By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer, 27 June 2006
Israeli planes attacked a bridge in central Gaza late Tuesday, Israel Radio reported, and Israeli tanks were said to be on the move, possibly signaling the start of a military operation.
Palestinian security forces said Israeli tanks were moving near the Israeli village of Nahal Oz, a main Israeli staging area just outside Gaza, but that they had not yet entered Gaza.
In the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, not far from the border fence, armed militants took up positions across from the blaring headlights of Israeli vehicles, and Israeli attack helicopters hovered overhead. The militants told residents to leave the area.
Israeli military officials said a limited operation has been authorized for southern Gaza, aimed at “terrorist infrastructure.” The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
[…]
Egyptian officials said the government asked Hamas to release the soldier and has deployed 2,500 extra troops along the border with Gaza to prevent an influx of Palestinians if Israel invades. Egypt also imposed a nighttime curfew on residents along the border.
So Egyptian soldiers will hold the line as Israel massacres Palestinians trapped in Gaza? Amazing the depths of depravity a country will go to for a few American tax dollars.
“Kidnap, killings, and night raids on Israeli military army bases may not be the most effective way of reaching out to international opinion, but by conditioning the release of Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit on the release of some 380 Palestinian child prisoners, the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees have touched on an issue which has resonance well beyond the immediate tit-for-tat killings and recriminations that have a tendency to dominate international media coverage of the ‘Middle East conflict.”
A Welcome Spotlight on Palestinian Child Prisoners
Catherine Hunter, The Electronic Intifada, 27 June 2006
“The world shook with rage at the reports from Darfur. Do not the starvation, not to mention almost daily murder of Palestinian civilians merit even a word of reproach to the government of Israel, or the US and European governments that have joined in this barbaric siege?”
Israel’s Deadly Siege of Palestine
Alexander Cockburn, Counterpunch, 27 June 2006