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Israel bombs Gaza; rockets hit in Israel - Hamas military wing calls off
truce as strikes target Gaza*


By the CNN Wire Staff
August 19, 2011 7:56 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: An Israeli airstrike targets a motorcycle, kills 3,
Palestinian sources say
* They say strikes kill 3 militants in central Gaza
* Militants fire 16 rockets from Gaza into Israel on Friday, Israel
says
* Attacks on buses, civilian vehicles and soldiers leave seven
Israelis dead on Thursday
Jerusalem (CNN) -- In a move that could portend an increase in violence
between Israelis and Palestinians, the Hamas military wing announced it
was ending a de facto two-year truce with Israel early Saturday.
A statement from the Izzedine al Qassam brigades was broadcast on a
Hamas-run radio station, announcing: "There is no truce with the Israeli
occupation under the continuation of committing massacres against the
Palestinian people without justification."
"We call for groups to join in calling against the crimes of the Israeli
occupation," the statement continued.
Hamas, which controls the Palestinian government in Gaza, has maintained
what it has described as a de facto truce with Israel since the end of
the three-week Gaza War that began in late 2008. But it has carried out
attacks targeting Israelis in response to what it has described as acts
of Israeli aggression. Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by
the United States and the European Union.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military continued to attack sites in Gaza on
Saturday as tensions between it and militants remained high two days
after one of the worst terrorist attacks on Israelis in recent years.
One Israeli strike targeted a motorcycle early Saturday morning in Gaza
City, killing three, according to Palestinian medical and security
sources. Among the dead was a 5-year-old boy, they said.
The Israeli military declined immediate comment on the report.
The deaths, if confirmed, would lift the death toll from Israeli
military strikes in the wake of Thursday's attacks in southern Israel to
more than a dozen.
An Israeli strike killed two militants in central Gaza late Friday,
according to Palestinian security sources. The Israeli military
confirmed a "hit," saying its aircraft targeted a "squad of terrorists"
shortly after they launched rockets at Israel.
"The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and IDF
soldiers, and will respond with determination to any attempt to use
terror against the State of Israel. The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist
organization solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating
from the Gaza Strip," the Israeli military said in a statement.
A rocket that hit the Israeli port city of Ashdod injured six people,
including one who suffered serious wounds, the Israeli medical services
said. It was one of 16 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel on Friday,
the Israeli military said.
Also Friday, Israeli jets bombed a group of militants in and around the
Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing one member of the
Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza, whose leaders were targeted by
Israeli strikes Thursday, Palestinian medical sources said.
An airstrike north of Gaza City killed a boy in a home and injured five
early Friday, Palestinian medical officials said. Three other people
were injured in a strike on a Hamas government compound south of the
city, and Israeli jets also struck a militant training field, they said.
The Israeli military said it hit two weapons manufacturing sites in
central Gaza and "terror activity" sites in northern and southern Gaza.
Israeli forces also fired on a militant as he prepared to fire a rocket
in northern Gaza; the military said the militant fled.
The attacks came a day after assailants killed seven Israelis in a
string of attacks on buses, civilian vehicles and soldiers in southern
Israel on Thursday.
Israeli police said an eighth Israeli, a special operations officer, was
killed late Thursday in fighting with Sinai border infiltrators.
"We all witnessed today an attempt to escalate the terrorist war against
Israel by launching of attacks from the Sinai," Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said. "If there is someone who thinks that the state of Israel
will let this pass, he is mistaken."
The first retaliatory Israeli airstrike occurred just west of Rafah,
close to the Egyptian border, and killed six people, Palestinian medical
and security sources said. The victims were five Popular Resistance
Committees members and the son of one of the members.
Israel and Palestinians militants in Gaza have been at odds for years.
Rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel prompted a major offensive in
Gaza by Israeli forces in late 2008.
There have been many terror attacks in Israel over the years.
In March 2008, eight students of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem
were killed when a gunman infiltrated the Jewish religious school and
opened fire in the library, where about 80 people were gathered, mostly
teenagers. The assailant, a resident of East Jerusalem, was killed by an
IDF officer.
With the increase in tensions, entrance to the Al Aqsa mosque in East
Jerusalem for Friday prayers was restricted to Palestinian men over the
age of 50 with Israeli identification cards and Palestinian women older
than 40.
Dozens of young Palestinians tried to break through a police roadblock
in East Jerusalem, police said. The rioters were dispersed with a water
cannon and stun grenades.
Before Thursday's attacks, Israel had been on heightened alert in the
south of the country, and an elite counterterrorism unit was in the
area, according to an Israeli government source who doesn't want to be
identified because he cannot speak publicly about the matter. The
counterterrorism unit and Israeli soldiers responded to the attacks, the
source said.
Across the border, the Egyptian army and police are cracking down in an
"anti-terror" operation in the Sinai area of Egypt, state-owned media
reported Tuesday, as reports emerged of Osama bin Laden's doctor
surfacing in the area.
Police said they found hand grenades, machine guns, rocket-propelled
grenades and ammunition in the operation that targets Sinai "terror
cells" suspected in attacks on a gas pipeline to Israel and a police
station in the border town of el-Arish.
Since the overthrow of the Mubarak regime, the security situation in
Sinai has dramatically deteriorated. Senior Egyptian officials said
several weeks ago that more than 23,000 prisoners escaped from prisons
in Egypt in late January and February because of the breakdown in regime
authority.
About one-third of the escapees have been recaptured, but many
apparently traveled to the Sinai to take advantage of the relative
absence of state security. Many of the weapons looted from police
stations ransacked during the revolution ended up in the Sinai.
Travel between Egypt and Gaza has become much easier since Egypt's
military council reopened the border crossing at Rafah in late May. But
along with traders -- and Gazans just wanting a break from their cramped
sliver of territory -- there are signs that Islamist groups have begun
taking advantage of weaker security. The crossing is the only land
passage out of Gaza not directly under Israeli control.
Questions also are being raised about the Egyptian military presence in
the demilitarized zone in Sinai, which was created under the terms of
the Camp David Agreement signed in 1978 between Egypt and Israel.

CNN's Kevin Flower and Michal Zippori contributed to this report.

http://groups.google.com/group/bible-prophecy-news/browse_thread/thread/423dc087158897f9#

Between Egypt, Gaza Hamas, & Ajad's most recent threats..

Things certainly are heating up over there, which is leading up to the Psalm 83, Isaiah 17, AND to the Ezekiel 38/39 war JUST before we're Raptured outta here.

Even so, PLEASE come quickly, Lord Jesus!!!

Maranatha!
Tammy

valerie, if things are this bad now i wonder what will happen in the upcoming day of rage planned for Sept. I have to agree with Tammy, it looks like Psalms 83 is getting ready to start, and it may be that another arab country is who destroys Damascus according to the news reports about turkey getting involved...

SisterNChrist, & Linda,

Those were my exact thoughts!!!

Keep watching, maybe our departure is even sooner than September!!!

Praying along with all of you, that Jesus is Coming for us this year!

2011 we're going home to Heaven!!!

Blessings & Love in Jesus,

Valerie