Gaza operation imminent?

Well, maybe not imminent, but it does appear to be in the works.

The army said Palestinians also lobbed at least 20 mortar shells into Israel from the southern part of the strip, but no casualties were reported. The Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Earlier Wednesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel was moving closer to carrying out a large-scale military operation in Gaza in order to put a stop to cross-border rocket and mortar barrages into Israel.

It was his first public hint of plans to combat the fire coming from the Hamas-ruled coastal strip, which Israel last week declared “hostile territory” as a prelude to possible punitive cuts of utilities.

Barak told Army Radio that a large-scale military operation would not be a simple undertaking.

“We are moving closer to a broad and complex operation in Gaza,” Barak said.

“It (such an operation) hasn’t happened in recent weeks for many reasons …. We’re getting closer to this and it should be realized that such an operation is not simple, not from the point of view of the forces taking part, not from the aspect of the length of time we’ll have to spend there and not from the aspect of the operational challenges the forces will meet.”

And, oh yeah—more dead terrorists today.

A group of four Hamas-affiliated terrorists were killed late Wednesday afternoon in an IAF missile strike on their jeep in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Hamas reported.

The army confirmed the strike and said that the vehicle’s occupants numbered five, not four, and had been on their way to launch Kassam rockets at Israel. According to the army, all five were killed.

I could write the AP article before the Gaza operation even happens… maybe I’ll do that over the weekend, as an exercise in predictability.