Back to Gabrielle Goldwater's Reports
TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel's military has been pressing for an invasion
of the Gaza Strip in an effort to reduce missile strikes on the Jewish
state.Officials said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Chief of Staff Lt.
Gen. Dan Halutz have been reviewing options for a ground attack on and
the recapture of the northern Gaza Strip. They said the military recommended
the creation of a buffer zone that would prevent Palestinian missiles from
striking strategic facilities near the Israeli city of Ashkelon."If
God forbid a rocket falls on an oil terminal in one facility or another
that would ignite, this would lead to a much more complicated story and
perhaps a harsher [Israeli] response," [Res.] Maj. Gen. Yom Tov Samia,
former chief of the military's Southern Command, said.Officials said military
planners have conducted simulations of a rapid takeover of northern Gaza.
They said a combined task force of elite units -- backed by attack helicopters,
unmanned aerial vehicles, main battle tanks and surface naval vessels --
could control an area of some 40 square kilometers within a day.
NOTE: The above is not the full item.This service contains only a small portion of the information produced
daily by Middle East Newsline. For a subscription to the full service, please
contact Middle East Newsline at:
editor@menewsline.com for further
details.