Israel Fights On

Israeli cabinet resolves to continue offensive against Hamas, MDA on highest alert

On Day 5 of the Gaza operation, prime minister Ehud Olmert said: "Israel held back for years and finally decided to try a ceasefire. But it was violated by Hamas." His office said the French 48-hour truce idea was not on the table. There are others, Olmert said, but none are realistic enough to discuss. If conditions change and a solution that guarantees a better security situation in southern Israel comes up, we will reconsider. But we are not there yet.

From Wednesday night, Magen David Adom goes on highest level of preparedness in all parts of Israel in view of the widening radius of Hamas missile attacks and forecastsfor the coming weekend. For the first time in its history, MDA has enlisted hundreds of volunteers to man more than 600 ambulances, some brought out of emergency stores.

And what the heck is a proportional response in a war? Michael Totten explores that here.
Video of rocket launchers destroyed here.

IDF Uses YouTube to Get Out Info on Gaza Ops

IDF You Tube Channel on Gaza OpsIAF Strikes on Launching Tunnel, Missile Site, Weapons Depot

Ranges of Various Hamas Rockets

Gaza Ops Continue on Monday

IDF Soldiers Observe Northern Gaza

Senior terrorists and Weapons Supplies Targeted on Monday as Operation cast Lead Continues

(IsraelNN.com) The “Cast Lead” operation continued in Gaza on Monday as the IAF carried out several strikes targeting senior terrorists and Hamas weapons supplies.

On Monday evening, the IAF targeted a truck full of Grad rockets as it drove through northern Gaza. A second strike demolished a weapons warehouse in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza city.

Shortly before 5:00 p.m. Monday afternoon the IAF hit the house of senior Hamas terrorist Maher Zaquot in Beit Lahiya. Seven people were killed in the strike. Gaza media reports were conflicting, with some saying Zaquot was killed and others saying Zaquot was not among the dead, and that the casualties were bystanders.

On a side note ... Hamas Legalizes Crucifixion for Enemies of Islam just in time for Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ground Assault Ready to Go?

IDF's Merkava Tank

Israel's Crucial Gaza Invasion is Ready to Go After Three-day Air Assault

DEBKAfile's military sources report that, after being knocked sideways by three days of massive Israeli air strikes, and more than 315 dead, Hamas appeared to have recovered its bearings sufficiently to pound Israel with more than 70 Qassam missiles and two Grad Katyusha rockets Monday, Dec. 29, on Day 3 of the operation.

Its tacticians pin their hopes on the overcast, rainy conditions forecast for the rest of the week to slow Israeli air attacks, delay an incursion, and further intensify their cross-border missile onslaught.

Monday, their missile crews focused on the Israeli towns of Ashkelon, Sderot, Netivot and the Eshkol farming region just across the border. One Israeli construction worker was killed at an Ashkelon building site and 18 injured when a Grad slammed into a half-finished building.

The Palestinian terrorists are now about to again broaden the radius of their attacks by launching their new Iranian rockets against the important towns of Beersheba, Ashdod and Kiryat Gat.

The planners of the Israeli air offensive turned Monday to "second-tier" targets, such as Hamas' political offices and wings of the Islamic University in Gaza City, after its high-profile leaders went into hiding in the underground bunker network designed by an Iranian general deep under the surface of the Gaza Strip.

They can only be dug out by special forces and armored units on the ground.

The crucial battle of Gaza is therefore still to come, as indicated by Israel's deputy chief of staff Maj. Gen. Israel Harel, when he warned Monday that the hardest part of the campaign is still ahead.

Hizballah's Hassan Nasrallah told a mass rally in Beirut Monday that Hamas' most effective weapon is time; by holding out, it can wear Israel down and prevail.

He was using the 2006 Lebanon war as an analogy for the Gaza campaign. Then, a massive Israeli offensive in the first days of the war failed to break Hizballah, By sustaining the blasting of its cities, the Lebanese terrorists ultimately cancelled out Israel's gains.

He may not have realized that Israel's defense minister and chief of staff were both appointed after that debacle. Their most important guideline was to learn from its lessons.

Hamas' trouble is the lack of a conspicuous war leader. Its politburo chief Khaled Meshaal is visible but because he is based in Damascus away from the action, he does not carry much clout. The flamboyant Hizballah leader, Nasrallah, appears to have appointed himself senior strategist.

So far, this Tehran-sponsored Lebanese Shiite leader is making his mark verbally, but his repeated fiery rhetoric day after day aims at goading Iran and Syria, Hamas' avowed patrons, into intervening in the Gaza crisis to rescue Hamas, so dragging in the other Arab governments.

Israeli Commandos and U.S. Bunker Busters at Work in Gaza

GBU-28 Bunker Busters Used on Smuggling Tunnels

Israeli commandos already fighting behind Gaza lines
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Amid continuing massive air strikes and wide speculation about whether or not Israeli ground forces will cross into the Gaza Strip, DEBKAfile's military sources report small groups of Israeli special forces were already carrying out swift hit-and-run raids Sunday, Dec. 28, on Day 2 of the Israeli Gaza operation.

As Israeli bombers, gunships and drones hovered overhead, picking up every move made by Hamas fighters and their missiles, Israeli stealth squads popped up at command posts, transport routes and missile squads, hit some and then faded away behind sand dunes. This tactic sowed confusion in Hamas ranks and gave them no chance to regroup and recover from the crushing air assault to their military infrastructure. The latest Palestinian death toll is estimated at 296.

This ground operation, which is likely to intensify Sunday overnight, has two objectives:

1. To mark key targets for air bombardment;

2. To blaze the way for a large-scale armored incursion still to come.

The most important mission carried out by the Israeli Air Force Sunday was the destruction of 40 smuggling tunnels, severing Hamas' arms, fuel, ammunition and reinforcements lifeline from Iran and Syria via Egyptian Sinai. It raised the question of why this feat was not carried out during the three years since the tunnels began functioning.

Whereas Saturday, the Israeli bombers struck with missiles, Sunday, they dropped Guided Bomb Unit-28s (GBU-28) on the Philadelphi tunnels. This laser-guided, 5,000-pound conventional munition was developed for penetrating hardened Iraqi command centers located deep underground. It carries a 4,400-pound penetrating warhead.

40 Smuggling Tunnels Hit in Gaza

Israel air force pummels Hamas forces, blows up 40 Philadelphi tunnels
DEBKAfile Special Report
December 28, 2008, 6:30 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile's military sources report that Hamas kept a reserve fighting force in and around the smuggling tunnels they dug under the Philadelphi strip of border land between the Gaza Strip and Egyptian Sinai. The Israeli air force struck 40 tunnels, including bunkers packed with explosives, in this key pocket Sunday, Dec. 28, on Day 2 of the Israeli air offensive against Gaza, triggering secondary blasts and severing the link to Sinai and the Egyptian units manning the border.

This was the second major Israeli air force operation after destroying hundreds of Hamas military sites Saturday. Palestinian losses stand now at over 280 dead, most of them Hamas fighting men.

A crowd of Palestinians trying to flee the Gaza Strip were stopped by heavy machine gun fire from Egyptian forces.

To the north of the embattled enclave, a Palestinian Qassam missile exploded near the Israeli armored units massing outside the Gaza Strip border fence. No one was hurt. In the last two days, Israel has called up 6,500 reservists for the Gaza operation.

So far Sunday, 19 Qassam missiles and Grad rockets were fired from Gaza. Their radius has been extended to nearly 40 km by the new Iran-made Grad Katyushas. Two civilians were injured by one of the four which hit Ashkelon and there were several shock victims.

Chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi reported to the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that the first wave of air strikes in Gaza Saturday destroyed 50 percent of the "missile pits" which Hamas had scattered around the territory. This would explain why far less launches than expected have ensued from Israel's Gaza operation.