Jan. 14, 2009
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST

Fighting escalated in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday as the IDF tightened its grip on Gaza City, pushed deeper into the Shati refugee camp and killed close to 30 Hamas gunmen.

The combat continued despite predictions in the defense establishment that a cease-fire would be implemented in the coming days.

Senior officials in the defense establishment, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak, believe the military operations have exhausted themselves and that the time has come for a cease-fire. The assessment in the IDF is that the extensive damage caused to Hamas has restored Israel's deterrence.

"Israel has shown that it is no longer afraid of a confrontation with Hamas," a top defense official said Wednesday. "It will take Hamas years to recover from this operation."

It is unclear whether Israeli forces will immediately withdraw from Gaza once a cease-fire is in place. Egyptian and Palestinian officials were widely quoted as saying that IDF troops would remain in place for 10 days and until details on border security are worked out.

On Wednesday, Israel showed no signs of slowing its offensive, striking some 60 targets, including weapons caches, rocket launchers and some 25 smuggling tunnels.

Twenty-two soldiers were wounded. Six were lightly wounded in the northern Strip when a house collapsed on them, and several others were wounded when an anti-tank missile hit a paratroopers force near Gaza City. The air force later bombed and hit the Hamas cell behind the attack.

Two officers were moderately wounded during clashes with Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday, including Lt.-Col. Avi Balut, commander of the 101st Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade.

While Hamas is still trying to smuggle weapons into Gaza from Sinai, the IDF believes it has knocked out close to 70 percent of the tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor. Rocket attacks have also been on a decline, with less than 20 Kassams, Grad-model Katyushas and mortar shells hitting Israel throughout the day.

"Hamas is severely weakened," a top IDF officer said. "Hamas still exists, but its offensive capabilities have been severely weakened."

In one incident in Gaza City on Wednesday, paratroopers near the Shati refugee camp encountered two suicide bombers on their way to blow themselves up next to the troops. One of the bombers was killed as he ran toward the troops and the other was found during searches of a home. Bullets fired at him detonated the belt, but no soldiers were injured.

In a different area of Gaza City, an Engineering Corps force discovered 20 Katyusha rockets inside a home. The rockets were destroyed in a controlled explosion.