Word: mortared
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Israeli military officials tell TIME that one soldier was killed and some 30 Israelis were wounded. Half the injuries were the result of an Israeli mine-clearing operation that went awry. Other soldiers were hurt in mortar fire from Hamas militants. Palestinian sources say 30 locals have been killed since the beginning of the ground offensive on Jan. 3. That brings the death toll to 485 Palestinians and four Israelis since Dec. 27, when Israel began its aerial strikes in an effort to deter militants from launching more missiles into southern Israel. (See pictures of the beginning of Israel...
...Early signs indicate that the military may have achieved that objective, at least temporarily. Although mortar fire rained on the advancing Israeli troops in the first few hours of the ground offensive, the number of rockets launched into Israel dropped drastically, to just 20 or so in the past...
...Resistance has been lighter than the Israelis expected, allowing Israeli troops and tanks to secure positions 1,000 ft. (300 m) or so from the edge of built-up areas. At that distance, they are out of range of Palestinian rifle fire, though still within mortar range...
...deter Hamas from firing rockets into Israel. Even as the Israeli air force pounded Gaza for a seventh day and Palestinian rocket fire continued, the soldiers living in and around their tanks and armored personnel carriers in the winter cold, on a constant state of high alert against mortar fire and possible guerrilla raids, were wondering out loud about what's holding back their political leaders from giving the green light. And the flirtation with various cease-fire proposals earlier in the week by the man in charge of Operation Cast Lead, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, has prompted a revival...
...aerial raids on Hamas military targets inside the Gaza strip," he says. "If I had opened an ice-cream stand here I would have made a lot money." He adds, "Exultation is the word to describe my feelings. At last, after eight years of defense alerts and hundreds of mortar shells, of Qassam rockets fired at our kibbutz and the area, there is finally some retaliation. People are here to see it happening for real." Nevertheless, the people of the kibbutz are taking precautions. Students and all families with small children have left, moving to live with relatives further north...