The IDF's anti-terror offensive in southern Gaza is beginning to dwindle down. Four days after large Israeli forces began streaming into the terrorism-headquarters town of Rafiach - where underground tunnels from Egypt open up into private houses, supplying terrorists with explosives and arms - the army is beginning to call back some of the troops. New forces are replacing some of the "veterans."
The army announced that the forces are being thinned out in some areas of Rafiach where the mission has been completed, but that the operation has not yet been completed. IDF sources say that the offensive is proceeding according to plan and the timetable. All in all, 40 Arabs - mostly armed terrorists - have been killed, dozens have been arrested, many were transferred to Israeli security installations for further questioning, and an unknown number of structures - some reports say up to 50 - have been razed. Attorney-General Meni Mazuz is conducting meetings with the goal of formulating a legally acceptable plan for the widening of the Philadelphi Route, involving the destruction of the minimum number of buildings. The tunnels pass under the Philadelphi Route, adjacent to the Israeli-Egyptian border.
Extreme left-wing groups are demonstrating again today in various locations, such as Haifa and the Sufah and Kisufim crossings into Gaza, against the IDF operation in Gaza. Participants are calling on soldiers to abandon their responsibilities and refrain from taking part in what they call "war crimes."
Gen. (res.) Oren Shachor, a former IDF Coordinator for Judea and Samaria and a senior member of Israel's negotiating team with the Palestinian Authority under the Peres government, told Arutz-7 last night, "This operation must under no circumstances be stopped. It involves our very security - the killing of terrorists, and preventing infiltrations and arms-smuggling from Egypt into Rafiach... If we leave, this will send a message of weakness, and we will not be able to meet our objectives."
"Even if there is a disengagement [withdrawal from Gaza]," Shachor continued, "we will have to enter Gaza and put things into shape. The disengagement will not stop terrorism... The Palestinians are taking advantage of having civilians in a war zone. This is no ballet class. The IDF is operating in a very densely-populated area, doing the maximum that it can, and it must be admired for its actions."
The army announced that the forces are being thinned out in some areas of Rafiach where the mission has been completed, but that the operation has not yet been completed. IDF sources say that the offensive is proceeding according to plan and the timetable. All in all, 40 Arabs - mostly armed terrorists - have been killed, dozens have been arrested, many were transferred to Israeli security installations for further questioning, and an unknown number of structures - some reports say up to 50 - have been razed. Attorney-General Meni Mazuz is conducting meetings with the goal of formulating a legally acceptable plan for the widening of the Philadelphi Route, involving the destruction of the minimum number of buildings. The tunnels pass under the Philadelphi Route, adjacent to the Israeli-Egyptian border.
Extreme left-wing groups are demonstrating again today in various locations, such as Haifa and the Sufah and Kisufim crossings into Gaza, against the IDF operation in Gaza. Participants are calling on soldiers to abandon their responsibilities and refrain from taking part in what they call "war crimes."
Gen. (res.) Oren Shachor, a former IDF Coordinator for Judea and Samaria and a senior member of Israel's negotiating team with the Palestinian Authority under the Peres government, told Arutz-7 last night, "This operation must under no circumstances be stopped. It involves our very security - the killing of terrorists, and preventing infiltrations and arms-smuggling from Egypt into Rafiach... If we leave, this will send a message of weakness, and we will not be able to meet our objectives."
"Even if there is a disengagement [withdrawal from Gaza]," Shachor continued, "we will have to enter Gaza and put things into shape. The disengagement will not stop terrorism... The Palestinians are taking advantage of having civilians in a war zone. This is no ballet class. The IDF is operating in a very densely-populated area, doing the maximum that it can, and it must be admired for its actions."