered as a preventive action against an imminent Kassam missile attack on a major port city in the South, and for reasons unknown, three shells - not 12 as reported by the Palestinians - strayed 500 meters from their intended target.
Galant told Channel 2 that after receiving intelligence of an imminent rocket attack in the same area from which a 4 rocket salvo of Kassams was launched into Ashkelon Tuesday evening, officers ordered two artillery batteries to volleys of twelve shells a piece at two targets at a distance 1200 meters and 500 meters from the populated areas.
All 14 shells launched from one cannon hit the target at 1200 meters, but the artillery teams only identified nine hits on the area at 500 meters. The three other shells inexplicably smashed into the residential area.
While he stressed that the investigation was still in its initial stages, he said early indications seem to point to a problem with one of the cannon's aiming mechanism. A senior security official said preliminary findings said the accident was caused by a technical flaw, rather than human error.
Galant also noted that there was as of yet no absolute confirmation that all the civilians were killed by IDF shells, and he appealed that final conclusions not be drawn until the investigation is finished.
IDF spokesperson Major Avital Leibovich said the military expressed regret for any civilians hurt in an Israeli operation, but said ultimately the fault lies with the terrorist organizations "which use the civilian population as human shields and continue to carry out terror attacks and to launch Kassam rockets from the shelter of populated areas."
Government spokeswoman Miri Eisen said the IDF offensive in Gaza will continue despite the deadly incident "as long as Kassam rockets land in Israel, as long as the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip continues, as long as the Hamas government chooses for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to continuously provoke Israel." ....
Jpost staff and AP contributed to this report.
From Arutz Sheva Daily News, 8/11/06, by Hillel Fendel ...
IDF: No Certainty that IDF Shell Caused Gaza Explosion
Preliminary IDF investigation of the Gaza explosion shows that 10 of the 12 fired shells hit their targets, a half-km from the building. The other two are still being sought.
...IDF sources said that IDF batteries fired 12 mortar shells this morning at two targets: One was a site from where Kassam rockets were fired at Ashkelon yesterday (Tuesday), and the other was where terrorists were preparing to launch additional Kassams. However, it is not clear whether one of the shells hit the residential building in which the civilians found their deaths.
It is IDF policy to inform residents well in advance of attacks on buildings used to store weapons and explosives.
Abu Mazen, head of the Palestinian Authority, said that Israel has "destroyed all chances of peace," while Hamas called off talks for a unity government with Fatah in the PA. The European Union announced, "Israel has the right to defend herself, but not at the expense of innocent people."
Terror Threats
From Gaza, threats of terrorist retaliation and suicide attacks have been heard, and police have moved to the second-highest level of alert.
"We urge our mujahedeen [fighters] everywhere to resume martyr operations [suicide attacks] in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa and everywhere else," Hamas Nizar Rayan of Fatah shouted into loudspeakers during protests in northern Gaza. Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad said, "Israel should be wiped from the face of the Earth. It is a cancer that should be eradicated."
The IDF retaliation in Gaza followed a barrage of Kassam rockets which hit Ashkelon, Israel's 13th-largest city, yesterday, and barrages that have hit Sderot over the past several months. One of yesterday's rocket struck a school in Ashkelon, and two more slammed into the city's industrial zone. Two other rockets landed outside the city - one near Netiv HaAsarah, and the second in an open area.
Foreign Minister Tzippy Livny said, "Israel has no intention of hurting innocent civilians, but rather to protect its own citizens. Unfortunately, in war, sad incidents such as the one this morning sometimes occur. Israel faces an incessant barrage by terrorist organizations that fire Kassam rockets continuously at population centers in Israel."
MK Tzvi Hende (National Union) decried what he called the "hypocritical ethics of our enemies from within and without in condemning us when one of our shells misses, when the other side directs its missiles into our cities and only accidentally fails to murder anyone... I am convinced that our leadership is not totally insane, and that all the protestations and crying won't move anyone for more than an hour-or-two long show for the media - because the danger is very real."
MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), a former Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said this morning, "With all the sorrow about the deaths of civilians, the responsibility for this tragedy lies squarely and fully on the shoulders of the terrorists, who use the citizens of Beit Hanoun as a human shield while they shoot at the city of Sderot."
"International law states clearly," Shteinitz added, "that the responsibility for harm to civilians is upon those who use them as human shields, and not upon those who fight [the terrorists]."
The IDF spokesman explained that this morning's artillery fire into Beit Hanoun was aimed at the launching grounds of the rockets, to prevent further fire on Israeli civilians. Close to 10 Kassam rockets have been fired at Sderot and other Israeli areas on nearly each day of the past two weeks.
....Following the IDF artillery fire this morning, three more Kassam rockets were launched from southern Gaza, hitting a commercial center in Sderot. Six people were reported hurt and taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, and damage was caused. The residents of Sderot have been suffering with daily "Red Dawn" warning alert alarms for months - alarms that are followed seconds later by a screeching whoosh and the seemingly-interminable wait to find out if one's house had been hit. Many families report significant psychological difficulties among their children, and some have been forced to move out of the area.
The IDF ended Operation Autumn Clouds yesterday. The week-long offensive in northern Gaza was aimed at reducing the number of Kassam attacks against southern Israeli communities.
From Debkafile, November 8, 2006, 11:15 PM (GMT+02:00) ....
Israeli police imposes nationwide high terror alert after Hamas’ Khaled Meshaal orders “deeds not words” in response to Beit Hanoun deaths
The “hudna” (informal truce) ended at the end of 2005, “said the hardline Hamas leader in Damascus. “The armed struggle is free to resume, as dictated by local conditions.” Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh said suicide attacks would resume and Palestinian unity talks suspended.
OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yoav Gallant: The artillery salvo which killed 20 Palestinian civilians in Beit Hanoun Wednesday followed an intelligence report that Palestinian missile launchers were on the point of attacking Ashkelon for the second day in a row. Gaza’s Palestinians kept up their daily Qassam attacks on Israeli civilian locations Wednesday. One of the day’s 10 missiles landed near a children’s home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Another exploded near a bank in central Sderot....
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