By Ryan Jones
Jul 17, 2005
Israeli ground forces remained massed on Gaza's northern border Sunday morning following a weekend of intense Hamas artillery attacks against area Jews, having yet to receive the order to move in and smash the terrorist threat.
Last Thursday, Hamas cells began firing Kassam rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns just north of Gaza, and at Jewish communities located in the southern part of the Strip. One Israeli woman was killed in the initial barrage.
As of noon Sunday, the ongoing siege had seen well over 100 rockets and mortars hit Israeli towns and villages in and around Gaza. At least 15 people were treated at the weekend for light injuries and hysteria.
But outside of a handful of targeted missile strikes against wanted Hamas terrorists, Israel refrained from launching any substantial military response to the escalating aggression.
IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz told the cabinet during its weekly meeting Sunday morning that the army was ready to move into PA-controlled areas of Gaza in force and deal with the threat.
The order to do so, however, was not forthcoming, though Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted he had placed no restrictions on the IDF's ability to effectively defend the nation's citizens.
While senior government officials said the delay was meant to give the ?Palestinians? yet another chance to honor their commitment to curb the violence, it was noted that PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas's physical presence in Gaza City made a full-scale ground incursion difficult, both in terms of ensuring Abbas's safety and avoiding negative press.
The New York Times also linked US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's sudden decision to visit the region this week to the lack of any serious Israeli response to the deadly attacks.
Washington remains keen to secure a full and successful Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and sees the mounting ?Palestinian? terror was an attempt to derail that effort.
As such, the Bush Administration continues to press Israel to temper its self defense, believing an overwhelming use of force by the IDF would cause the situation to spiral out of control, putting Sharon's ?disengagement? on hold indefinitely.
The terrorists, meanwhile, remain adamant they want Israel out of Gaza, but are determined to make the withdrawal look like a retreat under fire. Israel's flight from southern Lebanon in 2000 with Hizballah on its tail provided what analysts now say was an unprecedented boost to anti-Israel Islamic terrorism.