Targeted IDF strike kills Islamic Jihad militant in Gaza
After third IAF bombing in broad daylight in just months, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warns: Don't test us; Islamic Jihad vows to retaliate.
By Reuters Tags: Israel news Gaza HamasA senior Islamic Jihad militant was killed Tuesday by an Israel Air Force missile while he was driving a motorcycle in the southern Gaza Strip, according to local Palestinian officials.
Gaza emergency services said that the targeted militant Mohammed A-Najar, 25, was killed immediately and that an additional casualty had been evacuated to hospital for treatment.
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A masked Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant stands with a machine gun during a march in preparation for the rally, Oct. 28, 2010. |
| Photo by: AP |
Israel Defense Forces sources confirmed the attack, and said that Najar had been planning a terrorist attack within Israeli territory and with rocket-launching cells.
The Islamic Jihad said Najar had previously been wounded in the head
in fighting during the three-week Gaza offensive that Israel launched in late 2008.
It threatened to retaliate and said in a written statement: "All options are open to respond to this assassination crime."
Responding to reports of the strike, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he preferred "not to elaborate" but warned: "I recommend all these groups not to test us. If they continue to
shoot at us, then there will be more strikes on the other side of the border."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing foreign journalists in Jerusalem, warned the militant groups of severe consequences if the rocket fire continued, although he did not specify what Israel might do.
"They will make a terrible mistake to test our will to defend our people. They will make a terrible, terrible mistake," Netanyahu said.
This was the third time in recent months that the IDF has carried out a targeted assassination in broad daylight in the Gaza Strip. The two previous targets were members of the Army of Islam.
The fact that Tuesday's attack targeted a member of Islamic Jihad, a militant organization close to Hamas, indicates that the IDF believes groups close to the Gaza rulers have resumed their activities against Israel, despite pledging to show restraint.
Just two days ago, Hamas said it had begun talks with other militant factions in the Gaza Strip to urge them to stop firing rockets at Israel, attacks that have raised Palestinian fears of a new Israeli offensive.
The attack on Tuesday was the third IDF strike on Gaza in less than two days; early Monday, the air force bombed two "terrorist sites", or locations used by radical groups to train militants or as outposts.
The IDF described those strikes as retaliation against a rise in rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militants from the coastal enclave.
Also Monday, a 65-year-old Gaza man was shot dead by a soldiers at an Israeli
guard tower on the border, according to Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Adham Abu Salmia.
The IDFsaid soldiers fired warning shots toward a Palestinian who entered the no-go buffer zone between Israel and Gaza. The gunfire did not hit the Palestinian, the IDF said. .
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as long as they heap shame onthemselves by holding Gilad Shalit kidnapped
Wonder goober Ehud warns the enemy don't test us,we will retreat and surrender more land to you if you do.
The Israeli side has only programmed itself into fighting wars of this kind. This is the biggest killing machine in the Middle East supported by USA. US has supported them with Arms, Money, equipment, training, cover-up, and VETO to cause as much trouble to the muslim world as possible. US has acting in disguise that this is not the case. Every action IDF takes reflects indirectly to US support.
Because when Cast Lead II comes along, Israel will show no mercy like it did the first time around
or does it indicate a fabricated excuse for another Cast Lead the purpose of which is only one. Divert attention from the failed peace talks since Iran as an acceptable excuse exists no more. A word of caution. Another Cast Lead will only ensure certain Israeli committers of war crimes will be receiving an overdue one way ticket to The Hague. And a Palestinian state with 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital will regardless of attempts to derail be in place in 2011.
when will leaders understand that the safety of their people must be their main consern? ISRAEL IS THERE TO STAY .HAMAS has to go on and try to put an end to their hate for israel.Afterall Palestine(the name given by the Romans to the jewish homeland) is not just israel , it is gaza and ramallah and jordan. Read history ,look at a map, and the real story will be clear.
As tragic as the killing of any human being is, -as shocking for those who may have witnessed it- it is always the lesser evil if Mohammed A-Najar was launching rockets, and planning a terror onslaught on Israelis. Time for PIJ to weigh their playing with fire, and if not, face the consequences.
It's Hamas which is responsible for Gaza ,wasting resources to kill Jihad man is what Hamas wants.
You hit the terrorists alone. Not a Jewish kindergarten
What is wrong with going after the commanders of the unit doing the shooting? I realize that it may not achieve the fantasies of exterminating Palestinians non-combatants so dear to some of our corespondents, but it makes both military and ethical sense.
What about the many bystanders including children who have been killed or injured during Israel's "targeted precision strikes?"
This is just more of the same old reversal of aggressor and victim by means of despicable propaganda. Israel does nothing but prevent peace and justice, keeps murdering, evicting and imprisoning Palestinians, then threatens disproportionate retaliation if anybody should dare to fight back by the same violent means Israel claims a legitimate self-defense. No amount of hasbara can any longer disguise the fact that Israel is a criminal and lunatic state.
Now Soviet Russia is history, and soon you will be too.
The IDF would do nothing at if the palestinians stopped terrorizing isarel. This is an easy point which most 5 year olds can understand. Cause and Effect Barka!
They removed every last Israeli from Gaza - even their dead - with the one exception being IDF soldier Gilad Shalit who remains in Hamas' hands. Gaza had the chance to start building an independent state. Instead, they accelerated their war against Israel. So I say good riddance to bad seed. If Islamic Jihad is intent on making war on Israel, its combatants are fair game.
Murdering the thugs and murderers before they can strike innocent Jews is totally acceptable, and required. You disagree, Barka ? This thug's elimination could save on life, making this absolutely a worthwhile event. The criminals and lunatics are in Gaza and the WB. These criminal thugs have no value for human life. Israel will, hopefully, show no mercy, and will no longer put up with this aggression.
more honour to Israel. continue targeted assassinations, they are the best means to achieve shalom
GOOD WORK!
Long, long overdue. Stick this in your pipe, Goldstone.
barking dogs don't bite! and Hamas knows it.
What will happen when followers of Hamas adopt the same policy against Israels supporters on the streets of New York or Golders Green?
First, Hamas adopt the same policy against Israel when they drop missils inside Israel daily. Do you know that it happens daily?. Second, yo have to use the context in the right way. The death penalty its against Israeli citizens that are outside the law. The are terrorists attempting on the lifes of another humans and doesnt meter if they are Israelies or not.
First, Hamas adopt the same policy against Israel when they drop missils inside Israel daily. Do you know that it happens daily?. Second, yo have to use the context in the right way. The death penalty its against Israeli citizens that are outside the law. The are terrorists attempting on the lifes of another humans and doesnt meter if they are Israelies or not.
as terrorists tend to be.
When did Israel claim not to have a death penalty? Secondly, this is not the streets of NY, it is a war zone in Gaza. Islamic Jihad has admitted the weasel popped is one their terrorists. Now go back to Monsey where reality of the Jewish State does not exist
Islamic Jihad (the party involved in recent rocket attacks) has ALREADY developed a policy of attacks upon Israeli civilians.
Are you daft? Israel's supporters in NY and London are not planning terrorist attacks in Gaza. Where is your moral equivalency?
Too bad there's no Death Penalty. Had there been one, Shalit would be free today. The 1000 Islamo-terrorists who have killed innocent Israelis would be executed for their vicious crimes against women and children. The Hamas currency would dry up, effectively ending this farce of negotiation.
Try it and let's see
"The IDF assesses that Hamas is not interested in a full-scale escalation, but that the movement's echelon has grown into unprecedented despair regarding the lack of progress in prisoner swap negotiations with Israel and with the stalled reconciliation talks with the rival Fatah faction." - Haaretz// What a nice self-serving theory, but clearly nonsensical. Hamas were in more desperate situations than today's. Right now, Israel is increasing the number of items allowed into Gaza, and there is talk (or even some action) about allowing some exports from Gaza. So the situation in Gaza is actually improving and there is no reason for despair. I think Hamas is simply acting CLEVERLY. The peace negotiations between Abbas and Israel have lead no where, as Hamas has predicted all along and every Palestinian knows that. What Hamas had claimed since its inception was that the only way to extract anything from Israel was by force. And now they are using FORCE, but only in a measured way, they allow the smaller terror group to fire, but just enough not to provoke Israel to a major action in Gaza. This is a demo for the Palestinians, telling them: Just watch us and watch Abbas: He leads you nowhere and we are the ones carrying out the struggle. I think this is a great political message from Hamas' point of view, and they will reap the benefits if/when Palestinians in the West Bank have to do some voting or express preferences.
Full scale war and disproportinate response from Israel towards basically unarmed and weak Gaza does not make Israel look strong. Gaza is under seige and Gazans have right to defend themselves from the LUNATIC TERROR STATE. If you feel ISrael is very strong than attack Iran's nuclear reactor. I predict the balance of power in the Middle East will change in just the next few decades in favour of Arabs that will put a full stop to Israels draconian steps against its neighboring countries.
We don't have to send in our soldiers as cannon fodder for terrorists. Let them fear us from the sky.
All Israel did was cut the expenses of occupying Gaza.
I hope he wore a helmet
Israel completely left Gaza in 2005. It's still shoulders the burden of supplying it with food, electricity, health and water. No other country is this humane, as to show such mercy for her enemies.