Israel kills rocket leader, cuts Gaza in half

Jerusalem Post:

Senior Hamas terrorist Hussam Hamdan, who was in charge of Grad-type rocket launches into Beersheba and Ofakim, was killed in an IAF strike on Khan Yunis on Sunday afternoon.

Another senior Hamas terrorist, Muhammad Hilo, was also killed in the same airstrike. Hilo was in charge of the Hamas special forces in Khan Yunis.

Meanwhile, the IDF divided the Gaza Strip into two segments, in a move apparently aimed at cutting off the flow of arms, supplies and fighters to the northern Strip, as tanks were seen in the area of former Israeli settlement Netzarim and troops reportedly reached the outskirts of Gaza City.

Eye witnesses told Arab media that IDF tanks and bulldozers were seen in the area between Gaza City and Netzarim.

The British Sky News channel also reported that some 150 IDF tanks had arrived in the Netzarim area.

Dozens of Hamas gunmen have been killed by IDF troops. Gaza health officials said around 20 civilians had also died in airstrikes and shelling, including a 12-year-old girl, five members of the same family, and another eight civilians killed by a tank shell in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. The new deaths brought the death toll in the Gaza Strip since last Saturday to more than 500.

Residents of the small northern Gaza community of al-Attatra said soldiers moved from house to house by blowing holes through walls. Most of the houses were unoccupied, their residents already having fled.

Three IDF soldiers were lightly wounded on Sunday afternoon in clashes with Hamas gunmen, bringing the total number of IDF casualties to 33.

On Saturday night, 30 IDF soldiers were wounded in clashes with Palestinian gunmen, encountering fierce resistance from Hamas forces entrenched in fortifications just over the border.

...

The IAF bombed some 45 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, including seven tunnels, several mortar firing cells and Kassam rocket launching cells.

IDF sources said that the immediate goal was to conquer territory in northern Gaza, including rocket launch sites. Soldiers from the Armored Corps, Engineering Corps, and Paratroopers, Givati, Golani brigades were participating in the fighting, with at least four brigades' worth of troops inside the Gaza Strip.

The sources said that a majority of the rockets fired into Beersheba and Ashdod were launched from the northern Gaza Strip.

One of the major aims of the operation was also to deliver a serious blow to the Hamas military wing, which the IDF estimated had not been severely weakened under the air campaign.

The IDF would not enter Gaza City or the refugee camps, defense officials said, and it was likely that on Monday - when French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in the region and international pressure is expected to escalate - Israel would begin scaling back the operation.

...

The IAF bombed some 45 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, including seven tunnels, several mortar firing cells and Kassam rocket launching cells.

IDF sources said that the immediate goal was to conquer territory in northern Gaza, including rocket launch sites. Soldiers from the Armored Corps, Engineering Corps, and Paratroopers, Givati, Golani brigades were participating in the fighting, with at least four brigades' worth of troops inside the Gaza Strip.

The sources said that a majority of the rockets fired into Beersheba and Ashdod were launched from the northern Gaza Strip.

One of the major aims of the operation was also to deliver a serious blow to the Hamas military wing, which the IDF estimated had not been severely weakened under the air campaign.

The IDF would not enter Gaza City or the refugee camps, defense officials said, and it was likely that on Monday - when French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in the region and international pressure is expected to escalate - Israel would begin scaling back the operation.

...

The story gives a fair idea of the combat situation in Gaza. It is interesting how the Israeli media uses reports from foreign media to get around the internal censorship. After all, if the Arab media is reporting on the troop movements, they clearly are no longer secret.

It does appear that the Hamas death cult had set up some defensive positions along the border with Israel and inflicted a few wounds to the IDF forces as they broke through. Otherwise they were unsuccessful in impeding their progress into Gaza. It also appears that in some areas the IDF captured many of the noncombatants had already left.

Israel also appears to be collapsing the rocket tunnels through aerial bombardment at this time. The IDF appears to be prepared to occupy the rocket launch sites until some resolution is at hand on stopping the rocket attacks.

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