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Long-term preparation, careful gathering of information, secret discussions, operational deception and the misleading of the public - all these stood behind the Israel Defense Forces "Cast Lead" operation against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, which began Saturday morning.
Israeli warplanes have reportedly flown low over south Lebanon as the regime's forces started their second day of attacks on Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defense Forces will call 6,500 reservists to duty, as part of the largest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip since it captured the territory in 1967.
"The Israel Defense Forces will, in the coming days, call up more reservists,"
Cabinet secretary Oved Yehezkel told reporters after ministers met for a special session Sunday to discuss the operation, launched a day earlier.
Advertisement Defense officials said some reservists had already been mobilized to help in protecting communities on the Gaza border from retaliatory Palestinian rocket salvoes. New reservists would help complete the armed forces' preparations for a possible escalation of the fighting, anofficial said.
Asked whether Israel would follow up the air strikes with a ground offensive, Barak said, "If boots on the ground will be needed, they will be there."
"Our intention is to totally change the rules of the game," he added.
In the first attack early Sunday, Palestinians said Israeli aircraft bombed a mosque near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, destroying it. Two bodies were retrieved from the rubble. The blast, just after midnight, blew out windows at the hospital, hospital officials said.
TRIPOLI, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Sunday accused Arab leaders of a "cowardly" response to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
He said they had failed to support the Palestinians in the enclave beyond offering humanitarian aid or discussing a possible Arab summit.
"These characters should be ashamed of themselves. They are trading on the name of the Palestinian cause with their cowardly, weak and defeatist stands," said Gaddafi, referring to Arab leaders and their attempts to find a common position on the Israeli raids.
Originally posted by Karlhungis
Isn't Iran planning on delivering aid to Palestine in a few days? I think that will be when things get interesting. If they try to bypass the Israeli blockade and Israel chooses to sink the ship, things could escalate quickly.
Egypt collaborated with Israel by deliberately misleading Hamas and allowing Tel Aviv to deal a blow to the movement, a report claims.
Citing diplomatic sources, the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi reported Sunday that Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman had deceived Hamas into believing that Israel would not launch an attack on the Gaza Strip in the near future.
GAZA, December 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russian diplomats have begun drawing up lists of Russian citizens for their possible evacuation from Gaza, which has been hit by massive Israeli airstrikes, the Russian embassy to Israel said on Sunday.
Embassy press attache Anastasia Fyodorova said: "We are now working in advance. As soon as we receive the lists, we'll launch the process immediately."