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Hamas Ups the Stakes, Attacks Near Kibbutz Yavneh [Friday Rocket Attack Northeast of Ashkelon and Ashdod], by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (Israel National News)
Excerpt;
“Terrorists also fired two Kassam rockets and a mortar shell on Gaza belt communities during the Sabbath.”
Olmert: No Shalit, No Open Crossings, by Ronnie Sofer
Erekat: Demand for Shalit is Blackmail
Excerpt:
Senior Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat accusing outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of “blackmail” on Saturday. Olmert had stated that Israel would not agree to a temporary truce with Hamas prior to the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
Bomb Misses IDF Patrol [on Saturday] on Gaza Border
Excerpts:
A bomb exploded on the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Saturday afternoon, narrowly missing an army patrol vehicle which was passing by.
Nobody was hurt in the attack, and no damage was reported. Immediately following the explosion, IDF troops began searching the area for the gunmen who planted the device.
The IAF bombed targets in two places in the Gaza Strip on Friday. Overnight, two weapons manufacturing facilities were destroyed in an aerial attack in the Jebalya refugee camp in the northern Strip. The IDF confirmed the strike.
On Friday afternoon the IAF aircraft struck in the southern town of Khan Yunis, Palestinian medical officials said, after two Kassam rockets were earlier fired at southern Israel.
The air strike reportedly killed one man and critically wounded another.
The IDF, confirming the strike, said the men were planning an attack against Israel.
Later Friday, the air force also struck six smuggling tunnels on the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egyptian border with Gaza.
Weapons Smuggling in Tunnels Resumes Despite Ceasefire, by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (Israel National News)
Excerpts:
Secondary explosions in four tunnels bombed by the IDF in southern Gaza late on Friday afternoon prove that arms smuggling has resumed. “Large secondary explosions were noticeable following part of the strikes, proving the presence of weapons and munitions,” IDF spokesmen said.
In mid-January, as Israel ended Operation Cast Lead against the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni signed a Memo of Understanding with the United States. She said at the time, “For a cessation of hostilities to be durable, there must be an end to the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.”
Then-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the time that the memo “provides a series of steps that the U.S. and Israel will take to stem the flow of weapons and explosives into Gaza.”
Pipe Bomb Thrown at IDF Position Near Bethlehem; None Wounded