Gaza Assault

For the fifth day, December 31, 2008 Israeli warplanes continued to pound the Gaza strip and according to Israeli leaders, it is just the start. The assault aimed to eliminate the Hamas movement and to stop firing rockets inside Israel. Up till now, Israel had killed 397 of the Palestinians and over 2000 Palestinian were injured.

Hamas continued firing rockets against the Israeli soldiers and civilians. As a result for the firing about 250 rockets from Gaza in the past four days, only four Israelis were killed and twenty four Israelis were injured.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that, the attack on Gaza still the first of several stages approved by the security cabinet. Additionally, Israel amassed tanks and thousands of troops along the Gaza border are ready for ground operations.

According to Hamas, 180 0f its members were killed, while the U.N agency in Gaza estimated that among the civilian casualties were 62 women and children. As the Islamist Hamas group said “Israel is targeting everything in Gaza”.

Palestinian analyst says “Israel is repeating the same mistake of Lebanon in Gaza and as obvious that Israel didn’t learn anything from its failure in 2006”.

Reference:

Abdallah, Sana. “Israel Continues Assault on Gaza, Death Toll Rises.”Middle East Times 30 Dec.2008.