Israel is demonstrating to the Palestinians that they won't put up with any kind of terrorist act against their troops and they have the military power to crush them if necessary:
Israeli ground troops pushed into the Gaza Strip early Wednesday in a military operation aimed at freeing a captured soldier whose fate has transfixed much of the country. The incursion was the military's first major move into Gaza since the Israeli government withdrew all troops and settlers from the enclave nine months ago.I think that they are about to find out!
An undisclosed number of troops reportedly entered the strip at its southern end, near the city of Rafah on the Egyptian border. Hours earlier, Israeli military officials said, military aircraft bombed two bridges in central Gaza to prevent the gunmen who abducted Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, during a Sunday attack on an army post at the strip's southeastern edge from moving him around Gaza or into Egypt.
Another airstrike hit Gaza's power station, knocking out electricity throughout the strip and igniting a huge fire that lit the pre-dawn sky. A third bridge was also reported hit.
[...]
Throughout the day Tuesday, Israeli tanks and troops assembled along Gaza's periphery while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for Israel to allow more time for international diplomacy to secure the soldier's release. But a tour of several towns in southern Gaza suggested that the population here supports holding Shalit until Israel releases some of the 8,503 Palestinians being held in Israel.
The groups behind the kidnapping have demanded the release of the 421 Palestinian women and minors in Israeli prisons in exchange for information about Shalit's welfare. Olmert rejected the demand on Monday, threatening instead a "broad and comprehensive" military operation unless Shalit is freed immediately.
"What can they do that they haven't done before?" said Mohanned Abu Nada, a 33-year-old Fatah supporter in Khan Younis.
Read the rest here.
