Report: “Israel To Carry Out Specified Attacks Against Gaza”

Tuesday March 01, 2011 18:43 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli Radio reported, Monday, that the Israeli Army intends to carry out specified and targeted attacks against certain areas in the Gaza Strip without conducting a direct confrontation or ground invasions at the current stage.

File - Palestinian Car bombarded in Gaza - alhak.org

The Radio said that the attacks will include targeting resistance groups, weapon storage facilities, the siege-busting tunnels in Rafah, and some measures that would limit the transfer of money into Gaza.

Also, officials in Tel Aviv contacted the Egyptian side informing them the some strikes might target locations across the border between Gaza and Egypt, adding that “Israel is concerned about what is happening across the border following the latest protests in Egypt that toppled the regime of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

The officials said that Israel will not allow any threat to its security, even if this issue would lead to a massive invasion into the Gaza Strip especially after Grad missiles were reportedly fired last week from Gaza into Nativot and Be’er Sheva.

On Saturday, Israeli sources reported that the Israeli Air Force fired, on Thursday, a missile at a Palestinian car in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and claimed that the car carried a bag loaded with money that was on its way to Hamas movement.

The bag was reportedly smuggled into Gaza via one of the siege-busting tunnels in Rafah. Israeli Radio reported that the car was targeted after a grad missile was fired into Be’er Sheva.

Israel claims that some armed groups in Gaza, especially groups affiliated with the Hamas movement, received military training in other countries, mainly in Iran, and that these groups are trying to test the power of the Israeli army amidst the current changes in the Arab world, and the collapse of Arab regimes that had open or discrete relations with Israel.

Israel fears that the protests in some Arab countries could spread across the entire Arab world, and would eventually lead to Arab leaderships that are more supportive of the Palestinians and their cause.

gaza strip | israeli politics | news report saed at imemc dot org