Israeli Ground Forces Attack Gaza

Israeli ground forces finally attacked Gaza Saturday night, as Hamas rocket attacks against Israel continued.

After a week of heavy IAF bombing and artillery fire in which hundreds of Hamas targets were hit and in which several senior Hamas military leaders were killed, Israel finally took the plunge and sent in ground troops.

Despite Israel's heavy bombing of the past week, Hamas has launched longer-range Grad missile bombardments of southern cities such as Ofakim and Beersheva, heretofore not affected by missile attacks. Due to Hamas' recent acquisition of dozens of Iranian-made Fajr-3 missiles with potentially longer ranges, Israel's nuclear plant, 22 miles south of Beersheba, might soon be in range.

Here is an excellent summary of the current situation on the ground:

Hamas, officials said, was encountering difficulties in commanding and delivering orders to its forces.

By Sunday afternoon, the IDF had divided the Gaza Strip into two segments, in a move aimed at cutting off the flow of arms, supplies and fighters to the northern part of the Strip, as Palestinians claimed IDF tanks had taken up positions near the former settlement Netzarim and troops began surrounding Gaza City. Some 40 rockets landed in Israel on Sunday, scoring direct hits in Sderot and Ashkelon.

According to Palestinian media reports, IDF troops had taken up positions throughout the north and on the outskirts of Beit Lahiya, Sajiya, Jabalya and al Atatra. The Paratrooper's, Golani and Givati Brigades were all operating inside Gaza. In the south, near the Dahaniyeh Airport, Palestinians also reported on clashes with IDF troops.

Military sources said that since Operation Cast Lead was launched last week over 1,000 targets had been bombed by the Air Force. On Sunday, the Palestinian death toll also climbed past 500 as IDF troops killed close to 40 Hamas gunmen during the ground operation in northern Gaza.

Defense officials said that the IDF operation was having an effect on Hamas's command-and-control capabilities and that the group was not able to mobilize large forces to fight against the IDF. Officials said that it was likely that a number of senior Hamas operatives and terror chiefs were hiding and conducting their operations from within Shifa Hosptial in Gaza City...

Military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Cabinet that Hamas was using mosques, public institutions and private houses as ammunition stores...

Senior Hamas terrorist Hussam Hamdan, who was in charge of Grad-model Katyusha rocket cells in northern Gaza - behind the attacks on Beersheba and and Ofakim - was killed in an IAF strike in Khan Younis. Another senior Hamas terrorist, Muhammad Hilo, was killed in the same strike. Hilo, the IDF said, was in charge of the Hamas special forces in Khan Younis...

The Hamas Interior Ministry said it was still in control of Gaza and had captured residents collaborating with Israel, as well as traders exploiting the situation to inflate their prices.

Note that last line -- despite the Israeli ground forces attacking Gaza, Hamas still has enough control on the ground to eliminate political opponents and other "undesirables". There is still a lot of work to do.