The raid, on an army post inside Israel, carried out by Palestinian groups including the governing Hamas, has led to an Israeli incursion into southern Gaza in order to recover a kidnapped soldier. Below is an excerpt from the Reuters report, and underneath are interesting views from the region, courtesy of BBC monitoring:
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli tanks backed by helicopter gunships and artillery drove into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, stepping up pressure on Palestinian militants to release a kidnapped soldier.
To the sound of heavy machinegun fire, armoured vehicles entered Gaza near the southern town of Rafah less than a year after Israel pulled thousands of soldiers and settlers from the territory following 38 years of occupation.
There were no immediate clashes or casualties. Israeli forces deployed at Gaza's disused international airport, a strategic vantage point, apparently waiting to see if militants holding Corporal Gilad Shalit would give him up without a fight.
In his first public remarks since the operation began, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said military activities in Gaza would continue "over the coming days" and Israel "would not hesitate to take extreme steps" to secure the soldier's freedom.
"We have no intention of recapturing the Gaza Strip. We have no intention of staying there. We have a central goal and that is to bring Gilad home," he said.
Read the full article here.
AMIR RAPAPORT IN ISRAEL'S MAARIV
In the first stage the IDF operation is intended primarily to support the political effort, which will continue. This is still an attempt to "explain" to the Palestinians, this time without using words, what they have not yet grasped: If Gilad Shalit is not returned soon the situation in Gaza will be bad and bitter. And what words cannot do, the pictures of the tanks and armoured personnel carriers, the siege on Gaza and the halting of power supplies can - this is at least what Israel hopes for.
The permits granted to Southern Command were very measured: a few fingers on the ground and much noise in the air... Yet in Israel they understand that continuing restraint will only increase the blackmail and encourage a wave of kidnappings that is already happening in the West Bank today. The policy of restraint has become a boomerang endangering the lives of Israeli citizens.
At times it seems we scare ourselves much more than the enemy is able to... This mistake continues even now in the way we conduct ourselves towards Hamas and the way in which we react to the abduction of Cpl Gilad Shalit. As a sane, sovereign state the IDF should have liquidated Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and all his government who are seeking the destruction of Israel... The removal of Haniya would have shaken the nerves of those wanting to destroy the state of Israel.
At such moments we feel a strong yearning for Ariel Sharon. We look at the current prime minister [Ehud Olmert] and defence minister [Amir Peretz] who do not shut their mouths, but deliver speeches, give interviews... near every open microphone and our souls go out for that man who in situations of crisis knew how to stay silent. Ariel Sharon was considered on the eve of his illness a credible leader by 70-80% of Israel's citizens. The credibility of Olmert and Peretz does not reach half this magnitude - perhaps one third. What is left when there is no credibility? The rumble of engines, of course.
It is painful to watch Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni try to contend with the terrible outcome of the Palestinian terror strike against the IDF. They use so many fancy and angry words. They sound so resolute. And yet, they have nothing useful to say. Two soldiers are dead, a third is now the prisoner of jihadist's killers, seven are wounded, an IDF border post has been overrun, and a world view and a security doctrine have been blown to smithereens... When you empower terrorists, terrorists are empowered.
How come all the energy, willingness and empathy that is going into saving one soldier from captivity does not emerge in the bloody rut in which the Israel-Palestinian conflict is played out? Why does Israeli society take for granted the continuation of the armed struggle, with all its fatalities and wounded, and not do all in its power to stop it, while at the same time being moved so deeply by the sight of the Shalit family's terrible suffering?
True, the Israeli government headed by Olmert can oppress, destroy and assassinate... However, our people will as usual stand up and will not wave a white flag. This is the destiny of a people that is unjustly treated and that is struggling at a time when its children are being starved and torn into pieces with air-to-surface missiles and heavy artillery shells.
Gaza is living with the daily death imposed by the Israeli military machine. What sovereignty can be left after the land, sea and aerial siege, as well as economic suffocation and continued transgression of daily Palestinian life? Let our prisoners in Israeli jails be freed and let the soldier get back safely to his people. This is a just and legal demand of a people living under occupation.
If the international powers really want to prevent Israeli military reaction and stop the Israeli government's misconduct and arrogance, why in addition to enlisting their diplomatic missions to release the abducted soldier do they not defuse the Israeli military operation? This will help innocent Palestinians avoid another bloodbath, massacres and total destruction.
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