ongoing and consistent

A little more evidence that Israel might intend to create a cordon sanitaire against missile attack from Northern Gaza by driving out the population:

Defense Minister Ehud Barak is seeking legal approval to evacuate thousands of residents of Gaza City to locations in the south of the Strip to enable the IDF to attack terror infrastructure without hurting civilians, Channel 2 reported Wednesday evening.

The report came after the Security Cabinet decided Wednesday morning to act in an "ongoing and consistent" manner to end rocket attacks and other terrorist activity from the Gaza Strip. The cabinet held a special meeting to debate the response to ongoing rocket attacks on Ashkelon and the western Negev.

Via. This would also have the advantage from Israel's point of view of drowning Hamas fighters in a flow of civilians. Spackerman is doubtful on the grounds that Israel just wouldn’t do such a thing. It strikes me as consistent with what is being done, though it may also be consistent with other things.

Comments

[Barry Freed]

OT: has anyone seen any good blogging or reporting on the recent military developments in Sri Lanka?

[a very public sociologist]

Am I being thick? How can the "terrorist infrastructure" be attacked by just evacuating civilians? As a genuinely popular movement, despite its character, it doesn't take a genius to realise Hama could quite easily melt into the civilian population if its existence was under severe threat.

[ejh]

Yeah, but it's like a Hazel Blears announcement, isn't it? It's not supposed to make sense, it's supposed to play to an audience.

[skidmarx]

"How can the "terrorist infrastructure" be attacked by just evacuating civilians?"

Presumably the idea is to carpet bomb whatever physical infrastructure remains. There would also be increased pressure on Egypt to allow Gazans to seek refuge ther, making them its problem rather than Israel's.