The daily ritual of being host to Qassam rockets has already started, with 3
being fired at Israel this morning. This brings the tally for the past 2 weeks to almost 250.
Of course, Hamas
say they will stop firing them at us if we accept a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and halt our attacks on Hamas. By
ceasefire, they mean a temporary period in which they replenish and rearm, and by Israel’s
attacks, they mean the actions we initiated only after Hamas and other assorted terror groups fired barrage after barrage of Qassams at civilian areas. And if that didn’t make sense, then you probably understood it correctly.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Olmert apparently
listened to those who know more than he does (unlike during the Second Lebanon War), and decided to continue pinpoint attacks against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, adding that our operations in the Gaza Strip are not contingent on the behavior of the terrorist organizations. On that note, the IAF
launched a number of strikes overnight, IDF soldiers
reportedly shot and critically wounded 2 Hamas gunmen who had shot mortars toward Israel, as well as
nabbed 8 wanted palestinian terror suspects (including 4 Hamasholes) in raids across the West Bank overnight.
In other news, the Education Ministry
rejected a request from Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal to end the school year in the town immediately, Israel
transferred an 8-day-old palestinian baby with a heart defect from Gaza to Tel Hashomer, and the Labor primaries
are underway, with former PM Ehud Barak telling voters he is the best candidate to lead Israel during war.
11:30PM: According to
palestinian sources in Gaza, the IAF has attacked a Hamas outpost in Beit Lahiya, as well as a building in Beit Hanoun.
11:16PM: Be sure to check out Backspin’s Sderot Stories You Might Have Missed.
9:30PM: Let’s check up on the Labor primaries for a minute….you know what they say: two Jews, three opinions. Well, according to Ha’aretz:
Exit polls by two of Israel’s major television channels predicted different outcomes in the Labor Party leadership primary Monday, with Channel 1 giving former prime minister Ehud Barak a narrow lead over main rival Ami Ayalon, and Channel 2 saying that Ayalon had forged far ahead of Barak.
Ok, so it’s more like:
two channels, two opinions, but you get the point.
7:40PM: Khaled Shawish, a senior terrorist with the (Fatah-affiliated) al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, has been arrested in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation in Ramallah. Shawish was behind the shootting attack that killed Rabbi Binyamin Ze’ev Kahane (son of Rabbi Meir Kahane), and his wife Talia in 2002, as well as dozens of other attacks that left a total of 5 Israelis dead and dozens wounded.
7:33PM: Ynetnews reports that at today’s funeral for Oshri Oz, the 36-year-old Israeli who was killed in yesterday’s Qassam attack on Sderot, his pregnant widow collapsed and was treated by paramedics. When the procession began, she insisted on walking behind the stretcher carrying her husband‚Äôs body, despite pleas that she board an ambulance.
7:30PM: Today’s Qassam tally now stands at 11, including 2 that landed in a kibbutz wheat field and caused a fire, and one that wounded a man.
3:55PM: Let’s
check up on the Hamas-Fatah ceasefire, which, last time we looked, was not going so well.
Hamas gunmen opened fire at a jeep carrying members of the Palestinian Presidential Guard in the Gaza strip. The car sustained damage.
Following the incident, sporadic clashes between Fatah and Hamas were renewed.
They can’t even keep a ceasefire amongst themselves; no wonder they can never keep one with Israel.
1:18PM: A Qassam has
landed near Sderot, with no injuries being reported.
10:30AM: Ynetnews
reports that a group of female soldiers standing next to where the Qassam rocket fell in Sderot have suffered shock.
10:00AM: This morning’s tally of Qassams is
now at least 7. Ha’aretz reports that one of them struck the local cemetery and another landed in the area of horse stables. There was no immediate word on any injuries or damage, nor any condemnation from
PETA.
The daily ritual of being host to Qassam rockets has already started, with 3 being fired at Israel this morning. This brings the tally for the past 2 weeks to almost 250.
