Update: Israeli Ground Attack In Gaza

Okay, reports are dribbling in at this point - this report here from CNN has some new statements from the Israelis on the intent of the ground operation as well as some typical tough rhetoric from Hamas. Also, for those who don't know, two sites do some live blogging from Israel - check them out at Israellycool and The Muqata. At Israellycool, Aussie Dave is reporting that Israeli television is saying that dozens of Hamas fighters have already been killed in the brief time the Israelis have moved into Gaza.

Here's some of that update from CNN:

"We have just a short while ago launched the second stage of the operation against Hamas infrastructure," IDF spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich told CNN.
"The goal is to try and take over some of those launching areas that were responsible for the many launches -- the thousands of launches, in fact -- toward the Israeli civilians," she said.
"Our understanding from Israeli officials is that it's going to be, at least initially, the first stage, is going to be limited in scope," CNN's Ben Wedeman said.

Hamassholes threats:

Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal promised bloodshed if Israeli ground troops enter Gaza.
"As for you, the soldiers of the enemy whose leadership are getting you ready to enter Gaza in a ground attack, you need to know that doom will await you and you will be killed, injured and captured," Meshaal, speaking in Syria, said on the Al Jazeera television network Friday.
"If the enemy got into Gaza, our people will fight from one street to the next, from one house to the other, and on every inch of the land."

Don't forget that Meshaal happens to be sitting on a bed of fluffy pillows in Damascus, Syria cuz he's too chickenshit to risk the IDF taking out his ass in Gaza or the West Bank.

Finally, more good news today on an airstrike that killed another top Hamas leader in Gaza:

An Israeli attack earlier Saturday killed Azkariah al-Jamal, the commander of Gaza City's rocket-launching squads, Palestinian and IDF sources said.

I'll be around all day and night with further updates for those who want to check back. Drive em to the sea, IDF and destroy em along the way!

Israeli ground troops enter Gaza

Abbas, who also is a member of Hamas's rival Fatah party, dissolved Gaza's Hamas-led government and declared a state of emergency in 2007. Hamas took control of the territory shortly afterward.
"We will defeat the army just like they were defeated before," Abu Thaer, spokesman for the military wing of Fatah -- the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- told the television network Al Jazeera.
"We will rub their noses in the sand. To the Arabs of 1948, today it is the time to act, to carry martyrdom operations in the heart of Israel. In case they will get in really on the ground, they will be taught a lesson that they will never forget. The Israeli army is the loser from ground operations in Gaza.
"They claim that the Palestinian resistance was hit, but we say that the resistance will not be defeated, and we will not receive them with roses. We will receive them with bombs and that will not stop, God willing," Thaer said.
Before the incursion, the Israelis used artillery for the first time in the eight-day-old conflict when Israeli tanks fired shells into Gaza from the northern and eastern borders.
Troops had been massed along the border since the IDF began its bombardment of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory December 27.
Leaflets signed by the commander of the Israeli military were dropped over northern Gaza on Saturday morning, warning residents to "leave the area immediately" to ensure their safety.
"We are trying to be as humane as possible," Leibovich said. "... The civilians are not our target. We are looking only at militants, Hamas militants."

Another airstrike killed two Hamas militants in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, Palestinian officials said.
Leibovich said Hamas militants had launched 20 rockets from Gaza into Israel by late afternoon Saturday.