IDF kills Three - Correction: Four killed in Beirut Terror

Bei einem zweiten Luftangriff am frühen Freitag Morgen werden zwei Hamas-Mitglieder in der Zone Rafah getötet. Unklar verbleibt der erste Vorfall, der bereits hier berichtet wurde: Bei einem Luftangriff auf einen LKW wurde ein Hamas-Mitglied und ein mutmaßlicher Zivilist getötet und weitere Personen verletzt. Ob die LKW-LAdung einen Angriff rechtfertigte ist nicht bekannt. Die PFLP bekennt sich zu einem Raketenabschuß [2] auf die israelische Militäranlage Nazal Oz, die israelische Seite berichtet von einer Qassam auf Sderot. Während die gestrigen Ereignisse am Checkpoint Ras Hamis unverändert bleiben wird die folgende, stark korregierte Version über den Vorfall in Kfar Etzion verbreitet: In a separate incident on Thursday evening, in the Israeli settlement of Kfar Etzion, south of Bethlehem, three Israeli settlers were stabbed by two Palestinian resistance fighters who entered the settlement carrying knives. The Palestinians were shot dead at the scene. The settlers were taken to hospital and are reported to be in a stable condition. The two Palestinians have been identified as Muhammad Fathi Sabarna and Mahmoud Khaled Sabarna from Beit Ummar, south of Bethlehem. Both men had recently been released from an Israeli prison. They had each served a year after being found guilty of beating up an Israeli settler and taking his gun. According to the Israeli daily newspaper Ma'arev the two Palestinians were wearing military uniforms and had a gun and a knife. They entered a room where around 12 soldiers and Israeli settlers were gathered. Speaking in Hebrew, they ordered the soldiers to stand up. "They were wearing Israeli military uniforms. I thought they were joking and we did not take them seriously," one settler there told Ma'ariv. "The man who was holding the knife started screaming, telling us to raise our hands while the other pointed his gun at us. The other one stabbed the settlers, then I approached the one who was holding the knife and attacked him. We struggled and I killed him," he added. Another Israeli soldier heard the shooting and ran into the hall, firing on the two men, the newspaper reported. Nach derzeitigem Stand der Dinge handelt es sich um Angehörige der Hamas, die sich gerade offiziell zu dem Anschlag bekannt hat. Soeben von von einem toten Palästineser in der Gegend von Hebron nach "clashes" mit der IDF berichtet.

Ein folgenschweres Bombenattentat wird aus Beirut gemeldet. A powerful bomb targeting a security convoy killed at least 10 people and wounded many more in an eastern area of Beirut (Hazmieh - Chevrolet Area), local television reported. An army official put the death toll at ten and told AFP that Captain Wissam Eid, a member of the Internal Security Forces, was one of the dead. C. Sydow hat den update: Das Attentat galt offenbar Wissam Eid, hochrangiger Mitarbeiter des Geheimdienstes der Inneren Sicherheitskräfte (ISF) im Libanon.

An der Grenze Gaza-Ägypten "stabilisiert" sich die Lage wie man zu sagen pflegt: [Vor Minuten wurde eine neue Stelle im Zaun aufgerissen ... Palästinenser strömen nach Ägypten..]
Egyptian border guards with riot shields formed human chains Friday, trying to hinder the flow of Gazans into Egypt in an apparent attempt to gradually reseal the breached border, but thousands of Palestinians managed to sneak through other openings. At one point, guards aimed a water cannon above the heads of people, not at them, to keep them back. The Egyptian guards were posted along the main border breach, where a crowd quickly grew into the thousands, frustrated at no longer being let in. Some threw stones at the Egyptians, but quickly stopped after being booed. At other checkpoints, Palestinians continued to pour into Egyptian territory, loaded with empty canisters to fill with fuel sold in the Egyptian border town of Rafah. [Für Leute mit tieferem Grundwissen eine Diskussion zwischen Cobban - Edelstein zum Thema]. Ein Haaretz-editorial: While politicians and the media are waiting with bated breath for publication of the Winograd report on the Second Lebanon War, a new situation is taking shape on the Egyptian border that might eventually result in a new investigative committee. The diplomatic and security situation that arose on the Israeli-Egyptian border once the Egypt-Gaza border was flung wide open has apparently not yet penetrated the Israeli consciousness. But it is time to start asking pointed questions about the events of this week instead of about those of July 2006. The border with Egypt was breached in a single moment, with no warning. It is impossible to refrain from asking whether any of our decision makers, or any of those who whisper in their ears, foresaw this scenario and prepared for it. When Vice Premier Haim Ramon boasts of the impressive decision-making process that preceded last fall's military operation in Syria [1], his words sound bizarre in light of what is happening in the South. Und Amir Oren, "And end of occupations": The conquest of the Gaza Strip is about to end, aside from ongoing battles between Khan Yunis and Rafah. At midnight between Friday and Saturday the chief of staff convenes a meeting of, among others, the GOC Southern Command, the director of Military Intelligence and operational officers. The chief of staff demands that the armed militants in Gaza be informed that they have to surrender to the Israel Defense Forces. "Anyone who doesn't show up will be shot." His order is unequivocal: "Anyone seen in the streets with a rifle must be given an immediate trial and executed." ... Meanwhile, Hamas threatened to send half a million Palestinians marching toward the Erez border crossing in northern Gaza. "The next time there is a crisis in the Gaza Strip, Israel will have to face half a million Palestinians who will march toward Erez," said Ahmed Youssef, a senior Hamas official. "This is not an imaginary scenario and many Palestinians would be prepared to sacrifice their lives." Die Hamas hat mittlerweile auch "Truppen" an die Grenze karren lassen. Offensichtlich sind Verhandlungen über die permanente Verfügbarkeit der Grenzestation durch die Amerikaner vorerst behindert worden. Da man sich jedoch gleichzeitig in NY immer noch gegen eine gemeinsame UN-Resolution bezüglich des Gazastreifens und der israelischen Blockade sträubt ist mit einer Einigung über das wochenende zu rechnen, falls es nicht doch noch zu größeren Gewalttätigkeiten kommt.

[1] Ramon told Channel 10 on Wednesday that the decision making process was "good and professional," adding, "You all hear from foreign media sources what happened at the start of September. What took place, according to the foreign sources, was the result of a certain decision making process…which was exceptional in the opinion of everyone involved."

Keine große Überraschung stellt hingegen dieses Produkt der Phantasie dar: "Hamas in Lebanon Hamas planned to assassinate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Palestinian Minister of Intelligence Tawfiq At-Tirawi in the West Bank, the Israeli daily newspaper Ma'ariv reported on Friday. According to Ma'ariv, orders were issued by the Hamas leadership in Lebanon to the military wing of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and from there to a Hamas cell in the town of Al-Thahreyah, south of the West Bank city of Hebron." [Maan] Die Hamas hatte letzte Woche at-Tirawi vorgeworfen an einem SMA gegen Hamas-Chef Haniyeh beteiligt gewesen zu sein.