Hamas raid wounds Israeli soldiers

[bemildred]

A suicide car-bomb attack on a border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip has left at least three Palestinian fighters dead and 13 Israeli soldiers wounded.

Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, claimed responsibility for the assault on Saturday.

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"The sounds of explosions in Karm Abu Salim were heard in the heart of Gaza city," Abu Ubaid, a spokesman for Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said.

"This is a step towards our attempts to break the siege in the face of this criminal Zionist enemy.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/048B7A8E-D870-4B37-9929-AB2261A7D8B2.htm

[bemildred]

1. IDF: Hamas attack at Gaza crossing most ambitious since pullout

Two cars exploded at a crossing on the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Saturday morning, leaving 13 Israel Defense Forces soldiers hurt - one moderately to seriously, two moderately and the rest lightly.

Eight soldiers were taken to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva and the rest were treated on the scene.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the incident, which the IDF called the militant group's most ambitious attempted attack on Israel since the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005. The goal of the attack appeared to be heavy IDF casualties and the abduction of a soldier. On Saturday afternoon, Palestinian security and health officials said a mechanic with the Hamas police was killed and four people were wounded in an Israel Air Force strike in southern Gaza.

An attempted attack on Kerem Shalom this past Thursday, according to IDF sources, was likely to have been an intelligence-gathering mission in preparation for Saturday's attack, which was planned to coincide with the Passover holiday, which begins Saturday night.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/976384.html

[pelsar]

2. the logic..

In Gaza City, a Hamas leader, Sami Abu Zuhri, said Hamas would carry out more attacks on crossings to break the nearly yearlong blockade of the territory.
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so hamas will keep on attacking the border points where fuel, and food are brought in so that.....they will be open to bring in fuel and food......

i think i am missing something here.....

[bemildred]

3. Attacking a blockade to end a blockade seems clear enough to me.

Try offering to end the blockade, if they stop attacking Israel (1967 borders), and see what happens. As near as I can tell nobody has tried that yet. You would probably have to add some nuances about not allowing weapons into Gaza and Israelis still being fair game in the OPT or Gaza, but leaving the crossings alone as long as the IDF etc. don't interfere with non-military goods going in and out would probably be accepted.

It seems to me that the stumbling block is the settlements, Israel will not leave them to sink or swim, and the Palestinians in general and Hamas in particular will not stop attacking them while they still purport to be part of Israel.

[pelsar]

4. that was tried...

or is history no longer relevant?.....the blockade only started AFTER the attacks..... (this reminds me of egypts/gazas border. It was aways ignored as part of the bockade until hamas actually blew it up....and it became impossible to ignore the fact that is was a egyptian/hamas thing.



its funny how history is so irrelevant when it comes to defending the Palestenain actions:

there was no bockade...until ________guess which actions caused the blockade?

[bemildred]

6. So try it again.

Israel seems willing to retry lots of stuff that has failed over and over again. Why not try something that could work a few more times, leave it on the table for a while. What have you got to lose by making an offer?

[bemildred]

7. PS, it has not been tried. No offer such as I described has ever been put on the table by Israel.

And I don't expect it will be any time soon either.

[Vegasaurus]

8. If they are already blowing up their own fuel trucks

in their efforts to kill Israelis, imagine what would happen if the crossings were unimpeded?

Why should the Israelis be so stupid?

There have been three border breaches this week alone.

An open border would be a free for all of Gazan militants trying to enter Israel or use the open borders to try to kill more people.

[Vegasaurus]

5. So am I

Blowing up the border points that deliver their own food and fuel is just foolish. That isnt resistance; it's stupidity.