Into Gaza (and into my blog –CK has finally fixed it so I can get back into the blog. He thinks it was hacked as the 404 not found page was being sent directly to my IP address and no one else’s and the admin password had been altered.) So far, it has been handled just right. They waited and let those rockets fall while not doing a thing in retaliation. We sat by as more than 300 rockets and mortars landed among civilians in just 3 days, adding to those that fell in the days before and the more than 3,000 that had been launched at those civilian communities this year alone. The rockets fell on us as we treated in our hospitals Palestinians who were hit by Hamas rockets that mis-fired and fell among their own people. The rockets fell on us as convoys of aid, fuel, medical supplies and food made their way across our border and into Gaza.
Because we waited, two important things were won. First, justification for a much larger blow against the terrorists than simply going after a rocket-launcher here and one there. The latter strategy is not only ineffective but gives the international community a chance to spin the situation as a tit for tat equal responsibility for the situation. Clearly, when the attacks are coming consistently only from one direction, it cannot be spun as tit for tat. Even Abbas has said that Hamas is responsible and brought this on themselves. The second thing we won was the element of surprise.
Ema, by the way, we’d talked about the possibility of moving to Kiryat Gat in the south –we’re going north 
Kiryat Gat lies 43 kilometres (27 mi) north of Beer Sheva and yesterday it was hit by a rocket barrage launched from Gaza. All those folks in Beer Sheva who didn’t think Hamas had rockets that could reach them are obviously doing a quick turn-around in their thinking. Today, for the first time, grad rockets landed in Ashdod –41 kms from Gaza’s border –and injuring two.
Things are far from over and now that they’ve started, they should continue until Hamas is neutralized and Gaza returned to the people of Gaza, whom Hamas is holding hostage –Egypt is reporting that Hamas is even refusing to allow the injured to cross the border for medical treatment.
Hi Yaeli,
Please keep blogging on this. It’s incredibly important that you and other Israeli bloggers keep the rest of us posted on events, given the untrustworthiness of most of the MSM.
I guess you are out of (immediate) harm’s way in Tel Aviv, but stay safe and keep well.
Hi Yael
I think you a right, and it`s a good blog you have here.
Please stay safe
Nice to have your blog back up and running. I missed you!
Yeah, I think they are doing Gaza correctly. Something has to be done and it is well past time Hamas and Gazians learn that if they persist, they’ll be the ones paying the heavier price. It’s been far too easy for them up until now.
OK, this is more like it. Israel is handling Gaza correctly, and I agree, something had to be done. Who wouldn’t retaliate if the situation had happened to them? Karma’s a bitch.
The service that bloggers are providing is indispensable. Many of the mainstream media organizations are presenting a completely false picture of the situation (knowingly doing so). Lies by omission mostly: Not reporting that there has never been a ceasefire that Hamas honored at any time, not reporting that 3,000 rockets were fired into Israel this year alone, not reporting that rockets (and those which are stronger) have rained down on Israel for the past few days and that it was Hamas who did not want to renew the “ceasefire”. No mention of the fact that Israel has attempted to avoid harm to civilians and the fact that it is just damn difficult considering that Hamas hides among the residential areas. No mention of the children who were killed by Hamas operatives who misfired a rocket and hit a home in Gaza instead, but hey, but of course, featuring pictures of children in Gaza who were injured. Do not mistake me: I want no harm to come to the people or Gaza, only for Hamas to stop their attacks on Israel and to release their stranglehold on the people in Gaza. There is no future in terrorism for the Palestinian people. This situation is a position that Israel was forced into by Hamas. The obligation of any country is to protect its citizens. The bombardment of Israel towns cannot continue. The targets of Hamas are ALL civilian. A point that the mainstream media has chosen to ignore.
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I agree completely with Lynne. I read through all the articles on the BBC’s site on Sunday 28.12.08 and from reading their articles you would think that Israel attacked completely without provocation.
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Please explain to me.
The entire Gaza strip has been under an Israeli embargo - the border crossings have been closed by Israel, the seas are closed off by the Israeli navy.
In short, nothing has been able to go in or out of the Gaza strip, outside of what little Israel has allowed.
People in Gaza are out of work, hungry, have noone else to depend on but the UN food supply, which is lacking.
Does this not remind you of the ghettos in Nazi Germany??!! An entire Jewish population, locked in by outside forces. The outside forces decide what goes in, what goes out. Was there not a huge uprising in the Polish ghetto, which was brutally beat down by the Nazis?
How can you not compare the same situation?? How can you do the exact same thing as the Nazis??
Mind you, I’m Dutch, my grandparents hid Jews in their attick while being made to station Germans below.
Tell me, how is it not the same???