Ashkenazi: “Next Battle Likely In Gaza”

Wednesday November 04, 2009 02:30 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli Army Chief of Staff - Gabi Ashkenazi - Image Wikipedia

Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, stated Tuesday that he believes a new war in Gaza is nearing, and that the army is readying to target Qassam launching pads, located in densely populating areas in the Gaza Strip.

He said that the army could be fighting in cities, mosques, hospitals, schools and even kindergartens and added that "the enemies want to force us to fight this way".

His statements came during a graduation ceremony for army cadets, and were aired by the Israeli Radio.

Meanwhile, the Hamas movement in Gaza said that the Israeli statements regarding Hamas’ successful tests on news “missiles’ clearly prove that Israel is trying to divert world attention from the Goldstone report.

Fawzi Barhoum, spokesperson of Hamas, said that the statements of Ashkenazi were made in an attempt to justify war crimes against humanity in
Gaza, and could as well be meant to justify future crimes.

Israeli Military Intelligence Chief, Amos Yedlin, claimed that Hamas is trying to obtain more weapons and missiles, and that it successfully tested an Iranian missile that could hit Tel Aviv, 60 kilometers (27.28 Miles) away.

He added that during the war on Gaza earlier this year, Hamas fighters fired shells that managed to hit targets 45 kilometers (27.9 Miles) away.

Yedlin also claimed Hamas obtained Iranian missiles, similar to those obtained by Hezbollah, and that the missiles were likely smuggled through the tunnels.

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