As the Israeli Cabinet delays its decision, Palestinians hammer Tel Aviv with heaviest barrage yet - http://www.debka.com/article/24099/As-the-Israeli-Cabinet-delays-its-decision-Palestinians-hammer-Tel-Aviv-with-heaviest-barrage-yet
As the Israeli Cabinet failed to reach a decision about Gaza operation, after a relatively quiet night the Palestinians Wednesday launched their heaviest barrage of rockets in the current conflict to date at Gush Dan. Hamas claimed responsibility for sending M-75s at the region.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's ceasefire ploy Tuesday, July 15, instead of calming the violence in Gaza, unleashed a furious spate of 140 rockets from the Gaza Strip, which drew dozens of Israel air strikes after a six-hour lull in operations. By the end of the eighth day of Operation Defensive Edge, the Israeli security cabinet saw it was saddled with a new dilemma: persuading the Egyptian ruler to punish Hamas to the full extent of his power. This is reported by debkafile's Middle East and military sources.
But just as US President Barack Obama stayed clear of the Gaza conflict by hauling Secretary of State John Kerry out of range, so too the Egyptian president would much prefer Israel deal with Hamas, which he regards as the Palestinian branch of his archenemy the Muslim Brothers.
El-Sisi would not mind taking a hand in the all-out campaign against the Palestinian Islamists, so long as Israel takes the lead and conducts a wide-scale military operation to crush them. He would then collect the rewards.
Broad Israeli circles have commended the Netanyahu government for accepting the ceasefire proposed by Cairo - both because it lent Israel unquestioned justification for striking the rejectionist Hamas.
Cairo has its own perception of the situation created by the "truce": Netanyahu manufactured a favorable international background for military action against Hamas and it was now up to him to go through with it.
Aware of this small crack in the camp ranged against them, Hamas and Jihad Islami outdid themselves Tuesday in hurling rockets - some 130 - against dozens of Israeli population centers as far as the Jordan Valley.
Now, say debkafile's sources, Egypt, Hamas and Israel are in a holding pattern. Netanyahu and his defense minister, Moshe Ya'alon, understand that El-Sisi will not lift a finger until Israel broadens its operation against Hamas. It is up to this duo to make the decisions, since the security cabinet is hamstrung by internal differences and embarrassing leaks.
The Egyptian president will be receiving the Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo later Wednesday. He will decide how far he wants to cooperate with him when he sees how far Israel is willing to go against Hamas. The more devastating the blow, the more amenable he will be to working with Netanyahu rather than Abbas.
Whatever is decided between Cairo and Jerusalem, Hamas and Jihad Islami know they are in for trouble: and so they fall back on their knee-jerk reaction by redoubling their rocket fire on Israel.
IDF foils major Hamas tunnel terrorist attack inside Israel - IDF ground operation widely predicted - http://www.debka.com/article/24101/IDF-foils-major-Hamas-tunnel-terrorist-attack-inside-Israel-IDF-ground-operation-widely-predicted
Hamas tried sending a commando team through a tunnel snaking under the Gaza border for a large-scale terrorist attack or kidnap early Thursday, July 17. As the group of 13-30 started coming to the surface inside Israel opposite the southern Gaza Strip, it ran into heavy IDF fire. Some were killed; the rest turned tail to escape through the tunnel and reach home. Israeli helicopters bombed the tunnel which exploded, and went on to scour the area around the Gaza Strip for more attempted incursions, through the honeycomb of secret tunnels Hamas has sunk for terrorist attacks and kidnaps.
debkafile quotes Israeli and Western military experts as estimating that the prospects of an Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza Strip are now more real than the chances of a ceasefire. There is little substance to the reports that Hamas and Israeli delegations are in Cairo to discuss various drafts of a ceasefire accord.
Our sources stress that the only real talks revolve around an ultimatum Israel has slapped down for Hamas, via the various would-be peacemakers: It has only days to halt its rocket offensive before Israel launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
The question being asked now is why, after 10 days of trading Israeli air strikes for Palestinian rocket attacks, the IDF has not destroyed the Hamas war room, the seat of its command and control center for directing the war and launching rockets, instead of striking the vacant homes of Hamas high-ups.
In the absence of a clear battlefield victory, headlines are appearing like this one: "Hamas Has Already Won Its Rocket War With Israel."
Even IDF commanders are noting that the IDF, while hammering the Gaza Strip night after night, has not achieved a single tactical victory. Destroying the Hamas war room would serve this purpose.
debkafile's military and intelligence sources note that finding and destroying underground structures is a daunting challenge, which is why Hamas has sunk its resources for fighting Israel deep below the surface. The war room in particular is a whole town complex, which runs under the surface buildings at the center of Gaza City, including the Shifa Hospital. This labyrinth accommodates top Hamas military personnel, the local social elite made up of Hamas bigwigs, affluent Gazans, foreign citizens and professionals like doctors or engineers.
It has a large and elaborate system of conference rooms, as well as control and command centers, outfitted with air conditioning, its own electricity and communications systems, security, and storerooms for food, drink and medicines to support the hundreds of top personnel operating and sheltering in the facility.
The Hamas underground city can function for weeks without outside help.
The various would-be European peace brokers, including foreign ministers and the Middle East Special Envoy Tony Blair, have been concerned to preserve the Hamas core stronghold, so as to leave the Islamist organization intact at the end of the current round of hostilities as a future negotiating partner and surviving government of the Gaza Strip. Our military sources say that this core stronghold is in fact Hamas' sunken war room complex.
The Obama administration has been careful to keep its head down and make sure not to be seen or heard until Washington sees where this process is going.
Former Israel Air Force chief, Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, who also led the planning team for a strike on Iran, hinted this week that if the air force and IDF had the capability for destroying the underground nuclear facilities at Fordo, they could also destroy the Hamas underground command center.
When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu saw Wednesday that the cross diplomacy in Cairo had little chance of gong anywhere, he ordered a call-up of 8,000 military reservists in anticipation of the week ahead. The IDF spokesman said: The forces are prepared for ground action. After the Hamas tunnel terror bid was foiled Thursday, a ground operation was seen to be close, as the only effective measure against tunnel warfare.
All out of options in Gaza - Stan Goodenough - http://jerusalemwatchman.org/2014/07/all-out-of-options-in-gaza/
'Then Israel will know that he is the LORD their God'
Now also many nations have gathered against you,
Who say, "Let her be defiled,
And let our eye look upon Zion."
But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord,
Nor do they understand His counsel;
For He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
"Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion;
For I will make your horn iron,
And I will make your hooves bronze;
You shall beat in pieces many peoples;
I will consecrate their gain to the Lord,
And their substance to the Lord of the whole earth." (Micah 4:11-14)
Thus says the Lord God: "When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God." (Ezekiel 28:25-26)
On Gaza and Operation Protective Edge, the world is full of experts who know what Israel should do, what Israel can do, and how Israel should do it.
Pundits vie in their columns with strongly held opinions of what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is capable of and what he isn't. Israeli and foreign journalists parse Bibi's political proclivities - mostly through negatively biased eyes - (this the particular mien of the left) - and denigrate his leadership even if the way he behaves (showing restraint, winning international support) - earns some resentful recognition.
Solutions being sought; ceasefires being called for; tired old lines being rehashed - witness US Secretary of State John Kerry's assertion earlier this week that the current hostilities only prove how essential it is to resurrect the peace process that was so recently declared dead in the water.
One ceasefire was accepted by Israel but violently spurned by Hamas.
A second, 10 year long 'ceasefire' was proposed by Hamas, but derisively ignored in Jerusalem.
At the time of writing, a third, five hour 'humanitarian' ceasefire will reportedly go into effect as at the UN's request, Israel - which Ha'aretz defense analyst Amos Harel says "is being more careful about preventing civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip than the United States was in Iraq and Afghanistan" (July 16, 2014) - agrees to allow relief aid into Gaza.
Whatever sequence of events now plays out, the first ceasefire did not take. Time will tell whether that is good or bad, but the sense, instinctively, is that it is "better than bad."
According to a poll carried out by Israel's Channel Two television station on July 15, a clear majority of Israelis was against a ceasefire with Hamas Tuesday.
At the same time, reported Israel National News, "a majority of respondents were pessimistic about Operation Protective Edge bringing an end to the rocket fire from Gaza."
Fully 92 percent believed that the operation would not end the rocket fire.
The same poll found that 53 percent were satisfied with Netanyahu's leadership and performance in the operation.
"Results of the poll were made public as Netanyahu threatened a full ground invasion in the event that escalation from Gaza continues," continued the report.
Late the following evening (July 16), according to an unnamed 'high-ranking military official' in the IDF quoted in both the New York Times and the Times of Israel, that ground incursion into Gaza was looking "very likely."
"The military official said only 'boots on the ground' could eradicate terrorism from Gaza and indicated that Israel was even considering a long-term reoccupation of the coastal territory."
"Every day that passes makes the possibility more evident," the official said. "We can hurt them very hard from the air, but not get rid of them."
When all has been said and done, Israel has four apparent choices (possibly more) with Gaza. None of them are rosy and none of them guarantee what Israel would term success.
The Jewish state can:
* Defer biting the bullet by continuing its hi-tech, pinpointed pounding from the air of the terrorists' infrastructure in Gaza until Hamas is ready to accept a ceasefire. This will continue to somewhat degrade Hamas' military capability, thereby securing southern Israel - all of Israel, actually - months or perhaps even a year or two of quiet on the Gaza front at least. (She can't, however, relax her vigil of nuclear-pursuing Iran's proxies to the north and northeast - this other gun to our head, fronts that could open at any time, especially as Israel is being left with no choice but to personally deal with the Iranian threat.) But Israel will know full well that it will need to return to square one to re-impose the calm from the air periodically, with more operations like Protective Edge and Pillar of Defense. And Israel will know that, between each ceasefire and subsequent outbreak of new hostilities, the enemy will be restocking and upgrading its weapons caches so that the future incursions will be even more painful for Israelis and more bloody for the Arabs, and will provoke more condemnations from an increasingly antisemitic and anti-Israel (it's the same thing, of course) world. And eventually, taking this route, Israel will have to send in the army.
* Bite the bullet and send troops in now in an effort to deal a more effective and long lasting blow to the enemy's capabilities, knowing that soldiers will be killed and wounded, and that the IDF will eventually have to withdraw under pressure, ceding the ground once again to Hamas et al, and rendering almost pointless the lost lives of those troops who paid the ultimate price for a temporary invasion and 'clean up.' This, then, will also take us back to square one.
* Bite a bigger bullet and invade to retake the entire Gaza Strip - an operation that IDF planners hold will take 'just weeks' - in the process losing soldiers, possibly quite a number of them, no matter how well trained and prepared for this the chief of staff believes them to be - then spending the ensuing months rooting out the Hamas and its sister terrorists (with more Israeli casualties), killing their leaders, imprisoning or expelling their members, blowing up their tunnels, destroying their rocket and other arms caches and then remaining there, returning Gaza's Arabs to life under military administration in an effort to ensure the terror groups cannot proliferate in Gaza again. But then what?
* Bite the biggest bullet of all - one that will hurt terribly now but will be most likely to save Israeli lives and secure Israel's future for the foreseeable future: pulverize Gaza from the air (I'm talking carpet bombing). Yes, using its 'knocking on the ceiling' approach to warn Gazans of the impending strikes, but then employing 'Arab rules' to send an uncompromising message to the 'Palestinians' and to the Arab world in general (and, by the way, to the rest of the international community) that the Jewish state will no longer play the nice guy with its enemies - even though it will be nicer than nice to those who choose to be its friends - that there is no future way to go along this road. This will lead to massive global condemnations of Israel (so what else is new?), trigger antisemitic outbreaks in diverse places (it's already happening), boost the BDS movement (let them go ahead and make Israel's day - this nation can surmount that type of blackmail) etc.
Following either of the last two options, Israel could extend its sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and Gaza, resettling Gush Katif, expelling all Arabs who refuse to swear an oath of allegiance to the Jewish state, and withholding automatic citizenship for those who stay - granting them permanent residency with the provision that the minute they do support any form of jihad against Israel they are out. The international outcry would be a tsunami. Israel would be dragged to The Hague.
As a friend says, "I can't even remotely see this happening unless Israel is on the receiving end of something horrible that just pushes all her buttons..."
Slowly but surely Israel is being delegitimized; its operations in Gaza have brought it nearer to being turned into a pariah state (the way apartheid South Africa once was).
Then what? When, politically speaking, Israel no longer has any friends left in the world (more or less the case today), and with the pro-Israel Christian world pathetically ineffective in this arena, what will Israel then do?
Voices of reason are crying out that people are being killed. War is horrible. It is a fact. People are being killed and more will be killed.
Even Israeli super-dove and 'crusader for peace' President Shimon Peres had to acknowledge this. In an interview on July 15 published by the Associated Press, the about-to-retire Israeli president admitted that while the killing of civilians by air raids on Gaza presents a moral dilemma, scant alternative remains as long as the Islamic militants refuse to stop sustained rocket fire against Israel.
"There is a moral problem, but I don't have a moral answer to it," he lamented.
Where should the blame be laid for the deaths in Gaza this past two weeks since Operation Protective Edge?
Some, at least should be apportioned to those who insisted on a ceasefire to end Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012.
And where should the blame have been laid for the Gazans killed in that conflict?
Surely at least some of those who insisted prematurely on a ceasefire at the end of Operation Cast Lead in 2008 are responsible?
Likewise, as admirable as the motives may be of those insisting on imposing a ceasefire, they will not be able to disconnect their actions from the even greater number of casualties that will result when hostilities resume once more.
There are no easy answers to this reality. Assessed realistically, in this broken world in which we live, there are no manmade answers at all.
It's been a long, long time coming but, in the not too distant future, Israel will arrive at a place where not even its renowned ingenuity will be able to generate the security solutions it needs.
The encouraging and hope-filled light in the midst of this dark scenario is that Israel's dilemma is by Divine design.
According to the Word of God, the Jewish people have been restored to the land of Israel in order that God can reveal His greatness to them and, through them, to the rest of the nations of the world.
While there are increasingly few man-made answers to the political and military quandaries in which Israel finds herself, there are - there always have been - heavenly answers.
And Heaven's ways are sure.
Israel launched its Gaza ground operation cautiously in the South - Hamas runs to shelter in crowded towns - http://www.debka.com/article/24109/Israel-launched-its-Gaza-ground-operation-cautiously-in-the-South-Hamas-runs-to-shelter-in-crowded-towns
The first hours of Israel's Operation Defensive Edge ground phase against Hamas were marked by heavy artillery and air pounding to soften up the terrain as the ground forces went in Thursday night, July 17. The troops advanced in two heads - one north to Jebalya and Beit Lahiya and the other south, where it went into action initially against Khan Younes and Rafah. The IDF took its first casualty before dawn Friday: Sgt. Eytan Barak, 20, from Herzliya, who served in the Nahal Division
In its current phase, the IDF ground operation is focusing on southern Gaza, with the potential for expanding into further areas, as and when the government decides, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz told the special cabinet session Friday.
The densely populated Gaza City has not been broached as yet.
debkafile's military experts maintain that the first 48 hours of a war are often critical for determining its outcome. If a tactical gain is not achieved early on and a psychological blow not inflicted on the enemy, the operation tends to start losing traction by the third and fourth days.
That is why it is so important to hit the teeming Gaza City without delay, because Hamas has buried its core infrastructure under the crowded town center: Housed in a fortified bunker complex are its command and control, its communications systems and its longest-range weapons, which are held ready to strike after an Israeli invasion.
Bringing a small special operations force close enough to the Hamas stronghold would be useful for making the enemy feel threatened. But most importantly, it could gather the kind of intelligence which spy satellites and the air force were unable to reach. A small ground force trained in surveillance could pull this data from a point 200-300 meters away from target.
So the IDF has not yet applied the full weight of its might against Hamas. The troop movements in the early hours of the ground operation appeared designed more as a signal to Hamas that the incursion would stop right there, if it accepted a ceasefire on Egyptian and Israeli terms.
This sort of tactic, which was evidently dictated by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, has never worked with Hamas. It has been useful to Israel diplomatically for heading off international and domestic critics, who routinely accuse Israel of the reckless use of its military might.
But for a military offensive, this careful pace will cost the IDF the gains for shortening the war and allow the initiative to slip into the hands of Hamas, which has displayed surprising capabilities.
Both of its commando operations by sea and tunnel went awry. Israel soldiers were waiting and cut them down. The drones they sent were downed by the Israeli Air Force. The hundreds of rockets they fired, as far east as the Jordan Valley and north up Haifa and Nahariya, missed inflicting on Israel major damage or fatalities.
At the same time, the IDF in the first 10 days of Operation Defensive Edge, cannot be said to have pulled off any significant feats or snatched the initiative by means of its air strikes.
Hamas leaders, whom Israel expected to be deterred from continuing their offensive by the sight of the colossal damage caused to the towns of Gaza, misread them. Hamas couldn't care less about damage to buildings. A check of $25 m from Iran or Qatar would be enough to restore all those buildings in less than a year.
For the Islamists, devastation, fatalities and the ruined lives of so many Palestinians are a cheap price to pay for the satisfaction of showing they can stand up to Israel's armed forces, day after day, like the Lebanese Hezbollah in the second Lebanon War of 2006.
The same misreading applies to Israeli tacticians' hopes that a slow-moving military campaign will give Hamas time to come to its senses and grasp that its aggression has achieved no more than to bring the IDF down on its head on its own soil, and that intransigence will bring full Israeli might into the heart of Gaza City.
Hamas also misread Israel, when it calculated that the IDF would never send troops into the Gaza Strip. Now, too, the leaders of this radical Palestinian group are counting on Israeli forces not venturing into the densely-populated urban center of Gaza City to beard them in their bunkers and destroy their military machine. If they have got it right, they will have won.
How to win in Gaza - By Caroline B. Glick - http://jewishworldreview.com/0714/glick071814.php3#.U8k7oulOV9B
Israel deployed ground forces in Gaza Thursday night both because Hamas's terror tunnels into Israel have become an unacceptable threat, and because it had to break the deadlock that had developed between it and Hamas.
Until the ground invasion, Israel and Hamas were in a holding pattern. Hamas would not accept a ceasefire deal because Egypt's offers provided the Iranian sponsored, Muslim Brotherhood terror army with no discernible achievements. And absent such achievements, Hamas prefers to keep fighting. Israel for its part is unwilling to make any concessions to Hamas in exchange for its cessation of its criminal terror war that targets innocent civilians in Israel as a matter of course.
As Hamas sees things, it has three ways of winning.
First, if Israel had agreed to ceasefire terms that left Hamas better off than it was when it started its newest round of indiscriminate missile attacks against Israeli civilian targets, then it could have declared victory.
Hamas's terms for a ceasefire included, among other things, an open border with Egypt, egress to the sea, open access to the border zone with Israel, an airport, a sea port, and the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons. Obviously, if Israel agreed to even a few of these terms, its agreement would have constituted a strategic victory for Hamas.
The second way for Hamas to win is if it able to accuse Israel of killing a large number of Palestinians at one time In that case, Hamas can expect for the US to join with the EU and the UN in forcing Israel to accept ceasefire terms that require it to make significant concessions to the Palestinians in Gaza as well as in Judea and Samaria.
This is what happened in Hezbollah's war with Israel in 2006. During the fighting, Hezbollah alleged that Israel killed a great number of Lebanese civilians in Kfar Kana. Those allegations caused then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to effectively end US support for Israel's war effort. Rice quickly coerced Israel into accepting ceasefire terms that paved the way for Hezbollah's takeover of the Lebanese government.
If Hamas is able to create a similar situation in Gaza, it will likely achieve the same sort of strategic victory over Israel.
Finally, if Hamas is able to produce a picture of victory that can burnish its reputation as the leader of the jihad against the Jews throughout the Islamic world, then it will be able to declare victory. Operations such as Hamas's repeated attempts to launch mass casualty attacks in Israeli communities along the border with Gaza by infiltrating Israeli territory through its underground tunnel networks, have been geared towards achieving such an end.
Since Hamas initiated the current round of warfare against Israel, Israelis have been split in their assessments of how best to win the war. Still now, with ground forces deployed in Gaza, the dispute over the proper goal of the operation remains significant.
Although everyone supports the troops, politicians on the Left, led, most openly by Labor party leader Isaac Herzog say that Israel should limit its goals to the maximum extent and seek a ceasefire because "there is no military solution" to the conflict with Hamas.
Israel's best bet, they say, is to do everything it can to end the Hamas missile strikes as quickly as possible through negotiations. At the same time, Herzog argues, since there is only a diplomatic solution to the Palestinian conflict with Israel, Israel needs to send negotiators to Ramallah to beg Palestinian Authority President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas to sign a peace deal with the Jewish state.
There are several basic problems with the Left's position.
First, Hamas and its partners in Gaza from Islamic Jihad, al Qaeda affiliated jihadist militia and Fatah have no interest whatsoever in peaceful coexistence with Israel. They exist to fight Israel. This means that the only way that Israel can get them to stop fighting is by using its military force to convince them that it is not in their interest to continue shooting.
In other words, the only "solution" to Hamas's aggression is a military solution.
Then there is the bizarre notion that a deal with Fatah is somehow the silver bullet that will end the military threat to Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza.
A deal between Israel and Fatah in Judea and Samaria would have no effect whatsoever on the situation on the ground in Gaza. Given Hamas's absolute rejection of peace with Israel, and widespread support for Israel's destruction throughout Palestinian society, a peace deal between Israel and Fatah in Judea and Samaria would in all likelihood increase Hamas's prestige among Palestinians and throughout the Muslim world. In other words a peace deal with Fatah would enhance Hamas's prestige and power and ultimately bring about an expansion of its military capabilities.
Beyond that, Abbas has ruled the PA for the past decade. Throughout this period, he consistently demonstrated through deed and word that he will never, ever sign a peace treaty with Israel. Abbas has twice rejected offers of peace and statehood from Israel. Just three months ago he rejected another offer from US President Barack Obama. During the same period, he has signed three peace deals with Hamas. The most recent one is now in force, on the ground.
Since Hamas initiated its newest round of criminal projectile assaults on Israel, Abbas has acted as a full partner in the war. He has represented Hamas internationally. He has negotiated on its behalf - and continues to do so in Cairo.
Abbas has slandered Israel in the most obscene terms. His Fatah group has actively participated in the missile offensive, on the ground in Gaza. It has also proclaimed its absolute unity of purpose with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the war against Israel in daily official pronouncements.
Given all of this, the notion that Israel can pin a diplomatic strategy for ending Hamas's war against it on Fatah is not merely ridiculous. It is inexcusably irresponsible for would-be national leaders to maintain faith with it. The only purpose such behavior serves is to reinforce the Americans and Europeans in their delusional faith that the chimerical two-state solution is a recipe for utopian peace rather than war, bloodshed and radicalization.
On the other hand, the Right, led most outspokenly by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman insists that the role of IDF ground forces in Gaza should be to reconquer the area with the aim of destroying Hamas's capacity to continue shooting rockets and missiles. Only such a ground-based operation, they claim will eliminate the threat of Hamas's projectiles.
There are several problems with this position.
First, it makes assumptions about Hamas that are not necessarily correct.
It is far from clear that the only way to destroy Hamas and end its capacity to harm Israel is to reconquer Gaza.
The main reason that Hamas began the current war is because the terror group is in distress.
The Egyptians have cut off the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood's financial and military supply lines through the Sinai. Hamas of the summer of 2014 is not Hezbollah from the summer of 2006. Hezbollah had open supply lines from Iran through Syria and Turkey. Hamas is locked in between Israel and Egypt.
Moreover, Hamas is challenged on the ground in Gaza by the same jihadist groups that now fight with it against Israel. If Hamas cannot produce a victory in this round of fighting then its friends from al Qaeda affiliates and from Islamic Jihad will renew their challenge to its authority. Add to the mix the response of a public angry at Hamas for forcing it to serve as human shields for missiles and terror masters who were unable to bring home the bacon so to speak by fighting, and there is a reasonable chance that Hamas will face a full-blown insurrection once a ceasefire with Israel goes into effect.
The only way for Hamas to avert this fate is by being able to point to significant gains from the fighting that will neutralize at least some of its opponents and rivals.
In other words, Israel doesn't have to reconquer Gaza to destroy Hamas. We just have to humiliate Hamas and knock out capabilities like the tunnel networks that immediately threaten us. And then let the Gazans fight it out.
Finally, a full-scale ground invasion is a risky proposition. There is no assurance of success. Israel deployed ground forces in south Lebanon in 2006. But due to incompetent national and military leadership, the forces achieved little from a strategic perspective while absorbing painful losses.
Israel faces an acute operational challenge in Gaza. The nine year absence of IDF forces and Israeli civilians on the ground has wrecked Israel's intelligence gathering capabilities and so limited the IDF's operational effectiveness. If in 2004 Israel was able to defeat Hamas through targeted killing of its commanders, repeating that success today without good human intelligence assets on the ground is a much more difficult prospect.
This is why we are already beginning to see diminishing results from the air campaign. Without human assets on the ground, the IDF either cannot locate or cannot get to the remaining high value targets.
Unless Israel is able to change this situation fairly rapidly, it will not be able to sufficiently diminish Hamas's capabilities to convince Hamas's leadership that they are better off ending the current fight without achieving anything significant than maintaining it until they do.
This is why the government was finally compelled to order the ground campaign.
Ground forces are required to develop the information Israel needs to kill a large enough number of Hamas leaders and destroy the tunnel complexes and a large enough quantity of missiles and launchers to convince Hamas's terror masters to cry, "Uncle."
While the ground operations continue, Israeli negotiators should be avidly agreeing to every ceasefire offer that denies Hamas any achievements. The IDF must continue to exercise an abundance of caution to prevent Hamas from luring our forces into a situation where we will be accused of massacring Palestinians.
None of this is easy or simple. No result is guaranteed. But in fighting Hamas today, Israel finds itself in a better position than it has faced in past fights with Hamas. For the first time, we face an enemy with a limited shelf life. Without supply lines from Egypt, Hamas cannot fight forever. Its allies at the UN can feed its forces and protect Hamas from an insurrection from a starving population. But the UN cannot rearm Hamas. It cannot reopen the smuggling tunnels from Egypt to enable materiel, money and trainers to enter Gaza.
Hamas is desperate for anything it can call a victory. By denying it one on the one hand, while taking action to force its leaders to prefer organizational humiliation to personal destruction on the other, Israel can win a decisive victory.
Unilateral Gaza ceasefire collapses - Israeli air strikes resume after dozens of Palestinian rockets in hours - http://www.debka.com/article/24097/Unilateral-Gaza-ceasefire-collapses-Israeli-air-strikes-resume-after-dozens-of-Palestinian-rockets-in-hours-
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon ordered the Israeli Air Force to resume strikes over Gaza Tuesday afternoon, six hours after a ceasefire proposed by Egypt, accepted by Israel and rejected by Hamas, was due to go into effect. During those hours, dozens of Hamas rockets raked town after town and village after village. debkafile: The White House called off US Secretary of State John Kerry's Cairo visit upon finding Tehran's hand behind the rockets. Netanyahu goes on the air at 8 p.m. to explain what went wrong.
Straight after the ceasefire was due to go into effect Tuesday at 9 a.m., Hamas fired 20 rockets from the Gaza Strip.The Israeli security cabinet had meanwhile endorsed Cairo's proposal to mediate the conflict with the Palestinian extremists, but warned that if they continued to fire rockets, Israel would hit back with "all possible force."
In Cairo, Hamas official Mussa Abu Marzuk took responsibility for eight of the post-"truce" rockets, most of which landed on Ashdod, slightly injuring one woman. Iron Dome intercepted four.
The first rockets hit Eshkol before 9.30, soon to be followed by a steady stream at Sderot, Ashkelon, Kiryat Malachi, Shear Hanegev, Gan Yavneh and Eshkol. As the Hamas official spoke, a rocket hit Netivot and Israel TV reporters at Shear Hanegev interrupted their broadcast and scurried to safety in a shelter.
At 12:30 p.m. Rehovot, Ness Ziona and Kibbutz Givat Brenner were targeted, then sirens blared on Mt. Carmel, in Haifa, Zichron Yaakov and Ain Hashofet and at 13.05 p.m. in the inland towns.
And the day was still young.
debkafile: It was obvious from the first that the Egyptian bid to enforce a comprehensive truce before summoning the parties to Cairo to discuss a substantial deal - on the lines published Monday night in Cairo - had no legs. It was artificially cobbled together by Israel and Egypt with no reference to the initial aggressor, Hamas and its pro-Iranian ally Jihad Islami. Had they been consulted, some sort of dialogue might have developed and led to a bilateral ceasefire, however fragile.
But this did not happen and the rosy bubble filled with nothing but hot air was bound to burst.
Early Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry was already heading to Cairo to take the lead in the Egyptian initiative when he was ordered by Washington to turn around and make tracks for home.
President Barack Obama had no wish to stand in line with Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu behind their highly speculative initiative.
According to our sources in Washington, the real reason the White House pulled Kerry out of another certain fiasco in the nick of time was incoming intelligence that Tehran had ordered its Palestinian pawn Jihad Islami to ignore the ceasefire and keep on shooting from Gaza. This left Hamas no option but to follow suit.
The Obama administration was also advised of that hand behind the trickle of rockets fired this week from Lebanon and Syria at Western Galilee and the Golan. It was the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian, PFLP-General Command, whose chief Ahmed Jibril has made his organization an operational branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Al Qods Brigades.
Israeli spokesmen have carefully refrained from putting these incidents together, all leading to Tehran, and inferring a well-orchestrated master plan afoot against the Jewish state that would not be put off by an unsustainable truce.
debkafile reported after midnight Monday:
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has accepted President Abdel-Fatah El-Siisi's proposal to mediate the halt of hostilities between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas faction ruling the Gaza Strip and agreed to a ceasefire going into effect Tuesday, July 15 at 9:00 a.m., debkafile reports.
The Prime minister informed senior security cabinet ministers Monday night, July 14, that he had reached this decision after conversations with Washington and Cairo, stressing that the mediation process did not mark any change in Egyptian and Israeli policies for Hamas and the Gaza Strip. The Gaza blockade would not be lifted, and Israel would not hand over the Palestinian prisoners, released for the Israeli soldier held hostage, and re-arrested again last month during the hunt for the three Israeli teenagers whom Hamas abducted and murdered. These demands were the price set by Hamas for halting its rocket fire against the Israeli population.
Netanyahu also reported the Egyptian president was fully aware that Israel would insist on any deal with Hamas being contingent on the creation of an international mechanism to dismantle and remove Hamas's rockets stocks and production facilities from the Gaza Strip. The ministers gained the impression from his presentation that El-Sisi had not objected to this demand.
Monday night, the Hamas prime minister of Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, announced in a speech that his movement had accepted Cairo's proposal to negotiate a ceasefire with Israel. He held Israel responsible for initiating the military campaign against Hamas.
Official Egyptian sources published some high points of Cairo's proposal Monday night, whereby Egyptian officials would meet with each side separately for talks held in accordance with the Cairo-brokered ceasefire of 2012 (which ended the Israeli Defensive Pillar operation).
"Israel should put an end to all of its land, sea, air hostilities against the Gaza Strip while emphasizing that no ground invasion will be implemented against Gaza or the targeting of civilians," the Egyptian proposal stipulated.
"To end all hostilities by political factions (DEBKA: Hamas is not mentioned by name) based in Gaza against Israel via land, sea, air and underground, while emphasizing the stoppage of rockets of all kinds, assaults on the borders and the targeting of civilians," the document said.
The proposal also called for the opening of crossings and facilitating the movement of people and goods through border crossings - but only in consideration of "ground security conditions".
Israel Watch: The Rockets' Red Glare - Jim Fletcher - http://www.raptureready.com/rap15.html
Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas has fired a staggering 10,000 rockets into Israel. When the world hasn't been silent, it has condemned...Israel.
Now the terror group can reach Israel's major cities, including Jerusalem. This is an epic escalation, further upgraded due to Hezbollah's capabilities in the north. The world awaits Israel's probably invasion of the Gaza Strip and while the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is being criticized for not moving sooner.
I suspect the Israelis are lining up their ducks.
And this time they won't worry about world opinion.
At Lamb & Lion's marvelous annual conference in Richardson, Texas this past weekend, Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries delivered a brilliant and impassioned talk on the various American presidents who have dealt with the Jewish state.
Beginning with Woodrow Wilson (who supported Zionism) and finishing with the present-day Regime, Jan laid-out devastating contrasts between several presidents. It is instructive for the present moment.
Let's pick it up with Franklin Roosevelt. The war president largely ignored Jewish plight in Europe, but his successor did not. We know that Harry Truman gave critical early support for the new state of Israel.
Dwight Eisenhower, though known somewhat as the chronicler of the Holocaust (he demanded his troops take photos of the death camps, lest the world deny it), sharply divided with Israel over the Sinai Campaign of 1956.
John Kennedy was a staunch supporter of Israel, tripling aid to the young state; he broke ranks with his odious, anti-Semitic father.
Lyndon Johnson appeared to have had a somewhat emotional attachment to the Jews; his father reminded him of the biblical promises and LBJ himself saw the horrors of Europe. Yet in the lead-up to the Six Day War, he urged Israel to show restraint. Adding to the complex layers of this complicated man is the fact that he apparently counseled Levi Eshkol privately to keep all the captured territories.
Richard Nixon, who uttered grotesque anti-Semitic statements on tape, still airlifted desperately needed munitions to Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Golda Meir said later that Nixon saved Israel from annihilation.
Jimmy Carter. This anti-Semite (and Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher) was dismissive of Israel, and laid the groundwork for future recognition of the PLO. A stain on our nation's history.
Ronald Reagan was very friendly to Israel, though he was furious over not being alerted to the attack on Iraq's Osirik nuclear reactor in 1981.
George H.W. Bush was a mixed bag, according to Jan Markell, although I believe his circle of advisors included anti-Semites who were the architects of the disastrous Oslo Accords.
The thoroughly self-absorbed Bill Clinton coldly sought a legacy by forced the "peace process" through numerous times. His tenure weakened Israel diplomatically.
George W. Bush I do not believe had much interest in the biblical Israel (led to the United Methodist Church by his wife. The UMC is officially anti-Israel, in my view), though he seems to have had sincere motives and tried to help Israel, particularly Ariel Sharon. Still, his endorsement of a Palestinian state leaves much to be desired.
Barack Obama is a totalitarian and wants to dismantle the U.S., including the historic relationship with Israel. In the latest conflict with Hamas, the White House officially states that Israel has a right to defend herself, but in the next breath, John Kerry urges "restraint" on...Israel.
This means that the White House does not support Israel's right to defend itself. This is classic double-speak from Team Obama.
We are where we are. At the end of the day, though, I am optimistic. There are still Bible-believers in the United States, our beloved country, and we will never abandon Israel.
I think of my friends like Jan, Dave Reagan, and those who attend these conferences. A shout-out to my Texas buddy, Robert Ellis, whose impassioned faith in these dark times is one of the reasons I think we will weather these storms and emerge into the Glory of the Lord...in His timing.
What a wonderful time to be alive. History is not guided by presidents or kings or dictators, but by the Lord of History.
Book it.
First Hamas rocket hits Nahariya - All parts of Israel within range from Gaza on Day Six of IDF operation - http://www.debka.com/article/24093/First-Hamas-rocket-hits-Nahariya-All-parts-of-Israel-within-range-from-Gaza-on-Day-Six-of-IDF-operation
Nahariya, a small resort town 15 minutes drive from the Lebanese border, Sunday, July 13, had the unwanted distinction of being the northernmost Israeli town to be hit by a Hamas rocket from the Gaza Strip. The rocket traveled 172 km to land harmlessly outside the town - more than twice the distance from Gaza to Tel Aviv, which took its second round of Hamas rockets in two days. Mayor Jackie Sabag of Nahariya said he had fortunately not taken the advice of the Home Command to shut the city's shelters after rockets were fired Friday and Saturday from Lebanon.
Nahariya, frequently blasted by Hizballah Katyushas in the past, can now "boast" it was targeted by Hamas as well.
Sunday, Day Six of Operation Defensive Edge, saw another first: an Israeli ground incursion of the Gaza Strip. An sea commando Shayetet 13 unit landed in the western Gaza Strip to raid a cluster of rocket launchers. It was forced to retreat under heavy fire after four commandos were lightly injured. The target was then hit by the unit's air cover.
By sundown Sunday, 65 Palestinian rockets had been fired into Israel - 12 shot down by Iron Dome - and more were on the way. The last salvo covered a long swathe from Rishon Lezion, through Tel Aviv and its satellite towns, including the big port of Ashdod and Hadera, as well as Israeli locales bordering on Gaza.
An early rocket directed at Ben Gurion airport hit Modiin.
The only casualty was a 16-year old Israeli boy, who was seriously injured in Ashkelon by falling rocket shrapnel.
From Saturday night, the IDF conducted 130 air strikes. The Palestinian death toll continued to climb, reaching 170, despite IDF efforts to avoid civilian casualties when aiming at "terrorist" chiefs.
Several thousands of residents in northern Gaza have heeded IDF warnings by leaflets to evacuate their homes temporarily for their own safety, ahead of an imminent major Israeli operation against the rocket launchers and weapons stores maintained by Hamas in residential areas. The IDF calculates that 40 percent of all Hamas-Jihad Islami rockets were fired from northern Gaza.
UNWRA in the Gaza Strip opened 10 schools to accommodate the refugees, who continued to pour in, in the face of insistent Hamas calls not to leave their homes.
As the Israeli security cabinet conducted almost daily emergency sessions with army chiefs to determine their next steps, two controversies consumed the attention of Israeli media and the pundits: One revolves around the wisdom of sending ground troops into the Gaza Strip to finish the job of destroying Hamas-Jihad missile capabilities, or opting for half a cake, meaning a ceasefire - any ceasefire - if one becomes available. It is commonly agreed that a premature ceasefire would only hold up until Hamas decides to launch its next rocket blitz.
The last time it took eighteen months. The next one is predicted for six months time.
Estimates on the accessibility of a ceasefire are also constantly tossed back and forth.
debkafile's Middle East sources, after examining the options, have concluded that, in the present situation, a truce is way out of reach. Israeli officials, when asked, said Sunday that no serious framework had developed.
In some Western diplomatic circles, there is talk of resuscitating the 2012 truce negotiated - or rather, dictated - by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - since retired; Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi - since ousted and jailed; Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan - rejected by both sides; and the emir of Qatar - deposed.
Not only have most of those figures come and gone or lost their clout, but the Middle East has undergone fundamental political, military and strategic change from end to end.
As things stand now, Qatar is no longer as rich as it was and, for Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the leading Sunni powers in the region, the Muslim Brotherhood is their archenemy, and neither would be eager to rescue MB's offshoot Hamas from the cycle of turbulence in conjured up in the first place by kidnapping and murdering three Israeli teenagers last month.
Undeterred, US Secretary of State John Kerry was due to discuss ways to end the Gaza violence with UK, French and German foreign ministers in Vienna Sunday on the sidelines of the nuclear talks with Iran.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague talked by phone to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman Saturday.
Last week, Middle East Quartet Special Envoy Tony Blair met Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo, and German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier is expected Tuesday for talks with Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who has been trying without much success to make himself relevant to the crisis.
All these well-intentioned emissaries will be told that Israel will stop bombing when Hamas stops shooting.
They will also find Hamas a very hard nut to crack.
Contrary to some reports that the Palestinian Islamist extremists are ready to crawl to bring Israel's air assaults to an end, Hamas leaders are in fact far from dissatisfied with what they have achieved so far:
1) They have managed to keep more than 5 million Israelis caged in or near air raid shelters for the second week in a row.
2)
2) They have not cracked under more than 1,340 air strikes in six days and their command structure and operatives remain fully functional.,
3) Although the conflict is asymmetrical, Hamas has made it a standoff with neither side able to claim the upper hand.
4) The Hamas kidnappers who murdered the three Israel boys are still at large.
War with Hamas! - Lonnie C. Mings - www.cfijerusalem.org
For several days, as I write, Israel has been subjected to a daily bombardment of rockets from Gaza. Well over 100 rockets and mortars have hit Israel in the last 24 hours alone. Code Red (Tseva Adom) sirens have been going off virtually nonstop-from Sderot all the way to Jerusalem. As The Times of Israel put it, "Hamas has goaded Israel into action-whether because of unpaid salaries, or hopes of fanning the flames of the unrest in Israel and the West Bank, or a need to stave off its rivals-Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the assorted Salafi organizations-or in-house disagreements between its political and military wings, or as an expression of its alienation from Egypt and Iran (and those are just a few of the current theories)."
Right now the question is not whether Israel will respond to the barrage (there have already been a number of air strikes), but what shape the response will take. Reservists are being called up as I write. First, 1500 were called up, and then another 40,000 were called. My wife has been in touch with several people in Israel, and I could even hear the sirens over her phone in our living room here in Colorado. People have been running to their bomb shelters, and quite a few of them have posted their experiences and emotions on Facebook. My wife and I were in Jerusalem during the First Gulf War, when there was a lot of excitement and fear, and right now it appears that the chaos around the country is rapidly approaching similar levels.
So far no major invasion of Gaza has been launched, but momentum is building and the army has been deployed along the border with Gaza. It would seem only a matter of time before an incursion begins. The Times asks what sort of "ambitions" the Israeli government will have if it is forced into an operation in Gaza.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has called for the kind of operation that would enable reassertion of Israeli control over the Gaza Strip. Economy Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday (July 7) refused to state his position over the air waves, but likely advocates a similar move (Times, July 8). The generals say such a large move would require massive reserves call-up, a lengthy operation in the Gaza Strip, including ground troops, and a prolonged toll on the Israeli civilian population. Researchers put the economic toll of such an action at $4.4 billion. It would also leave Israel in charge of 1.5 million Palestinians.
Retired Maj. General Amos Yadlin is advocating an offensive that targets the military wing of Hamas, the organization's leaders, its firepower, and its weapons-production capabilities. Even that, he says, "might include damage to the fabric of life in Israel, the Israeli economy, and even fatalities. But it is necessary," he concludes.
What Israel has done so far is being referred to as Operation Protective Edge.
Hamas has been trying to do as much dirty work as possible. In fact, they say they have tried to hit the Dimona nuclear reactor, but so far have been unsuccessful. Three rockets were fired at the town of Dimona. Two of them fell in open areas, while one was intercepted. Rockets have also been fired at Tel Aviv, and Iron Dome has taken out at least one of them. Rockets have also landed in open areas south of Haifa. Hamas now has weapons considerably more sophisticated than the homemade projectiles that were fired in previous clashes-presumably smuggled in from Iran. With many tunnels destroyed or closed from the Egyptian side, it is hoped that the remaining stockpile of weapons will be destroyed before they can do more damage. It is estimated that Hamas has around 10,000 rockets of varying strike-distance capability.
If forced into a limited war, the army will begin with a coordinated strike, probably against Hamas' long-range rockets, which are less mobile than its leaders, who have probably gone underground at this point. From there the IDF will attempt to score maximum points in minimum time.
"But as former Mossad head Efraim Halevy said during a recent interview, one knows where a war starts, but never where it ends. 'The fortunes of war are not predestined'" (The Times of Israel).
ISIS Poised to Invade Jordan
As of this writing, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has its sights set on Jordan, preparing to invade. It is clear that Israel does not want an ISIS state on its right flank across the Jordan, but whether it will be able to protect Jordan is not clear. Tied down by her war with Hamas, Israel might be limited in what she can do to help Jordan.
Israel's intentions, however, are clear. Israeli diplomats have told their American counterparts that Israel would be prepared to take military action to save the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan if it came under attack by jihadist militants.
The chief concern is that an attack on Jordan would inevitably drag Israel and possibly the United States into the fighting. "Jordan could not repel a full assault from ISIS on its own at this point," one senator was quoted as saying. Jordan "will ask Israel and the United States for as much help as they can get."
Thomas Sanderson, co-director for transnational threats at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was quoted as saying that both Israel and the U.S. view the survival of the Jordanian monarchy as a paramount national security objective.
"I think Israel and the United States would identify a substantial threat to Jordan as a threat to themselves and would offer all appropriate assets to the Jordanians," he said (Haaretz June 28).
We all need to pray that Israel will be able to handle the multiple threats she is facing right now-with God's help.
"Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation" Psalm 91:14-16
Hamas implicates Hezbollah in rocket attack - F. Michael Maloof - http://www.wnd.com/2014/07/hamas-implicates-hezbollah-in-rocket-attack/?cat_orig=world
Says their groups exchange expertise, have 'constant field cooperation'
A top Hamas official in Lebanon said his group is coordinating ground attacks on Israel with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, claiming their tactics are the same.
"The enemy is the same and our tactics are the same," according to Hamas official Osama Hamdan in an interview with the Assafir newspaper, one of the leading Arabic language dailies in Lebanon. "Therefore, we put in efforts to exchange expertise. There is constant field cooperation and coordination."
Hamdan, who heads Hamas' international relations department, said while there have been differences between them, their coordination and cooperation would allow his group to confront an Israeli ground operation into Lebanon.
The two resistance groups, which the United States, Israel and other countries regard as terrorist groups, split after Hezbollah and Iran went to the assistance of Syria in that country's three-year civil war which has claimed more than 160,000 lives.
Hezbollah, like Iran, is Shiite while Hamas is Sunni. Yet in the past, Iran has backed both Shiite and Sunni groups.
Prior to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the Hamas leadership had its headquarters in Damascus but left in protest after the civil war began between the Shiite-Alawite government of Bashar al-Assad and his Sunni opposition.
The effect of not backing al-Assad, however, cost Hamas much of its financial and logistical support from Iran. In seeking new sources of support, Hamas was openly supportive of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-backed President, Mohammad Morsi. However, he was ousted last year by the Egyptian military, forcing Hamas to seek to rebuild its relationship with Iran since much of its funding had dried up.
Prior to becoming the organization it is today, Hamas was the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood.
"The relationship with Hezbollah and Iran today is better than everyone thinks," Hamdan said, "and ties with Hezbollah are by far better than what optimists want to believe."
In his interview with the newspaper Assafir, Hamdan said Hamas was strong enough and capable of withstanding Israeli attacks and referred to Hamas' capability "of continuing to fire rockets and confront any ground operation and reach deep into Israel."
Israel now is considering whether to launch a ground assault into Gaza even though it has been bombarding with air assaults this narrow strip of real estate of only 139 square miles - twice the size of Washington, D.C. - with almost two million Palestinians.
However, there are indications Israeli ground troops are massing to launch a ground assault into Gaza, which could result in a protracted battle and high casualties on both sides if Israeli authorities decide to put boots on the ground in Gaza.
"The resistance has grown from a military faction to include more people, and now today involves the general population," Hamdan said. "Therefore, it is difficult to defeat it, but the battle will take some time and there are plenty of surprises to come."
Hamdan's comments come following a single rocket attack that occurred last week from southern Lebanon into Israel which Hezbollah and Hamas regard as occupied Palestine.
The battle between Israel and Hamas began following the abduction and killing of three Israeli seminary students, which in turn led to now apprehended Israelis killing a Palestinian by burning him alive, after which Israeli police later brutalized his cousin who is an American citizen.
Hamdan's comments linking Hamas' attacks on Israel with Hezbollah suggests that Hezbollah which controls southern Lebanon may have had prior knowledge of the rocket attack into Israel from that location.
Hamdan's implication of Hezbollah, however, feeds into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's previous threat of a military response itself from any Hezbollah attack given its influence over the Lebanese government.
One source told WND that Hamdan's implication of Hezbollah may be an attempt to gain an ally and widen the conflict with Israel, knowing it doesn't have the military capability to defeat it.
With Hezbollah's involvement, Israel would be forced to open a two-front conflict that would divide its forces but also greatly enlarge the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a wider regional conflict.
Following last week's rocket attack on Israel, however, the Lebanese army which has close ties with Hezbollah immediately moved in to halt any further rocket attacks, with the hope it didn't escalate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict any further.
Israel ramps up Gaza air strikes, tells Gazans to evacuate border areas, after Hamas' blanket rocket fire on Tel Aviv - http://www.debka.com/article/24091/Israel-ramps-up-Gaza-air-strikes-tells-Gazans-to-evacuate-border-areas-after-Hamas'-blanket-rocket-fire-on-Tel-Aviv-Rockets-from-Lebanon
The Hamas-IDF contest spiraled to its highest level in three frantic hours Saturday night, July 12: Hamas hurled 10 rockets at the broader Tel Aviv area, after one-hour's notice, and for the first time targeted the Modiin-Maccabim-Reut cluster of central Israel. The Israeli air force reacted with a heavy carpet bombardment the length and breadth of the Gaza Strip.
This aimed at achieving two military targets:
1. The "suppression of enemy forces" capable of disrupting an Israeli ground invasion if and when Prime Minister Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu approves this operation in the coming hours.
2. To pin the bulk of Hamas chiefs and forces operating out of bunkers underground and afraid of coming out to fight. This also applies to the large stocks of rocket launchers held below ground.
An Israeli military official told debkafile that the army had notified the Palestinian residents of the northern Gaza to evacuate their homes for their own safety, as the area would be hit with great force in the next 24 hours. This area served as the launching pad of the rocket blitz against Tel Aviv.
The official noted that Israel had in the Lebanon war employed the tactic of warning civilians in embattled areas to evacuate, so as to reduce collateral harm. This tactic was not being applied to the Gaza Strip for the first time.
In fact, debkafile reported on Thursday, July 10 that IDF notices were sent to 100,000 residents of the northern Gaza towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, Greater Ibsen and Smaller Ibsen, advising them to leave their homes and make for the beach or the south. At that time, the prime minister had not yet decided to order an IDF ground incursion of Gaza.
The repetition of this message to northern Gazans, and the heavy Israel Air Force bombardment Saturday night, strongly indicated that a decision to send the IDF into the Hamas enclave for ground assaults on pinpointed targets at predetermined locations.
Northern Israel was also attacked for the second time in two days with rocket fire from Lebanon. Sirens alerted Nahariya, Rosh Hanikra and Shlomi to the launching of three rockets from the al Qlalayleh Plain south of the coastal Lebanese town of Tyre.
debkafile reported earlier Saturday that for five days, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon had opted to confront Hamas rockets with Israel's air force alone, without the IDF at large. They were not even willing to approve a small-scale raid by special forces for pinpointing a few key targets.
The Hamas blitz on Tel Aviv and subsequent celebration in Gaza Saturday night appear to have convinced Israel's prime minister that without greater force by the IDF, Hamas would never stop shooting rockets.
Early Saturday, July 12, saw a few hours respite from Palestinian rocket fire before the first sirens starting wailing again in the western Negev and central Israel. The rockets fired during this week came in an ever widening arc. Israel air strikes wrought heavy surface damage to the Gaza Strip, but scarcely scratched its rocket capabilities.
Friday night, air strikes hit 60 Palestinian targets, mostly buried missile launchers and arms stores, one cached in the Nuseirat mosque, which was razed except for the minaret, and others in a school and three multistory buildings. Before they were bombed, civilians were warned to get out of harm's way.
The IDF spokesman reported 10 "terrorists" killed, including rocket team leaders. The Palestinians report their total death toll had climbed to 121 and 900 injured.
Israel reported 750 Palestinian rockets launched in five days, with no fatalities, and 82 people injured, many of them suffering the effects of shock.
Five days after Operation Protective Edge was launched to terminate the Hams rocket offensive, it was beginning to be blunted by the fading prospect of ground action. The decision for the time being not to launch ground forces into the Gaza Strip to finish the job, by reaching the thousands of rockets concealed by Hamas and Jihad Islami underground was indicated by the news leaking out of the security and policy cabinet meeting held in Tel Aviv on Friday, July 11, and the words of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz - "We stand ready for all possible action and await nothing more than a political decision."
They reflected Netanyahu's decision to hold off on a ground incursion, so long as Iron Dome batteries shoot rockets down before they hit population centers and cause fatalities, and Israelis remain remarkably obedient to the Home Command's rules for keeping safe.
The prime minister exercised the same sort of restraint in meting out punishment to the same Hamas for abducting and murdering the three Israeli teenagers, Gil-Ad Shear, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrach, whose bodies were discovered in a Palestinian West Bank village on June 27.
In the space of weeks, therefore, the Palestinian Islamist organization has twice got away with barbaric acts of terror without having to endure the full might of Israel's armed forces.
This is consistent with the policies Netanyahu has pursued for five years.
In his televised news conference Friday, the prime minister publicly admitted for the first time the presence of al Qaeda forces around Israel's borders - to the east, in Iraq and Jordan; to the north, in Syria and Lebanon; and to the south in the Gaza Strip and Sinai.
Although, he seemed to lump Hamas in with the looming Islamist menace, Netanyahu's answers to reporters' questions turned abruptly at this point to the issue of Judea and Samaria, left open by the breakdown of the umpteenth round of Israel-Palestinian peace talks earlier this year.
He stressed that in the current circumstances, it was incumbent on Israel to retain its armed forces in the West Bank. If Hamas was permitted to move in, it would "create 20 new Gazas on the West Bank," he warned.
It may therefore be determined that the Netanyahu government has sketched in the lines of the end-game for Operation Protective Edge: Israel will abstain from a ground incursion and crushing Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip, but will claim in return international-Palestinian and pan-Arab sanction for the IDF to be assigned responsibility for the security of the Jordan Valley and Judea and Samaria.
This plan was behind Netanyahu's comment Friday that the round of conversations he held with world leaders were "good" after which he pledged that "no international pressure would prevent us from acting against a terrorist organization aspiring to destroy us," and "We will continue to defend our home front, the citizens of Israel, with resolve and prudence."
What the prime minister appeared to be driving at was this: Israel would eradicate a major portion of Hamas' military resources in Gaza but leave it in power - enfeebled and surrounded by Iron Dome batteries. IDF security control of the West Bank would be internationally accepted as the regional protector for holding al Qaeda belligerency back from swarming out of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
Netanyahu's plan provides Israel with an exit strategy from the Gaza operation, without requiring a ceasefire, which Hamas has anyway flatly refused to accept, except on ridiculously tall terms. But he will find his plan hard to sell outside Jerusalem. In any case, the events of Saturday show it is premature.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY PROPHECY WEBSITES...............................
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