|
Nizmit Hill, Israel/Tel Aviv: The goal of the ground and air assault launched early on Wednesday in Gaza, say Israeli army officers here, is to free a kidnapped soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit. But the analysis offered by rank-and-file soldiers may be closer to the truth. "I don't believe at this point we'll be able to save Gilad Shalit, but we have to go in anyway," says Eliraz conscripted troops can only give their first names. Yvgeny, from the elite Givati Brigade, nods. "They'll know next time that they can't just go and kidnap our soldiers and expect to get away with it." Israel's goal in Gaza is to make Palestinians uncomfortable enough to think twice about capturing other soldiers, or in the language floating around the camp here, to teach them a lesson.
On the peak overlooking Gaza, senior military officials said that they will do everything they can to save Corporal Shalit. In Israel's first military operation in Gaza since its disengagement, thousands of troops, backed by warplanes and tanks, moved into the coastal strip. The army knocked out nearly 75 per cent of Gaza's electricity supply, destroyed major highways, and struck fields in northern and southern Gaza in a show of force meant to intimidate Palestinian militants. So far no casualties have been reported since the Israeli offensive began. Rocket On Nizmit Hill, where the crash of a Kassam rocket could be heard and felt, soldiers mused that Israel would wind up spending much longer here than it did during the week-long evacuation of colonists from Gaza. General Galant suggested that from Israel's point of view, the ball is in the Palestinians' court. "What we see is that the men in Hamas and in the Palestinian National Authority are capable of giving us more information, or of influencing the people who are holding him," Galant said of the captured soldier. If Shalit is returned and the Kassam rockets stop, he indicated, the Israeli offensive would end.
|
