Gaza Under Fire

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently said that the military operation known as Operation Summer Rain was "not to mete out punishment but rather to apply pressure so that the abducted soldier will be freed. We want to create a new equation - freeing the abducted soldier in return for lessening the pressure on the Palestinians."

Unfortunately, the great weight of Israeli military force to pacify the Palestinian population has only served to popularize militant action in the Gaza Strip. As casualties mount and infrastructure such as electricity is hit, the Israeli military response appears to be overwhelmingly aggressive in the manner in which it is meted out.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Olmert told his cabinet, "This is a war that cannot be on a timetable." Israel has already knocked out a power plant and some key bridges in what it says is an effort to strike at militants.

In what could be seen as a further escalation, the BBC reported General Yoav Galant as saying, "They [Palestinian militants] will think twice before launching attacks when they see in a week, a month or two months from now that hundreds of terrorists have been killed."

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan publicly raised concerns today about the situation in Gaza as have international agencies including the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the World Food Programme. The agencies are warning that Gaza is on the brink of a public health disaster.