CAIRO/ JERUSALEM: Israel will "pay a heavy price" if it launches a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, Hamas's top military commander warned in a rare audio message aired on Tuesday.
"The enemy will pay a heavy price if it thinks of entering Gaza," Mohammed Deif said in the audio message carried by Hamas television station Al-Aqsa.
Earlier, senior Israeli ministers decided overnight to hold off from launching a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to give Egyptian-led truce efforts a chance to work, a senior Israeli official said.
“A decision was taken that for the time being there is a temporary hold on the ground incursion to give diplomacy a chance to succeed,” he told AFP.
All sides in Gaza conflict must immediately halt fire: Ban
UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged all sides to the Gaza conflict to immediately cease their fire, warning at a press conference in Cairo that an escalation would put the entire region at risk.
“All sides must halt fire immediately,” Ban said, as an Israeli military operation against rocket-firing militants in Gaza entered a sixth day, with 109 Palestinians and three Israelis killed.
“Further escalating the situation will put the entire region at risk,” he added.
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Its time all muslim nations to come together and declare a war against Israel.
@Cautious: The Israeli military has admitted killing mainly “unarmed civilians, including children and infants”, and that the source of the error was either the failure to paint the target of the attack on the correct site or that one of the munitions in the strike misfired…’ what IDF Bravado!!! Hamas is Standing Tall & Fully Equipped’ today, ready to face the Forthcoming-Israeli -Red-Herring-Ground-Assault…!!!
Gaza has been under a 'TOTAL-CRIMINALLY-OPPRESSIVE-SIEGE' by Israel and the 'CATTLE-BLINDERS-ADORNED' supporting block of USA and Europe from 2007, and you're nit-picking on Hamas's effective 'armed-resistance-strategy'?
HAMAS’s real strength lies in ‘ground-warfare’, and are now well stocked and equipped for amply demonstrating all the ground assault positive military traits of FAITH, COURAGE, AND VALOR. Hamas’ weapons arsenal has grown deeper and wider, sporting rockets such as the new and advanced Iranian made Fajr-3, Katyusha’s/Grad’s, Anti-tank missiles, and Heavy Mortars. Each rocket holds its own advantage, such as the upgraded Grad rocket reaching a frightening range of 30 miles within Israel….One Million Israelis live under their effective range. Tel Aviv has already gotten a whiff of it, and the people out there are under severe psychological-stress for the past 5 days now with alarm sirens sounding in Tel Aviv on a regular basis…never happened here before in 40 years, but I’m sure Israel will chicken-out here by agreeing to a truce…and will still be complaining…if not, then the demographics of that region will be radically altered…!
The last invasion of Gaza was a PR disaster for Israel but the impact on Hamas was devastating. Israel proved to the World and the Palestinians that Hamas wasn't the fighting force it proclaimed - Hamas failed to inflict significant casualties as promised and it's popularity fell to the point that few believed Hamas could now win an honest election. Israel may decide that it's worth another PR debacle in order to eliminate the munitions cache, Egyptian tunnel systems, and rocket manufacturing facilities. Harsh language/threats from Hamas is for domestic consumption and unlikely to intimidate Israel.
@Introspection
And how objective is it to ignore a thousand rockets blindly shot into Israel -- how cowardly is that? Further -- moving rocket platforms into civilian neighborhoods to "shoot and scoot" knowing that it will make that neighborhood a target doesn't sound like the act of brave warriors to me - more like desperate fanatics who don't care about their own people.
@above comment. iron dome defeated 270 rockets within 2 years of its life time. just imagine what improvements in next 2 years will bring. also israel has said it needs 30 more batteries to cover complete israel which it plans by 2013. this is just technical review of iranian and gazan rockets vs iron dome. morally israel shd not enter gaza is what i feel.
Moshe Yaalon, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, has accepted Hamas's strength and legitimate existence: 'We don't claim to topple Hamas, this is not our objective - it is to deter them'...by taking innocent lives of unarmed children, women and men...what a show of courage and valor from IDF. Is this deterrence, or sheer murder and attempted genocide?
Objectively speaking, Israel's cowardly assault against Gaza has been conducted through a remote campaign of air strikes, naval artillery, and tank fire across the border against defenseless civilians. The much publicized Israel's 'Iron Dome Defense System', has successfully only intercepted 30%, or less of Hamas's canopy of missiles fired, which has this time engulfed Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in its enhanced and frightening missile range...These are all signs and indications of a clear moral, ethical, and military defeat for Israel...they should now start thinking 'constructively', rather than 'destructively'...for the future...ground assault this time would have/will cost, the IDF dearly, and heavily in casualties...