Escalation: Israel Green-Lights Invasion of the Gaza Strip

Israel Promises to Delay Attacks 24 Hours at Egypt's Request

Israeli military officials confirmed today that the Netanyahu government has given them a green light to launch any attacks on the Gaza Strip necessary to stop rocket fire, “including ground operations” inside the constantly besieged strip.

Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netaynahu has ruled out cooperating with any ceasefire coming out of the stirp, Israeli military officials were saying on Sunday that they believed the latest round of escalation was over. Now it seems the biggest incursion into the strip since the December 2008 invasion is in the offing.

Military officials declined to predict when the attack would happen, but the Jerusalem Post claimed that Israel agreed on Tuesday to delay its invasion for 24 hours at the request of the Egyptian junta, which is hoping to broker another ceasefire.

Though Israeli invasions of the Gaza Strip are mostly a media event inside Israel, with politicians wrangling for air time, it could also be a hugely destabilizing event for Egypt, where the junta is already contending with unrest.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.