Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Senior PA Terrorists Killed in IAF Targeted Airstrikes

Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

IDF airstrikes in Gaza took out ten Palestinian Authority terrorists Monday night and Tuesday morning, including two senior Islamic Jihad leaders.

Majed Al-Harazin, among the terrorists killed in the first of three Israel Air Force attacks, was the commander of Islamic Jihad terrorist units throughout Gaza. Wanted by Israeli security services for many years, he was responsible for multiple attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, including rocket attacks and attempted suicide bombings. Harazin's group said it carried out the rocket attack on Kibbutz Zikkim Sunday afternoon that wounded an Israeli toddler and sent his mother and six others into psychological shock.

PA residents said that weapons dealer Khalil Masarai and a third terrorist were also killed in the first strike. The three were reportedly hit by an Israeli missile as they drove through the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City in a car full of explosives. Seven PA residents who were in proximity to the targeted vehicle were injured; three of them seriously.

After the airstrike, Hamas officials warned civilians to stay away from the car in case of further explosions, but a large group ignored the warning and gathered around the demolished vehicle.

IDF sources confirmed a second airstrike in Gaza later the same night. The second attack killed Karim Dahduh, the head of Islamic Jihad's rocket production, along with three others. Several terrorists were wounded. A third airstrike in northern Gaza on Tuesday morning killed three more Islamic Jihad terrorists.
Among the terrorists killed in the first of three Israel Air Force attacks was the commander of Islamic Jihad terrorist units throughout Gaza.

Spokesmen for Islamic Jihad confirmed that Harazin and Dahduh had been killed. Hundreds of PA residents fired into the air after the attacks, while others gathered at the morgue and pledged revenge. "The blood of our comrades will be the fuel for the rockets that will bring death and destruction to the Zionists," a terrorist spokesman said.

In related counter-terrorism activity overnight, security forces apprehended eleven wanted terrorists in Judea and Samaria. The wanted men were captured in Beit Oula, northwest of Hevron, Beit Oumar, southwest of Bethlehem, Kawat Bani Hassan, southeast of Kalkilya, Ba-Tira, west of Ramallah, Bituniya, west of Ramallah, and in Hevron. The terrorists were transferred to interrogators for questioning.

Enemy Attacks Continue
Even after IDF forces carried out counter-terrorism operations on Monday, enemy attackers in Gaza launched a barrage of at least eight rockets and mortar shells at the northern Negev. No injuries were reported, but damage to property was caused in the multiple bombings.

One PA mortar shell targeted soldiers near the Kissufim Crossing, while gunmen opened fire on an IDF patrol in the area. No soldiers were wounded in the attacks. PA terrorists often attack the civilian crossings between Gaza and the Negev region, leading the IDF to keep many of them closed when possible.

In a separate attack, IDF soldiers were targeted by enemy gunfire in Kabatiya, south of Jenin, overnight. There were no injuries. Soldiers returned fire at the source of the fire.

Prime Minister Olmert Authorized Escalation
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed Sunday night to escalate military operations against PA terrorist targets in Gaza in response to the ongoing Kassam rocket and mortar attacks on the western Negev. The decision followed Sunday's injurious rocket attack on Kibbutz Zikkim, according to security establishment sources.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak paid a visit to rocket-battered Sderot earlier in the day on Monday, where he faced harsh criticism over the current situation in the Negev city. Barak told residents that he would continue efforts to provide protective shielding for Sderot's residential buildings, as well as simultaneously ordering counter-terrorism
Ehud Barak paid a visit to rocket-battered Sderot earlier in the day.
operations in PA-controlled Gaza.

'Everything Should be Turned to Rubble'
Former IDF Northern Commander Major-General (res.) Yossi Peled, a prominent member of the Likud party, told Arutz-7 Radio Monday that he believes the IDF should carry out massive retaliatory shelling of any point from which PA terrorists launch rockets at Jewish towns. Borrowing a phrase from Jewish tradition regarding charity, "the poor of your city take precedence," Peled said: "Any place that endangers residents of Israel, even if it is a schoolyard - and they do fire from schools, as well - should be given 24 hours for residents to evacuate, after which everything should be turned to rubble for a square kilometer in every direction."

Peled added that delaying operations such as he suggests, as well as ground operations in Gaza, will only increase the threat to the Israeli home front. Restraint, he explained, will lead to the shelling further north into Israel, of Kiryat Gat and its environs. Peled also called for cutting power supplies to Gaza, saying that the continued flow of electricity to Gaza from the same power plant currently under threat of PA Kassam rocket attack is an act worthy of a "fiction novel."
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