Yesterday, in spite of their heavy losses, Hamas was able to get off a barrage of rocket attacks in southern and central Israel. Three Israelis were killed; two Israeli Arabs, Sergeant Lutfi Nasr e-Din from Daliat Hacarmel, Hani al-Mahdi, 27, a construction worker from the Bedouin Negev village of Ar'ur at Nahal Oz, and a Jewish mother of four, Irit Sheetrit, who was killed as she tried to reach a shelter in Ashdod.
About 38 Israelis were also injured.
Hamas is using Iranian supplied Grad rockets, with a lot more firepower and greater range than the models they were using previously. The Israeli killed the day before in Sderot also fell victim to a Grad.
The Hamas onslaught actually reached Yavne, about 25 miles away from Tel Aviv, so the current Israeli government may actually do something about it this time.
The Israelis are continuing their air strikes. Among the recent targets was Ismail Haniyeh's office in the Hamas government compound in Gaza City, the foreign, finance and interior ministry buildings and Hamas command centers. Hamas claims that the death toll now stands at 360.
None of this is going to stop the rocket attacks. The brave jihad warriors continue to hide among women and children and launch their missiles from population centers, as you can see in the above photo. Most of Hamas' senior operatives and commanders are in a complex known to the IDF as 'underground Gaza' - a series of tunnels and bunkers underneath Gaza City.
Of course, the Israelis could end many of the rocket attacks and make the Hamas tunnels a lot less inhabitable by cutting off Gaza's electricity...but saving Israeli lives in that fashion would be a 'humanitarian disaster' to the international community, and Israel's present leadership apparently cares more about that.
That complex, like the network of fortified tunnels under the Philadelphi corridor was built on the watch and with the knowledge of the current Israeli government. Now, it's going to take armor and ground troops to dig them out...or JDAM bunker busters, which would save a lot of IDF lives but would also involve a level of civilian casualties Israel is probably not prepared to deal with.
As usual, the Tzahal lokhameem on the ground will have to pay in blood for the politician's mistakes.
In any event, the rest of the week has a forecast of rainy, overcast weather which should slow Israel's air strikes down and delay any major ground assaults until the weather is better.
The major part of this war is still to come, but at least there appears to be a coordinated plan by Israel this time, unlike the amateur hour in Lebanon.
Stay tuned...
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