Breaking News: Israel invades northern gaza

[The Vegan Marxist]

***** BREAKING NEWS *****

Israeli troops have now invaded northern Gaza, and are currently going from house to house. The sky is buzzing with armed Drones who have been in the air for hours, accompanied by Apache helicopters. The situation in Gaza is very tense, and the people are fearing the worst tonight. (Gaza TV News (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gaza-TV-News/119275738102852))

‎"F16 attacked have now been reported in Gaza. Several loud explosions have rocked the Rafah area in the past 10 minutes. Appache helicopters are also in the sky over Gaza City."

[RATM-Eubie]

Jesus! Why Israel? Whats the reasoning this time?

[PhoenixAsh]

Bus bomb was the direct reason. But Israelies don't need a reason...they need an excuse.

[The Vegan Marxist]

Bus bomb was the direct reason. But Israelies don't need a reason...they need an excuse.

Which has no evidence that the Palestinians were behind:


"There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but authorities blamed Palestinian militants and threatened harsh retaliation."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110323/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

Though, what the mainstream press fails to even mention is how Israeli's were terrorizing the Palestinian village Awarta, where villagers were kidnapped, tortured, and being starved to death.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11861.shtml

[PhoenixAsh]

Al Jazeera was interviewing some Israeli expert today and they are constantly trying to say that there was no culprit and that it may just as well have been a lone crazy Israeli....which also happened a few months back.

The Israeli expert however stated that there was nu further investigation needed because it was obvious that the Palestinians did this because of the rockets that are being fired.

It was surreal

[gorillafuck]

Which has no evidence that the Palestinians were behind:To be honest, the bus bomb probably was from Palestinian militants. Unless it was a false flag operation, but that seems doubtful.

Anyway, this is terrible. Is this to the same scale to the invasion that happened a couple years ago? I really hope not, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is.:(

[Die Rote Fahne]

Israel is jumping on the distraction that is Libya to exercise more imperialist oppression of the Palestinians.

[PhoenixAsh]

Hamas reports bombings but not invasion (yet??)

[The Vegan Marxist]

To be honest, the bus bomb probably was from Palestinian militants. Unless it was a false flag operation, but that seems doubtful.


The Haaretz actually did an article on this, where they show, or at least try showing, that it's quite unlikely that the Palestinians were behind the attack:


Hamas unlikely to be behind Jerusalem bombing
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff
March 24, 2011

Is there a direct connection among the recent string of security incidents - the murder in Itamar, the escalation around the Gaza Strip, the Grad rockets on Be'er Sheva and the terror attack in Jerusalem? That was one of the questions occupying defense and government officials on Wednesday.

At this point, the answer is still unclear.

In any case, the bombing in Jerusalem cut short a period of almost three years of calm in the capital. It is a significant turn for the worse for the city, which managed only with great difficulty to extricate itself from the second intifada.

The perpetrators of Wednesday's bombing in the capital apparently took advantage of changes in Israel's security deployment in the West Bank and Jerusalem, which stemmed from the prolonged quiet. Security checks at the separation fence, at checkpoints and in city centers have become much less thorough, while the Israel Defense Forces presence in the West Bank has been pared down.

Moreover, since the old terror networks have mostly been dismantled, the Palestinian Authority has been making most of the arrests, so Israeli intelligence operatives have less daily contact with the field.

Wednesday's bombing in Jerusalem was limited in scope. A suicide bomber was not involved, and the bomb was relatively small. The pattern is different than the one Hamas used during previous waves of terror.

The bombing may have been a local initiative. As of last night, no terrorist group had claimed responsibility for it or even praised the perpetrators.

Despite the escalation, Hamas does not seem to want large-scale clashes yet. The organization actually has good reasons to believe that Israel is the one heating up the southern front. It began with a bombardment a few weeks ago that disrupted the transfer of a large amount of money from Egypt to the Gaza Strip, continued with the interrogation of engineer and Hamas member Dirar Abu Sisi in Israel, and ended with last week's bombing of a Hamas training base in which two Hamas militants were killed.

It is noteworthy that Hamas has not fired at Israel over the past two days, even after four Palestinian civilians were killed by errant IDF mortar fire on Tuesday.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's office said yesterday that Haniyeh had phoned the secretary general of Islamic Jihad, Abdallah Ramadan Salah, in Damascus. Pundits in Gaza said Haniyeh asked Salah to stop the escalation, for which Islamic Jihad is mainly responsible.

Islamic Jihad has chalked up quite an achievement over the past few days. If at one time endless barrages of Qassam rockets were needed to threaten Israel, Jihad's Grad rockets from Iran have changed the rules. It only took a few Grads to raise the level of anxiety in Be'er Sheva and Ashdod.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad harshly condemned the bombing in Jerusalem yesterday. The PA seems quite disconcerted by the recent attacks, which undermine its attempts to brand the Palestinian struggle as nonviolent.

Apparently, lacking an address for the attacks in Itamar and Jerusalem, Israel will focus on Gaza. But the response will apparently not be extensive, so statements like those by Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom yesterday - that "the period of restraint has ended" - should be taken with a grain of salt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did speak out strongly yesterday, but in his two years in office, he has been very careful when it comes to military action. Netanyahu left for Russia last night, and today, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrives in Israel. Such a diplomatic schedule limits Israel's ability to act.

Netanyahu spoke of "an exchange of blows." It seems Israel wants to strike the last blow in this round and then declare a halt. The concern is that Islamic Jihad will refuse to play by Israel's rules.

And if Israel's goal is to go back to the rules in force in Gaza a few weeks ago, how much force is it worth using to get there?

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/mess-report/hamas-unlikely-to-be-behind-jerusalem-bombing-1.351459

[empiredestoryer]

maybe their just dropping in for some cookies and tea