Gaza Turns Into a Quagmire for Zionists
AL-QUDS (Dispatches) -- For almost two weeks, the occupying regime of Israel practically bristled with confidence and pride: The Iron Dome air defense system was dependably zapping incoming Hamas rockets from the skies, the military was successfully repelling infiltration attempts on the ground and from the sea, and the conflict with Hamas was causing almost no casualties in Occupied Territories.
That has changed in what seems like a flash, after at least 27 soldiers were killed and scores injured — a predictable yet still stunning outcome of the fateful decision, announced late Thursday, to send troops and tanks by land into Gaza.
In a place where military service is mandatory for most citizens, and military losses are considered every bit as tragic as civilian ones, the reaction to the setbacks was electric. Newspapers and broadcasts have been dominated by images and tales of the fallen — mostly young faces barely out of high school — and interviews with parents concerned for offspring so clearly now imperiled.
Angst over the highest military toll since the 2006 Lebanon war now generated the sinking feeling that a quagmire is at hand.
"It's ugly and it's no walk in the park," said Alon Geller, a 42-year-old legal intern from central Occupied Palestine.
The Haaretz newspaper warned against mission creep and the "wholesale killing" of Palestinian civilians. "The soft Gaza sand ... could turn into quicksand," it said in its editorial Monday. "There can be no victory here. ... Israel must limit its time in the Strip."
There was always near-consensus among the Zionists for the airstrikes aimed at ending the rocket fire, which they considered unreasonable and outrageous. The Palestinian fatalities caused by the airstrikes — over 620 in two weeks, many of them civilians — are generally blamed here on Hamas at every turn.
The death toll included nearly 100 children and many other civilians, Gaza health officials said.
But a ground invasion of Gaza is another story, and the regime had clearly hesitated to take the risk. House-to-house fighting, tanks exposed in fields, the danger of a soldier being kidnapped, to be traded for thousands after years in captivity: It is an untidy and dispiriting affair.
The regime felt it necessary to take such a risky step because despite all the damage being inflicted on Gaza by the airstrikes, the Hamas rocket fire simply did not stop.
Complicating the situation from the occupying regime's perspective, Hamas does not seem to be coming under significant pressure from the people of Gaza despite the devastation they are enduring. This seems to reflect genuine support for Hamas' aim of breaking the blockade imposed by the occupying regime of Israel and Egypt on the strip.
Netanyahu is probably mindful that the popularity tipping point for his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, came when the public concluded too many soldiers were being killed and that the military was not fully prepared during the 2006 war.
But, Netanyahu's nightmare realized on Tuesday as the regime admitted that an Israeli soldier is missing following a deadly battle in the Gaza Strip and presumed dead.
Tel Aviv had initially denied it after Hamas said it had captured a Zionist soldier.
In the past, the occupying regime has paid a heavy price in lopsided prisoner swaps to retrieve captured soldiers or remains held by its enemies.
Military officials said the soldier, identified as Sgt. Oron Shaul, was among seven soldiers in a vehicle that was hit by an anti-tank missile in a battle in Gaza over the weekend. The other six have been confirmed as dead, but no remains have been identified as Shaul, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident with media.
Overnight, the Israeli military said it bombed more than 180 targets in Gaza. Gaza police spokesman Ayman Batniji said mosques, a sports complex and the home of a former Hamas military chief also were hit.
Since the war began Israel has struck almost 3,000 sites in Gaza, the military said.
Airstrikes in Gaza set off huge explosions that turned the night sky over Gaza City orange early Tuesday. The sound of the blasts mixed with the thud of shelling, often just seconds apart, and the pre-dawn call to prayer from mosque loudspeakers.
Tank shells damaged several houses along the eastern border of the territory, Batniji said. At least 19 fishing boats were burned by Zionist navy shells fired from the Mediterranean Sea, he added.
Officials also said that six Palestinians with German citizenship were among the people killed when an airstrike caused a Gaza high-rise apartment building to partially collapse on Monday.
Saleh Kelani, 49, said his brother Ibrahim Kelani, 53, his wife Taghreed and their five children ages 4 to 12, were killed. Saleh Kelani said his brother and the five children had German citizenship while the wife did not.
He said his brother lived in Germany for 20 years. Standing outside the morgue of Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, Saleh Kelani said he was waiting for condemnation of Israel's actions by the international community, particularly Germany.
"Where is Germany?" he asked, fighting back tears. "When one Israeli is killed all the world talks about it. But six with German nationality? Nothing is happening."
The Zionist regime pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, as it its allies in the West rushed in the region to negotiate a ceasefire.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held discussions in neighboring Egypt, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon flew to Occupied Palestine to see Netanyahu and meet on with the Palestinian prime minister in the occupied West Bank.
However, there was no let-up in the fighting around Gaza, with plumes of black smoke spiraling into the sky, and Israeli shells raining down on the coastal Palestinian enclave.
Hamas and its allies fired more rockets into Occupied Territories, triggering sirens in Tel Aviv. One hit a town on the fringes of Ben-Gurion International Airport, lightly injuring two people, officials said.
Officials said Kerry might travel to Qatar, a Persian Gulf state which has relatively close ties to Hamas and hosts its leader, Khaled Meshaal.
With Israeli shells and bombs hitting Gaza day and night, thousands of people have fled districts close to the fence. The main UN agency in Gaza, UNWRA, said almost 102,000 people had taken shelter in 69 of its schools.
Hamas has said it will not cease its attacks until its demands are met, including that Israel and Egypt lift their blockade of Gaza and its 1.8 million people, and that the Zionist regime release several hundred Palestinians detained during a search last month.
"The world must understand that Gaza has decided to end the blockade by its blood and its heroism," deputy Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised address on Monday.
The border blockade has set Gaza back years, wiping out tens of thousands of jobs through bans on most exports and on imports of vital construction materials.
In a place where military service is mandatory for most citizens, and military losses are considered every bit as tragic as civilian ones, the reaction to the setbacks was electric. Newspapers and broadcasts have been dominated by images and tales of the fallen — mostly young faces barely out of high school — and interviews with parents concerned for offspring so clearly now imperiled.
Angst over the highest military toll since the 2006 Lebanon war now generated the sinking feeling that a quagmire is at hand.
"It's ugly and it's no walk in the park," said Alon Geller, a 42-year-old legal intern from central Occupied Palestine.
The Haaretz newspaper warned against mission creep and the "wholesale killing" of Palestinian civilians. "The soft Gaza sand ... could turn into quicksand," it said in its editorial Monday. "There can be no victory here. ... Israel must limit its time in the Strip."
There was always near-consensus among the Zionists for the airstrikes aimed at ending the rocket fire, which they considered unreasonable and outrageous. The Palestinian fatalities caused by the airstrikes — over 620 in two weeks, many of them civilians — are generally blamed here on Hamas at every turn.
The death toll included nearly 100 children and many other civilians, Gaza health officials said.
But a ground invasion of Gaza is another story, and the regime had clearly hesitated to take the risk. House-to-house fighting, tanks exposed in fields, the danger of a soldier being kidnapped, to be traded for thousands after years in captivity: It is an untidy and dispiriting affair.
The regime felt it necessary to take such a risky step because despite all the damage being inflicted on Gaza by the airstrikes, the Hamas rocket fire simply did not stop.
Complicating the situation from the occupying regime's perspective, Hamas does not seem to be coming under significant pressure from the people of Gaza despite the devastation they are enduring. This seems to reflect genuine support for Hamas' aim of breaking the blockade imposed by the occupying regime of Israel and Egypt on the strip.
Netanyahu is probably mindful that the popularity tipping point for his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, came when the public concluded too many soldiers were being killed and that the military was not fully prepared during the 2006 war.
But, Netanyahu's nightmare realized on Tuesday as the regime admitted that an Israeli soldier is missing following a deadly battle in the Gaza Strip and presumed dead.
Tel Aviv had initially denied it after Hamas said it had captured a Zionist soldier.
In the past, the occupying regime has paid a heavy price in lopsided prisoner swaps to retrieve captured soldiers or remains held by its enemies.
Military officials said the soldier, identified as Sgt. Oron Shaul, was among seven soldiers in a vehicle that was hit by an anti-tank missile in a battle in Gaza over the weekend. The other six have been confirmed as dead, but no remains have been identified as Shaul, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident with media.
Overnight, the Israeli military said it bombed more than 180 targets in Gaza. Gaza police spokesman Ayman Batniji said mosques, a sports complex and the home of a former Hamas military chief also were hit.
Since the war began Israel has struck almost 3,000 sites in Gaza, the military said.
Airstrikes in Gaza set off huge explosions that turned the night sky over Gaza City orange early Tuesday. The sound of the blasts mixed with the thud of shelling, often just seconds apart, and the pre-dawn call to prayer from mosque loudspeakers.
Tank shells damaged several houses along the eastern border of the territory, Batniji said. At least 19 fishing boats were burned by Zionist navy shells fired from the Mediterranean Sea, he added.
Officials also said that six Palestinians with German citizenship were among the people killed when an airstrike caused a Gaza high-rise apartment building to partially collapse on Monday.
Saleh Kelani, 49, said his brother Ibrahim Kelani, 53, his wife Taghreed and their five children ages 4 to 12, were killed. Saleh Kelani said his brother and the five children had German citizenship while the wife did not.
He said his brother lived in Germany for 20 years. Standing outside the morgue of Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, Saleh Kelani said he was waiting for condemnation of Israel's actions by the international community, particularly Germany.
"Where is Germany?" he asked, fighting back tears. "When one Israeli is killed all the world talks about it. But six with German nationality? Nothing is happening."
The Zionist regime pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, as it its allies in the West rushed in the region to negotiate a ceasefire.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held discussions in neighboring Egypt, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon flew to Occupied Palestine to see Netanyahu and meet on with the Palestinian prime minister in the occupied West Bank.
However, there was no let-up in the fighting around Gaza, with plumes of black smoke spiraling into the sky, and Israeli shells raining down on the coastal Palestinian enclave.
Hamas and its allies fired more rockets into Occupied Territories, triggering sirens in Tel Aviv. One hit a town on the fringes of Ben-Gurion International Airport, lightly injuring two people, officials said.
Officials said Kerry might travel to Qatar, a Persian Gulf state which has relatively close ties to Hamas and hosts its leader, Khaled Meshaal.
With Israeli shells and bombs hitting Gaza day and night, thousands of people have fled districts close to the fence. The main UN agency in Gaza, UNWRA, said almost 102,000 people had taken shelter in 69 of its schools.
Hamas has said it will not cease its attacks until its demands are met, including that Israel and Egypt lift their blockade of Gaza and its 1.8 million people, and that the Zionist regime release several hundred Palestinians detained during a search last month.
"The world must understand that Gaza has decided to end the blockade by its blood and its heroism," deputy Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised address on Monday.
The border blockade has set Gaza back years, wiping out tens of thousands of jobs through bans on most exports and on imports of vital construction materials.