Another Day; Another Terrorist Plot Thwarted By Israel

Another day dawned on Israel, and another terrorist plot to kill Israelis was thwarted by Israeli forces manning the security fence with Gaza.

A Desert Patrol force indentified a cell of three Palestinians approaching the border fence and opened fire at them.

One of the men was killed and a second one was injured, while the third managed to escape and is currently being pursued by the soldiers.

Hamas confirmed that one of its operatives was killed in a clash with the IDF near the Kerem Shalom crossing, but did not report whether the clash occurred during an infiltration attempt.

According to Palestinian sources in Gaza, the pursuit continues inside the Strip, with IDF troops aided by an IAF helicopter.

The sources identified the gunmen as belonging to Hamas, and reported that one of the men wounded was evacuated to a hospital in Gaza.

That's the second day in a row where Palestinian terrorists attempted to breach the border with Israel. It's also the second day in a row that the terrorists were spotted and repelled.

More rockets continue to slam into Israel, and Abbas has the audacity to claim that there will be no peace without prisoner releases. Considering that among those released the last time was a terrorist who then decided to plot to murder Israelis by poisoning their food at a restaurant in Ramat Gan, and I'd suggest that prisoner swaps were a dead letter, but Olmert seems absolutely convinced that he must make still more concessions to win peace with Abbas.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians claim that their autopsy of a Reuters photographer killed yesterday shows that he was killed by an Israeli tank round. Screen caps of the last images taken from his camera show him focusing on what may be an Israeli tank just moments before a round was fired. Those aren't the images that are most interesting. We would need to know what was going on behind and around the photographer himself. Was he surrounding himself with Hamas terrorists who were grouping to attack the Israelis? We don't know, but given the way the terrorists operate, it is not outside the realm.

The cameraman's funeral was attended by thousands in Gaza. Don't doubt for one moment that his death, regardless of the circumstances, will be used to bludgeon Israel in the media and milked to the extreme by the terrorists.

UPDATE:
Carl in Jerusalem has more on the ongoing media swarm about the death of the Reuters cameraman and what Israel is likely doing to get the facts out. I agree with him that there is likely UAV video footage that may show the incident and what was going on in the vicinity of the cameraman when he was struck and killed.

UPDATE:
Once again, former President Carter has met with Hamas officials in Cairo. The guy just keeps enabling terrorists to think that the US will pressure Israel to make concession after concession at the bargaining table. That comes as fuel trucks destined for Gaza came under still more attacks from Palestinian terrorists, despite the Israelis restoring fuel shipments even as the terrorists sought to continue their attempts to damage fuel depot facilities and disrupt the fuel shipments:

The fuel supply to Gaza was renewed on Wednesday, after the transport of diesel fuel was halted for a week. On Monday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered that the fuel supply to the Gaza power station be renewed. The decision was taken after Egyptian authorities requested the move.

Two days ago, a temporary agreement was reached that would see IDF forces secure the fuel terminal until a permanent solution is found vis-à-vis the Dor Energy company, which operates the fuel terminal. The army secures the area on a permanent basis, but the agreement calls for the IDF to provide security within the facility as well.


Despite Palestinian complaints of fuel shortages, security officials have noted that fuel reserves are still available in the Strip. On Tuesday, the Palestinian electrical company cut out the power to some areas, prompting power outages in sections of Gaza City and in the northern part of the Strip.

And the Palestinians are playing games with the power supply as well. They are expert manipulators of the media and are purposefully trying to create a photo-ready situation where they think that the media will buy into claims that the woes are Israel's fault.