By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Sep 26, 2005
Israeli ground forces completed their deployment north of the Gaza Strip Monday morning in preparation for a possible ground incursion into the territory Israel surrendered less than two weeks earlier.
But PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas has dismissed as a 'minor provocation' the weekend artillery barrage that led to the current military action.
Israel, said Abbas, was overreacting.
More than 40 rockets were fired at Sderot over the weekend, wounding six Israelis.
Preparations for an Israeli offensive began Saturday evening when, as the Kassams continued to pound the town, Israel's security cabinet approved ?Operation First Rain,? giving the army a green light to shell Gaza, renew targeted killings of known terrorist leaders and prepare for a limited invasion.
Overnight Saturday Israeli troops rounded up more than 200 wanted terrorists in Judea and Samaria, eliminate a handful of Hamas killers in Gaza, and attack buildings and fields used for the manufacture, storage and launching of Kassams.
On Sunday, IDF gunners fired into open areas of Gaza to ?calibrate their cannons.?
Although Hamas reacted by immediately declaring an end to its artillery attacks, at least two more rockets hit the western Negev Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile later in the day, Sunday, an Israeli helicopter gunship ended the life of Gaza's top Islamic Jihad field commander. Among other atrocities, Muhammed Khalil was directly responsible for the May 2004 slaughter of the pregnant Jewish mother Tali Hatuel and her four daughters near Gaza's Kissufim Crossing.
Following the execution, Islamic Jihad announced it was ending its self-imposed ceasefire and resuming full aggression against Israel's Jews.
Having failed to take action himself to prevent the Kassam attacks, Abbas accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of being ?pleased? with the escalating violence.
?Sharon was just waiting for the smallest provocation, so now he's happy,? Abbas said.
Abbas also took issue with Hamas for firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for an explosion at a Gaza City rally that its own members caused.
But it is Abbas and his Palestinian Authority that for more than a decade have failed to disarm Hamas in accordance with signed peace agreements, thus allowing the group to both parade openly with unstable explosives and repeatedly attack the Jewish state.