Click refresh to see new updates during the day.
Deputy Hamashole leader Moussa Abu Marzouk told the official Egyptian news agency that an 18-month supplies and terror personnel replenishment “truce” between Hamas and Israel would be announced in a few days, and it won’t be linked to a deal on Gilad Shalit.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
4:07PM: In the IAF strike, 2 terrorists were critically injured.
4:05PM: The IAF has bombed a target, with palestinian reports of casualties.
3:12PM: Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
No. It’s just some shmendrick wearing a cape.
1:37PM: Habayit Yehudi has reportedly agreed to recommend Likud’s Binyamin Netanyahu to President Shimon Peres.
Here’s more on them:
1:28PM: Cyprus News Agency reports that the ship suspected of carrying banned material from Iran docked at Limassol port early this morning, with a number of the ship’s containers being transported to warehouses of the Cyprus National Guard under police escort.
12:20PM: The Arabic daily Al-Hayat has reported that Hamas is prepared to sign a deal next week for the release of Gilad Shalit as part of the long-term truce agreement.
Which contradicts this report from earlier today.
8:55AM: According to the Jerusalem Post, Likud is ready to meet Lieberman’s demands: pledging to push through his demands for civil unions and an eased conversion process.
In other words, we still have little idea which way the new government will go.
8:40AM: Yesterday’s entry on the IDF Spokeperson blog:
IDF Response to the Continues Rocket and Mortar Shell Fire at Israel
In response to the barrage of Qassam rockets, mortar shells, and Grad missiles fired at Israel in recent days, the Israel Air Force attacked a Hamas target in the southern Gaza Strip a short while ago.
Two Mortar Shells were launched at Israel yesterday. Over forty rockets, mortar shells, and Grad missiles were fired at Israel since the holding of fire.
The target attacked was a Hamas outpost in the southern Gaza Strip.
Do they realize how ridiculous it sounds?
8:18AM: I am not sure if any of these are official Hamas YouTube channels (there is no link to them on their website), but they’re unacceptable all the same:
And there’s a lot more such abominations.
8:08AM: A short time ago, 2 more Qassams landed near Sderot.
7:20AM: Another Qassam rocket to start off the day.
7:18AM: Ha’aretz reports that Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, Syrian President Bashar “Dorktator”Assad and that angry Turkish PM held a 3-way phone conversation for hours.
6:13AM: Guess what Hamas did with some of the humanitarian aid they stole?
Medicine bottles, transferred to the Gaza Strip as humanitarian aid by Israel, were used by Hamas as grenades against IDF troops during Operation Cast Lead.
The medicine bottles were manufactured by the Jerusalem Pharmaceutical Company, which is based in el-Bireh, a town adjacent to Ramallah, and the global pharmaceutical company Shire.
The medicine bottles were filled with explosives, holes were drilled in the caps, and fuses were installed. Once Hamas fighters lit the fuses, they had several seconds to throw the grenades at soldiers. The IDF also found small explosive devices that used medical syringes to hold their fuses.
The medical grenades were discovered in northern Gaza by troops during last month’s three-week battle against Hamas. The grenades were taken to military explosives experts, and then disassembled and studied.
One bottle turned into a grenade originally contained a drug called Equetro, which is used by people who suffer from episodes associated with bipolar disorder. Another bottle had contained a vitamin supplement called Super-Vit.
“This is another example of Hamas’s cynical use of humanitarian supplies to attack Israel,” a Defense Ministry official said Thursday. “Israel facilitates the transfer of the supplies to the Gaza Strip, and Hamas uses the supplies to create weapons.”
6:00AM: Disturbing (yet somehow predictable) video of Former Lebanese MP Ghassan Matar sprouting off about his happiness when US soldiers are killed, and assorted anti-Semitic thoughts.
Check out how the television hosts in these clips are nodding their pretty heads while he says these things.
