Haaretz reports that Israel has initiated "Operation Pillar of Cloud" against Gaza terrorists. A top Hamas terrorist responsible for the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has already been taken out:
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday killed the Hamas military chief in Gaza, Ahmed Jabari, in an airstrike. The attack comes after a four-day escalation on the Israel-Gaza border.
Jabari, 52, was the man behind the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006.
The Palestinian Islamist group said an Israeli airstrike hit a car in the Gaza Strip, killing both Jabari, who ran the organization's armed wing, the Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam, and a passenger.
Israel's Shin Bet domestic intelligence service confirmed it had carried out the attack, saying it had killed Jabari because of his "decade-long terrorist activity."
IDF Spokesperson said the purpose of the strikes was to deal a heavy blow to the Hamas command and control apparatus and to the organization's terrorist infrastructure...
Jabari is the most senior Hamas official to be killed since Operation Cast Lead in Gaza four years ago. He has long topped Israel's most-wanted list.
Jabari, a relative of one of the founders of Hamas, Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, was responsible for the attack on Kerem Shalom, when IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped and two other soldiers killed. Jabari was in charge of negotiations during Shalit's five years in captivity.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told mayors of southern Israeli cities under rocket attack that it was his responsibility to choose the right time to "exact the heaviest price" for the continual rocket fire from Gaza.
Since the flare-up with Gaza began, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have promised a sharp Israeli response to the rocket fire.
During the Be'er Sheva meeting with the southern Israeli mayors, Netanyahu said that Israel is not expected to undertake significant military action in Gaza at this stage, or to renew assassinations of Gaza militants.
"I am responsible for us choosing the right time to exact the heaviest price, and so be it," Netanyahu said. "Whoever thinks that they can damage the daily lives of residents of the south, and that they won't pay a heavy price for this – they are mistaken."
Hamas is now saying the elimination of Jabari has "opened the gates of hell" for the Israelis:
The Qassam Brigades issued a furious communique in response to Jaabari's death, saying Israel had "opened the gates of hell on itself."
The Weekly Standard provides more on Jabari and other targets:
Earlier today, Israel struck at dozens of targets inside Gaza, including Ahmed Jabari, Hamas’s chief of staff and a senior official in the organization’s military outfit, the Izz ad-din al-Qassam Brigades. Jabari was behind the abduction of Gilad Shalit, and planned the 2007 coup that left Hamas in complete control of Gaza. Sources claim that other passengers in the targeted car riding with Jabari were also killed, including his son, his bodyguard, and Ahmed al-Zahhar, the brother of Hamas’s cofounder Mahmoud al-Zahhar. According to some sources, the assassination of Jabari may be Israel’s most successful direct hit since it targeted Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus in 2008.
In addition to eliminating Jabari, Israel has also reportedly killed another military official, Raed al-Attar, Jabari's second in command. What Israeli officials are calling Operation Pillar of Defense has also concentrated on Hamas’s arsenal, especially its long- and medium-range missiles, some of which are believed capable of reaching Israel’s northernmost cities. “Israel has had more than 800 missiles fired on its citizens over the last year,” an Israeli official told me this morning. “We held fire for a year but decided that it’s enough. We won’t let Hamas hold our cities hostage.”
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