Saturday, March 01, 2008

33 Palestinians killed during ongoing IDF raids in Gaza Strip

From THE JERUSALEM POST, by AP and Jpost staff, Mar. 1, 2008:

Thirty-three Palestinians have been killed on Saturday and at least 40 have been wounded in an IDF operation meant to combat the ongoing Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli cities in the western Negev.

...Five IDF troops were wounded during the operations, two lightly to moderately, and three lightly.......clashes between Israel and Hamas terrorists sparked Wednesday when an Israeli student at Sapir College in Sderot was killed by a Kassam rocket.

...The IDF, which sent troops, tanks and aircraft after Gaza rocket squads, said it only attacks rocket-launching operations, but noted that terrorists sometimes operate within civilian areas.
Fierce fighting erupted Saturday east of the town of Jebaliya.....

.....At around midnight on Friday the IDF said it attacked an armaments factory in the central Gaza Strip and a rocket launcher in the north Gaza. At the same time, Palestinians said Eid al-Ashram, a weapons expert, was killed by an IAF missile in an open area in northern Gaza.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i told Army Radio that Israel had "no other choice" but to launch a massive military operation in Gaza.

"We will use all our strength in every way we deem appropriate, whether in air strikes or on the ground," Vilna'i said....

....The IDF has notified the government it is ready to launch a major ground offensive as soon as it is ordered to do so, defense officials said. Nothing is expected for the next week or two....

....US State Department spokesman Tom Casey denounced Hamas's rocket attacks as "completely unacceptable" and demanded they stop....

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