Israel continues to fight Arab-initiated violence aimed at its citizens by Palestinian Authority-based terrorists - in the courts and on the battlefield.
On Sunday, an IDF military court sentenced Hamas terrorist Mahmoud Srita to seven life sentences for his role in dispatching the suicide bomber who targeted the number 4 bus in Tel Aviv on September 19, 2002. Six people were murdered and dozens wounded in that attack. Srita was also found to be responsible for the October 11, 2002, attack near the American Embassy in Tel Aviv.
On the military front, IDF helicopters continue to target terrorists in missile attacks. In Gaza today (Monday), air-to-surface missiles destroyed a vehicle carrying two senior Hamas members, killing at least one of them. Palestinian Authority sources reported 20 people were injured in the strike.
In other counterterrorism operations, security forces this morning apprehended a senior Hamas terrorist affiliated with the Izzadin el-Kassam faction. The arrest was made in PA-controlled Tul Karem.... IDF soldiers during the night destroyed the home of Tanzim terrorist Talab Moussa Sahadah, located in Yatah, south of Hevron. Sahadah perpetrated many shooting attacks in the Hevron area, including the July 26, 2002, shooting at Ziff Junction that claimed four lives.... Following yesterdays shooting attack in which a road worker was wounded in his abdomen, the IDF imposed a closure on the shooter's base of operations, Kalkilye, east of the city of Kfar Saba.... Soldiers last night fired at terrorists preparing to launch rockets in northern Gaza, not far from the community of Netzarim.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon this morning told cabinet ministers that the IDF is ready for a major military incursion into PA areas of Gaza. The decision to undertake the operation, he said, now rests on the shoulders of the government. The military commander explained the IDF was prepared for a battalion level military operation. Last week, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced that he is giving the IDF a green light to take whatever actions are necessary to bring an end to rocket attacks on southern Israel. Using Kassam II rockets, terrorists in northern Gaza successfully hit Ashkelon in a recent rocket attack.
Also at today's cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated that PA security forces are not doing their job and, therefore, Israel is compelled to do the work of fighting terrorism in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.