"The operation is going as planned. Gaza is partly encircled and our forces are meeting their targets. Since the start of the operation, 500 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly members of Hamas. Our forces have suffered one dead, four seriously wounded, and eight moderately wounded," Minister of Defense Ehud Barak told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today.
Barak continued, "I send my condolences to the family that lost its son and to the families of the wounded. The decision to launch the campaign was a calculated one. We didn’t go to battle in haste, we were forced to take this action. The goal of the operation is very simple, to change the security reality in southern Israel. We are adamant in creating this new reality of no violence coming out of Gaza, not towards our civilians or towards our soldiers."
Barak added, "Hamas has suffered a very heavy blow so far, but we haven’t yet reached our goals, which is why the operation is continuing."
Operation Cast Lead entered its tenth day today. Last night, five IDF troops suffered light to moderate wounds and were evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva. The Air Force is continuing its strikes in support of the ground operation, striking a large bunker in the northern Gaza Strip, where Hamas apparently stored considerable ordnance. Palestinians reported that seven members of a single family were killed by a shell fired from an Israel Navy ship toward the Shati refugee camp.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 5, 2009
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