Defense Minister Amir Peretz gave the ‘thumbs up’ on Wednesday for IDF troops to begin the next phase of the incursion into Gaza, code-named “Operation Summer Rains”.
The plan calls for forces to re-enter northern Gaza and capture strategic positions in the area. IDF troops entered southern Gaza in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday. There was little resistance from the population.
Two goals for the operation were announced: to rescue Gilad Shalit and to put an end to the constant Kassam rocket attacks against Israel.
Shalit was captured during an attack Sunday morning by Hamas terrorists on an IDF outpost near the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza and Egypt. Two soldiers died and four were wounded in the attack.
Meanwhile, Kassam rockets continued to explode in the western Negev. A total of six rockets were fired at Sderot on Wednesday, with no injuries or damage reported. At least one landed within Palestinian Authority territory. Hundreds of Kassam rockets have rained down upon Sderot and other western Negev communities for the past several years.
The Israel Air Force will be dropping flyers over the northern Gaza villages of Beit Lahiyah and Bait Hanoun, telling residents their lives are in danger if they remain near Kassam rocket launch sites. The flyers warn residents to evacuate their homes since gunfire from land and air will be directed at the populated areas from which the rocket attacks have been launched against Israel.
Senior IDF sources said that residents of the villages are expected to begin leaving their homes by Thursday morning.
IDF artillery also shelled an area near Gaza City on Wednesday evening. Israeli officials said, however, that the army was not targeting any particular location, but was simply testing its artillery.
It was the first time the IDF aimed at targets in the Gaza City area. Large explosions were heard in the eastern part of the city.
The plan calls for forces to re-enter northern Gaza and capture strategic positions in the area. IDF troops entered southern Gaza in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday. There was little resistance from the population.
Two goals for the operation were announced: to rescue Gilad Shalit and to put an end to the constant Kassam rocket attacks against Israel.
Shalit was captured during an attack Sunday morning by Hamas terrorists on an IDF outpost near the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza and Egypt. Two soldiers died and four were wounded in the attack.
Meanwhile, Kassam rockets continued to explode in the western Negev. A total of six rockets were fired at Sderot on Wednesday, with no injuries or damage reported. At least one landed within Palestinian Authority territory. Hundreds of Kassam rockets have rained down upon Sderot and other western Negev communities for the past several years.
The Israel Air Force will be dropping flyers over the northern Gaza villages of Beit Lahiyah and Bait Hanoun, telling residents their lives are in danger if they remain near Kassam rocket launch sites. The flyers warn residents to evacuate their homes since gunfire from land and air will be directed at the populated areas from which the rocket attacks have been launched against Israel.
Senior IDF sources said that residents of the villages are expected to begin leaving their homes by Thursday morning.
IDF artillery also shelled an area near Gaza City on Wednesday evening. Israeli officials said, however, that the army was not targeting any particular location, but was simply testing its artillery.
It was the first time the IDF aimed at targets in the Gaza City area. Large explosions were heard in the eastern part of the city.