US gives 'green light' to Israeli invasion of Gaza Strip, Lebanese paper reports

Youth News Palestine-Gaza

The American administration has given Israel a 'green light' for a major military operation in the Gaza Strip, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Friday.

Citing anonymous high-ranking American sources, the newspaper said Israeli officials have been pressuring the United States to support an Israeli attack aimed at undermining Palestinian military groups in the tiny coastal territory.

Israel reportedly sent intelligence reports to their American counterparts indicating that Palestinian fighters have managed to smuggle "unprecedented" quantities of arms into the Gaza Strip, despite Israel's complete closure of Gaza's border crossings.

According to Al-Akhbar, these intelligence reports say that both Hamas and Islamic Jihad are increasing their stockpiles of weapons. Islamic Jihad has also, reportedly, transferred "millions of dollars" to Fatah's armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, including some elements of Fatah's security forces, who dominated the Gaza Strip until Hamas took control in June.

At least two Palestinians were killed in gun battles between Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades and Hamas' security forces in the Gaza Strip in late October.

Hamas reportedly increased their weapons stockpiles by 100% recently.

The report also hinted that the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah provided "enormous sums of money" intended to help arm the Al-Aqsa Brigades' depleted Gaza Strip forces.

High ranking Israeli officials, Al-Akhbar reported, believe that arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip "can be solved only with a massive military operation" in order to wipe out the networks of tunnels that Palestinian fighters allegedly use to bring weapons and activists into the territory from Egypt.

The same American sources said that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have met in the last few days in order to discuss the nature and timing of a Gaza invasion. The Israeli government is hesitating to attack at the moment over fears of disrupting the international peace conference scheduled to take place this month in the US city of Annapolis.