Residents of Gush Katif had planned to demonstrate en-masse this afternoon outside the Prime Minister's Office against his plan to withdraw from Gaza and expel them from their homes. In light of this morning's events, however, the protest has been called off. The Gush Katif website warned residents not to become complacent: "We must not fall asleep on the watch, and we must not allow one-time measures of this type to confuse us. It is likely that this attack was very carefully planned [for external reasons]. The Prime Minister has not disengaged from his plan, and still plans and wants to drive us from our homes and from broad areas in Judea and Samaria. We must stop this - in every way, time and place."
Gush Katif spokesman Eran Sternberg said this morning, "Several mortar shells have been shot upon us this morning, with some minor damage - this is the regular routine every day for the past 3.5 years; we don't need this morning's liquidation to know that they want to kill us. They don't need any excuses. Just last night, two terrorists were killed at the Kisufim Junction leading to Gush Katif before they had a chance to fulfill their goal of firing at Jewish cars and turning another couple of families into bereaved ones. Today's killing of Yassin is a good thing, and we call upon the government not to rest on its laurels, but to continue this path. The only disengagement that should be considered is the disengagement of the terrorists from their heads..."
The decision to kill Yassin at the earliest opportunity was made six days ago, two days after the double Hamas attack in the Ashdod port that killed ten Israelis. The suicide explosions not only could have been a mega-attack had they occurred close to fuel or ammonia tanks, but occurred inside a strategic and nationally symbolic site. At a meeting of top Israeli defense and political leaders, it was decided to embark on a full-scale campaign to wipe out terrorism in Gaza, with both religious and political terrorist leaders in the crosshairs. Several relatively minor operations were carried out in the ensuing days - but the ongoing offensive, codenamed Operation Continuing Story - went into high gear when intelligence was received around 4:30 AM today that Yassin had entered a mosque and would soon be leaving. Three missiles were rained down onto his car just an hour later.
Gush Katif spokesman Eran Sternberg said this morning, "Several mortar shells have been shot upon us this morning, with some minor damage - this is the regular routine every day for the past 3.5 years; we don't need this morning's liquidation to know that they want to kill us. They don't need any excuses. Just last night, two terrorists were killed at the Kisufim Junction leading to Gush Katif before they had a chance to fulfill their goal of firing at Jewish cars and turning another couple of families into bereaved ones. Today's killing of Yassin is a good thing, and we call upon the government not to rest on its laurels, but to continue this path. The only disengagement that should be considered is the disengagement of the terrorists from their heads..."
The decision to kill Yassin at the earliest opportunity was made six days ago, two days after the double Hamas attack in the Ashdod port that killed ten Israelis. The suicide explosions not only could have been a mega-attack had they occurred close to fuel or ammonia tanks, but occurred inside a strategic and nationally symbolic site. At a meeting of top Israeli defense and political leaders, it was decided to embark on a full-scale campaign to wipe out terrorism in Gaza, with both religious and political terrorist leaders in the crosshairs. Several relatively minor operations were carried out in the ensuing days - but the ongoing offensive, codenamed Operation Continuing Story - went into high gear when intelligence was received around 4:30 AM today that Yassin had entered a mosque and would soon be leaving. Three missiles were rained down onto his car just an hour later.