The Latest From Gaza, PM Edition

Things are rapidly moving to a head in Gaza, as the IDF and Hamas are involved in heavy street battles in Gaza City itself.

The main action is taking place along the Hamas bunkers in the north east section of the city, and consisted of a fanatical counterattack by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters.

They suffered heavy losses as the IDF backed by artillery and helicopter gunships forced them to retreat,but not before three Israeli soldiers from the Golani Brigade were killed by friendly fire from an Israeli tank shell that hit a building they were hunkered down inside at Tel al Shakef at the eastern edge of the Tofah district of Gaza City.

It was this incident which Hamas tried to take advantage of by storming the Israeli positions...not the smartest idea they've ever had. Hamas is admitting to at least 85 casualties in this battle...which means more like 125-150. Apparently they do better against unarmed woman and kids in Israel.

Speaking of children,Hamas Foreign minister and bagmanMahmoud al-Zohar crawled out of the woodwork to directly threaten threaten Israel's children, a clear signal that if there's another so-called ceasefire, Hamas will target non-combatants in Israel and Jews overseas again with homicide bombers.

As far as I'm concerned,that's a pretty good reason for not leaving one of the Hamas fighters or officials alive to walk the earth...at a minimum.

The usual suspects are calling for a ceasefire. The Europeans are distraught that their favorite terrorists might be marginalized and along with the UN are screaming for an unconditional ceasefire.The French and President Sarkozy are the most obnoxious, followed closely by the British. Both countries are having problems with their restive Muslim populations and want quiet at any price, especially if Israel pays the price rather than themselves. It's difficult to put into words my feelings about this craven, despicable behavior.

Certainly the EU an dits leaders were quiet enough when Israelis were being maimed and killed by Hamas in the south of Israel.

Reportedly, Israeli PM Olmert is supposed to have told Sarko, “We cannot accept a compromise that will allow Hamas to fire against Israeli towns in two months’ time.” Given that it's Olmert, I doubt it,but that's what's being reported.

Hamas continues to fire rockets into southern Israel, launching about 40 of its home-made Qassam rockets and some of the longer range and more powerful Grad missiles they got from Iran. They hit Beersheba again, about 25 miles from Gaza. The IDF has taken out the launch pads in the former Jewish communities in the northeastern area of the Strip, so Hamas is now launching its missiles from inside Gaza City.

That in itself is a murderous irony...that the thriving Jewish communities Israel uprooted 'for peace' became the launching pads for the missiles against Israel that the proponents of disengagement said would never come. An apology to the Jews of Netzarim and Gush Katif who were turned into refugees by their own government would certainly be in order,but I'd be shocked if it were actually forthcoming. There are few things a politician would put lower on his things-to-do list than to admit he was wrong.

Hamas is playing for time and figures that will work for them in various ways. First, they want to gain maximum leverage for the best ceasefire they can obtain. Two Hamas officials, Muhammad Nasser and Imad al-Alami, Hamas chief operations officer, have arrived in Cairo from Damascus and Beirut to work on exactly that.

While the Mubarak regime has no love for Hamas, they also have a very restive population to deal with. A friend of mine who just got back from Egypt a while ago and got to look at the Arab media told me that what the Egyptians are seeing is basically an attack on Arab children by the wicked Jews, with no mention of the rockets Hamas has fired at Israel.To the Egyptians, the Israelis just decided to wake up one morning and massacre everyone one in peace loving Gaza, and that's that. Al-Jazeera is pretty much selling the same stuff.

So Mubarak has an incentive to try and get things quiet again as well, and Hamas believes that the longer they hold out, the better it will get.Especially when they listen to the Europeans, and reflect that Bush will be gone and Obama,who they feel they would get a better deal from, installed in the White House in two weeks.

They also think that the IDF is unwilling to mix it up in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza City, which Hamas,thanks to Olmert, Livni and Rarak has had 18 months to stock with booby traps, ambushes and tunnels. They likely feel that if the IDF does come in,they can cause enough casualties in the urban battleground to make the Israelis sue for peace on Hamas' terms.

I'd do leaflets and carpetbombing myself before sending the Tzahal in, but that's me...and I'm certain the IDF won't.According to what Israeli Counsel General Akiva Tor told me,the IDF has made over 90,000 phone calls to targeted areas,telling the residents to leave so as not to be hurt.

The IDF, as always,would rather risk its soldiers and tip off the enemy rather than risk causing excess civilian casualties...and of course, they get no good PR from the media whatsoever for it.

To defeat Hamas the way it needs to be defeated,the Israelis are going to have to go in. It won't be pretty and it won't be without cost,but that's what's going to have to happen.

One of my notorious little birdies has told me that the IDF has developed a new tactic to seal off the tunnels an render them useless. We'll see if they're right.