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A Sderot home hit by a Qassam rocket. (Limor Edrey)
Last update - 12:36 18/01/2008
Hamas policy: Escalation to force Israel into cease-fire in Gaza
By Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies
Tags: Israel, Gaza, Qassam, IDF

Palestinians fired some 40 Qassam rockets and two mortar shells at the western Negev on Thursday, lightly wounding two Israelis and causing several others to be treated for shock. Palestinians said they believe this escalation is part of a new Hamas policy aimed at forcing Israel into a cease-fire.

Also on Thursday, Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least five Palestinians, including a senior operative of the Popular Resistance Committees and his wife.

The current escalation began on Tuesday, when the Israel Defense Forces killed 19 Palestinians, mostly armed Hamas operatives. Since then, Palestinians have fired more than 130 rockets and dozens of mortar shells at Israel.
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Hamas was responsible for most of Thursday's launches, and senior IDF officers believe that unless the situation calms down soon, Israel will have to further escalate its military operations.

But Palestinian sources predicted that Hamas would continue the rocket barrages, in an attempt to force Israel to agree to a cease-fire. Hamas, they said, believes that its previous, lower level of rocket and mortar fire allowed the IDF to operate freely in Gaza without Israel paying a serious price.

Moreover, Hamas believes that Israel wants to avoid a major ground operation in Gaza, and therefore, it will have no choice but to call a truce if heavy rocket fire on southern Israel continues. Hamas is currently refraining from firing rockets on Ashkelon lest that reverse Israel's opposition to a major incursion, the sources added.

However, Hamas officials declined to confirm that the recent escalation represents a new policy. Both organization spokesman Ismail Radwan and Ahmed Yusuf, who is Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's political advisor, insisted that the rockets were merely a response to the IDF operations and the resultant Palestinian casualties.

The IDF currently opposes a cease-fire, arguing that continued military pressure on Hamas will enable Israel to achieve a truce on better terms.

On orders from the government, the IDF is currently refraining from ground operations, focusing instead on aerial assaults. In one such strike on Thursday, Raed Abu el-Foul, a senior PRC operative, and his wife were killed by a missile fired at their car. Two other Palestinians were wounded, Palestinian officials said.

Later, another air strike on a car in Gaza killed an Islamic Jihad operative along with a mother and child who were riding in a donkey cart nearby, Palestinian sources said. A second Islamic Jihad man was critically wounded. The IDF said it had targeted the militants shortly after they fired rockets at Israel.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the IDF on Thursday to more forward with planning a large-scale ground operation in Gaza, but stressed that no such operation has yet been authorized. Barak's office noted that the army has been planning such an operation for the past several months, so as to be ready for any contingency.

Barak also decided to tighten economic sanctions on Gaza's Hamas government - inter alia, by reducing the amount of fuel allowed into the Strip. In addition, cargo trucks bringing humanitarian supplies into Gaza will undergo stricter inspections, due in part to the fact that two such trucks were recently found to be carrying material that could be used to make Qassam rockets.

In addition, Barak said that the IDF would "deepen" its military operations against the rocket-launching crews. "It won't be simple, it won't happen this weekend, but we will stop the rocket fire on Sderot," he said, speaking during a tour of the South

Barrages prove Hamas able to stockpile missiles

The barrage of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza this week confirms intelligence assessments that Hamas has upgraded its rocket capabilities over the past few months. The fact it could fire 130 rockets in less than three days proves it has overcome the technical hurdles involved in stockpiling them.

Until a few months ago, Hamas was unable to store Qassam rockets for more than a few weeks, because their launch capability would degrade. Now that this barrier has evidently been overcome, the organization can manufacture and store thousands of rockets, which it can unleash in any future clash with Israel.

Hamas is also thought to have significant numbers of longer-range rockets capable of hitting Ashkelon. It has thus far used such rockets very sparingly, but if its conflict with Israel escalates, that might change.

The organization has also upgraded its launching capabilities: Some of the rockets that hit Israel this week were fired by remote control from buried launchers, which makes it hard for Israeli forces to attack the launch crews. Hezbollah used this tactic extensively during the Second Lebanon War.

Related articles:
  • IAF strikes kill seven in Gaza; 40 Qassams fired at Israel
  • News / IDF kills at least 19 Palestinians in Gaza raids
  • ANALYSIS / Despite raid, Hamas, Israel don't seek escalation
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      1.   Lebanon war tactics, with an added advantage to Hamas 05:01  |  Pablo B 18/01/08
      2.   Hamas should give clarification for why wants truce??? 05:16  |  Smadar 18/01/08
      3.   Are you kidding me? 05:48  |  J K 18/01/08
      4.   Stockpiling Weapons... 05:52  |  Ghost of Gush Katif 18/01/08
      5.   IDF will have to destroy qassam arsenals prior to launching 05:57  |  Voice of Reason 18/01/08
      6.   Israel wants to avoid ground war 06:05  |  Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 18/01/08
      7.   IDF should be more aggressive with hamas 06:06  |  Eduard 18/01/08
      8.   Escalation to force Israel into truce?-Stop QASSAMS, HAMAS!!!!!!! 06:09  |  Vittorio 18/01/08
      9.   And Olmert The Village Idiot Sits And Does Nothing 06:11  |  Shepherd 18/01/08
      10.   They are hurting no one while Israel murders civilians daily... 06:17  |  POP 18/01/08
      11.   Go get `em and G-d bless IDF 06:19  |  IsraFan 18/01/08
      12.   Don`t we have a few more cluster bombs 06:26  |  Levi 18/01/08
      13.   Kill Arab Terror or Bend to Arab Terror , 06:38  |  Joseph E . 18/01/08
      14.   IDF should be more aggressive with hamas 06:46  |  Eduard 18/01/08
      15.   It`s a new world. Does Israel prefer peace or war? 07:16  |  Natallie Durson 18/01/08
      16.   in a ground war in Azza keep all exits open to Egypt side, 07:16  |  adam 18/01/08
      17.   Obvious Response 07:18  |  Ron 18/01/08
      18.   feeding war materiel into Gaza earns Egypt economy $500M a year 07:30  |  Charity 18/01/08
      19.   Hamas is desperate 07:31  |  Reid 18/01/08
      20.   This is islam and hamas, hamas is 100% islamic based, read charte 07:34  |  Johnny 18/01/08
      21.   Eduard 07:44  |  Natallie Durson 18/01/08
      22.   Ynet: One cannot kill 18 Gazans and then express stunned lamentat 07:56  |  www.kibush.co.il 18/01/08
      23.   New wave of peace 08:06  |  howiej 18/01/08
      24.   # 14 Natalie, I apprciate your posting 08:34  |  dan 18/01/08
      25.   Qassams: Stockpiled, buried, controlled 08:54  |  Nora 18/01/08
      26.   We have to attack, see, so we can have a truce... 08:55  |  Tom 18/01/08
      27.   Ah,Nazillie Dur d`oreille... 08:56  |  Hastaroth 18/01/08
      28.   For Natallie Durson, on negotiating with Hamas # 14 09:13  |  Clickfool 18/01/08
      29.   Cease Fire or Truce debacle 09:14  |  Ori 18/01/08
      30.   And who said withdrawing from Gava would improve security? 09:17  |  Gilad 18/01/08
      31.   "Starvation blockade".Part of diversionary Pal. propoganda 09:17  |  PETER SM 18/01/08
      32.   #25 US is not occupying Mexico 10:01  |  Ben Sina 18/01/08
      33.   Palestinian territory = attacks on Israel 10:16  |  common sense 18/01/08
      34.   BEN SINA Mexico doesn`t have a policy for detruction of the USA 10:32  |  PETER SM 18/01/08
      35.   Hamas has no strategy 11:24  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 18/01/08
      36.   hamas has all but admitted they are in a panic 11:40  |  harzion 18/01/08
      37.   if israel accepts a ceasefire then we have lost this mini war 11:46  |  harzion 18/01/08
      38.   2 Smadar dream on! Hamas,unlike your collaborator friends will 12:14  |  lakshmi 18/01/08
      39.   hubal 12:23  |  zevulun 18/01/08
      40.   As Arafat said: 12:24  |  Nik Miller 18/01/08
      41.   A boy on donkey died! 12:25  |  Joav 18/01/08
      42.   24 Dan,and other zionists,Dan,have you ever considered that the 12:26  |  lakshmi 18/01/08
      43.   Hamas: We Are All Getting Killed. That Will Show Those Guys We Me 12:27  |  dyinglikeflies 18/01/08
      44.   Justified 13:06  |  ATLAS 18/01/08
      45.   #14 Natalie; I´m afraid you´re overestimating Hamas 13:33  |  AliciaYasmeen 18/01/08
      46.   # 15 N.Durson 13:46  |  17 18/01/08
      47.   # 15 Durson...no time like the present 13:48  |  Lynn 18/01/08
      48.   Durson has complex answers for simple 13:53  |  Lynn 18/01/08
      49.   nothing else to lose 13:54  |  kaled 18/01/08
      50.   # 10 POP...."they are hurting no one" 13:56  |  Lynn 18/01/08
      51.   # 32 Ben Sina ........according to La Raza 14:02  |  Lynn 18/01/08
      52.   Somebody suggested Hamas pay for fuel and food with 14:11  |  Taszilo 18/01/08
      53.   # 40 kaled....Pal misery 14:22  |  Lynn 18/01/08
      54.   lakshmi sounding desperate too 14:26  |  Lynn 18/01/08
      55.   hubal 14:26  |  zevulun 18/01/08
      56.   hubal "i dont care what happened after the fall of saigon" 14:30  |  zevulun 18/01/08
      57.   Now its at least 130 Missiles 14:34  |  Dovid ben Nisan 18/01/08
      58.   hubal "the eisenhower administration and vietnam" 14:38  |  zevulun 18/01/08
      59.   #42; lakshmi interesting rewrite of history 14:46  |  Doc Holliday 18/01/08
      60.   lakshmi the site deserves an explanation 14:47  |  youjudge 18/01/08
      61.   Hamas is only shooting `wizbangs` 15:06  |  leo 18/01/08
      62.   Natallie`s American Strategy 15:11  |  Yonatan 18/01/08
      63.   Kaled 15:14  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 18/01/08
      64.   lakshmi you are remarkably silly 15:18  |  chickenvindaloo 18/01/08
      65.   27 Hastaroth 15:19  |  Nik Miller 18/01/08
      66.   kaled # 49 There`s Nothing Else To Gain Either 15:24  |  Jeff Northridge 18/01/08
      67.   Turn off the tap 15:40  |  peter 18/01/08
      68.   lockshen gets the Tosefta prize 15:46  |  peter 18/01/08
      69.   Israel, Hamas and a cease fire