Israel plans to expand its military offensive in the Gaza
Strip, to try to slow or stop the arms smuggling from Egypt.
It also wants to stop the slow but steady bombardment from
Kassam rockets from northern Gaza.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stressed that the offensive would
not lead to a reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, but rather will
be focused on preventing arms smuggling through the Egypt-
Gaza border.
Israeli officials, including the prime minister, the minister
of defense, and senior intelligence officials, have been
talking for weeks about the staggering amount of military
materials that have made their way from Egypt to Gaza, and
about the need to stop it to prevent Gaza from developing a
fighting ability similar to Lebanon. The situation is
complicated in Gaza by the fact that it is widely believed
that both Hamas and Fatah are building up arms to fight each
other.
Israel has been fighting in Gaza since June, when Hamas
gunmen killed two soldiers and abducted Cpl. Gilad Shalit.
Olmert noted that IDF operations had killed some 300
Palestinians in that period, the overwhelming majority of
them fighters and terrorists.
Olmert said that he hoped to open the crossings between Gaza
and Israel as often as possible, to hasten the delivery of
supplies to the Gaza Strip and to strengthen supporters of
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Part of Olmert's plan may include beefing up Abbas's security
forces with the Jordanian-based Badr Brigades. Abbas wanted
to bring in extra forces ahead of a possible showdown with
Hamas, PA officials said last week.
Olmert joined Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in denying
reports that Egypt intended to deploy an additional 5,000
policemen to its border with Gaza.
A Kassam rocket launched by terrorists in the northern Gaza
Strip fell in an open area outside of Ashkelon on Monday, the
military said. It exploded outside a strategic site. Two more
Kassams were later fired on Monday.
Col. Motti Yogev, former Gaza Division senior reserve
commander, told The Jerusalem Post that the IDF should
reoccupy all of Gaza, or at least the northern quarter, if it
wants to stop the firing of Kassams. He said the IDF would
likely have to remain for several months.
According to Yogev, terrorists in the Gaza Strip were thought
to possess missiles a range of up to 32 kilometers, smuggled
in since disengagement last year, along with "tons of
military grade explosives and advanced shoulder-fired
missiles." Yogev, who lived in Gush Katif, and some 100
senior reserve officers and academics created the Movement
for National Responsibility last year.
In the West Bank, IDF special forces arrested a fugitive from
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine during an
operation in the Balata refugee camp outside of Nablus. It
also arrested 10 fugitives overnight Sunday in the West Bank
and Jordan Valley. Special forces entered Kalkilya and raided
a home, arresting two men, one of them a Tanzim fugitive.
Five Hamas operatives were captured in operations near
Hebron, Ramallah and in Jericho, the IDF said.
