Israeli forces gather along Gaza border

[Delphinium]

Let's pray they can recover their soldier, clean up the nests of terrorists and restore calm.

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -
Israel massed tanks and troops along Gaza's northern border early Monday, firing artillery and unleashing more airstrikes in a show of force after the prime minister ordered his army to "do all it can" to free an abducted soldier.

At daybreak Monday, a small force of Israeli tanks entered northern Gaza, but the military said it was a "limited" mission to find explosives and tunnels near the border fence.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's warning signaled the government was losing patience with diplomatic efforts to end the week-old crisis over the captive soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, and was preparing for a possible escalation of its military offensive.

However, political and security officials said that Israeli military and political leaders have not ruled out swapping 19-year-old Shalit for Palestinian prisoners who weren't involved in hostile activity against Israel, though they didn't think a deal was near. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing private conversations.

Publicly, Israel has refused to discuss the captive with Palestinian militants and rejected their demand to release some of the 9,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Israeli aircraft went back into action early Monday, hitting several targets around the
Gaza Strip including a building in Gaza City where the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades has an office, Palestinians and the military said. Al Aqsa is a violent offshoot of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas'
Fatah movement.

A missile struck the second floor of the two-story building, setting it on fire. No one was in the office at the time of the attack, after midnight. A family living on the first floor escaped harm. Other areas hit in the airstrikes included a building in northern Gaza and empty fields.

Israel also shelled northern Gaza early Monday, slightly wounding one person in a house on the outskirts of the town of Beit Hanoun, Palestinians said. The military confirmed artillery was fired in the area.

Shelling from the sea, Israeli navy ships aimed at a beachfront Hamas camp but missed, Palestinian security officials said.

Israeli aircraft, gunboats and artillery have pounded Gaza since troops and tanks took up positions in the south of the coastal strip on Wednesday. The operation is aimed at pressuring Palestinians to free Shalit. Five Palestinian fighters had been reported killed, four of them on Sunday.

Israel has been massing forces across from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Olmert called off a planned invasion late last week, but there were signs that the military was ready to roll again.

Hamas-affiliated militants holding Shalit have offered to give Israel information about him in exchange for the release of hundreds of prisoners in Israeli jails, a deal Israel rejects.

"These are difficult days for Israel, but we have no intention of giving in to any form of blackmailing," Olmert said Sunday. "Everyone understands that giving in to terror today means an invitation to the next act of terrorism, and we will not act that way."

Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice called Olmert Sunday to discuss the situation, Olmert's office said in a statement. He told Rice Israel would use all means at its disposal to get Shalit released and said there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Palestinian officials had warned Saturday that a shortage of fuel threatened to shut down generators used to pump water and power hospitals.

Israel reopened the main cargo crossing with Gaza to allow 50 trucks of food, medical supplies and fuel into Gaza from Israel, Israeli officials said. Trucks carrying diesel fuel, gasoline and natural gas also began entering northeastern Gaza through the Nahal Oz border crossing.

"I take personal responsibility for what is happening in Gaza. I want nobody to sleep at night in Gaza. I want them to know what its like," Olmert told his Cabinet. "People are saying it's uncomfortable. It will be uncomfortable, (but) nobody dies from being uncomfortable."

Olmert told the Cabinet he had instructed the military to "do all it can" to get Shalit back safely, but added that the offensive would end immediately if he was released, according to a meeting participant who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Last week, Israel arrested eight Cabinet ministers in the Hamas-led Palestinian government and dozens of other Hamas lawmakers in the
West Bank.

Olmert indicated to the Cabinet that more such arrests may be coming in Gaza, Hamas' power base where many of its leaders including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, live.

Egypt has been working to broker a compromise to free the soldier and end the standoff, but negotiations were complicated by confusion over who was in charge of Shalit's fate.

The Palestinian government, led by the Islamic militants of Hamas since January elections, said it had no contact with the kidnappers. Israel assumes Shalit's captors answer to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who lives in
Syria, but the group's foreign leadership denied having any authority over the matter.

"We have no contact with those holding the prisoner," said Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas leader based in Lebanon.

Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak was trying to enlist Syrian President Bashar Assad's help to persuade Hamas leaders to free Shalit, while Egypt's intelligence chief was talking with Mashaal directly, an Egyptian official said. But Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Sunday that Syria has not acted to help free the soldier.

Raising the stakes, Israeli aircraft launched two missiles into the Palestinian prime minister's empty office building before dawn Sunday, damaging offices and leaving parts of the building smoldering.

Abbas, a rival of Haniyeh's from the moderate Fatah Party, surveyed the damage with Haniyeh and called the attack "a dirty, criminal act."

The strike, which came after Israel destroyed the interior minister's office, was a clear signal no one was immune.

"I remain very concerned about the need to preserve Palestinian institutions and infrastructure," U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said Sunday. "They will be the basis for an eventual two-state solution and are thus in the interests of both Israel and the Palestinians. It would therefore seem inadvisable to carry out actions that will have the opposite effect."

Hamas militants said they would retaliate if Israel continued attacking Palestinian institutions. Hamas is responsible for dozens of deadly suicide bombings in Israel.

An airstrike Sunday hit a school in Gaza City and Hamas facilities in northern Gaza, where a Hamas militant became the second Palestinian fatality since the offensive started, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said the militant was "planning terror attacks against Israel."

In other violence Sunday, Israeli artillery pounded open areas near the southern town of Khan Younis. Israeli troops shot dead three armed Palestinians near the long-closed Gaza airport, two of them carrying explosive belts, the military said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060703/...l_palestinians

[Grimmlok]

Let's pray they all grow the fuck up, amicably devide the land, stop blowing each other up and oppressing people, and move on with their lives.

[Delphinium]

i have a feeling things are going to go worse there today. I'm waiting for updated news coverage.

[Karizma]

Let's pray they can recover their soldier, clean up the nests of terrorists and restore calm.

As long as their territories are occuiped; IDF keeps with its indiscriminate taregtting of civilians; and 9,000 of their people including women and children are in prison then Israel will never get rid of those resistors. However and although they kidnapped a soldier, not a civlian, i hope they will release him. I hope Israel will release those children and women in their prisons. As Grimm said BOTH need to stop acting like children and be for once productive.