KEEPING SCORE...

WHEN THREE OF OUR BOYS WERE MASSACRED, PALESTINIANS WERE KEEPING SCORE AND CHANTING THREE-TO-ZERO...LET US SEE HOW WELL THEY ARE KEEPING SCORES NOW...FRANKLY, WE RATHER KEEP SCORES OF THE MUNDIAL FIFA IN BRAZIL...BUT OUR "NEIGHBORS" INSIST IN BOTHERING US WITH ROCKETS...WELL...ISRAEL IS UNITED AGAINST THIS AND OTHER AGGRESSIONS AND NOW IT IS THEIR TURN...

Israel will step up its actions against Hamas and the other terrorist organizations operating from Gaza as part of Operation Protective Edge, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday following security deliberations held in Beersheba. "The operation will expand and continue until the rocket firing on our cities stops, and the quiet returns," he said on the second day of the military operation. Netanyahu has consistently defined the objectives of the operation in relatively modest terms to restore the quiet" not, as some are suggesting, to topple Hamas or destroy its rocket infrastructure inside Gaza. Those later objectives would necessitate a ground action, something Netanyahu has said the IDF is prepared for, but which he has not yet ordered. Following the meeting with Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen Benny Gantz, and OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen Sammy Turjeman, Netanyahu said that the IDF was prepared for all contingencies. "Hamas will pay a heavy price for firing on Israeli citizens," he said. Our army is strong, the home-front is firm, and our people are united. That combination is our answer to the terrorist organizations that want to harm us," he said. "We are all united in the aim of hitting the terrorist organizations and restoring the quiet. Netanyahu called on the public to continue to heed the instructions of the home-front command, saying those instructions "save lives." Also on Wednesday, Netanyahu spoke to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the latest wave of violence. During the conversation, Netanyahu told the leaders that no other country would allow rocket fire into their countries and that Hamas was responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians in Gaza because they use them as human shields. “We are destroying arms, terrorist infrastructure, command and control systems, and institutions," defense minister says on day 2 of Operation Protective Edge; Palestinian officials say 4 killed in Gaza on Wednesday. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Wednesday that Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip will expand in the next few days while vowing that “it will exact a huge price.” “We are continuing to carry out attacks that are exacting a heavy price from Hamas,” Ya’alon said as Operation Protective Edge entered its second day. “We are destroying [Hamas’] arms, terrorist infrastructure, command and control systems, institutions, government buildings, terrorists’ homes, and we are killing terrorists in the organizational high command.” The IDF confirmed on Wednesday that an IAF airstrike targeted Hamas terror operative Abdullah Difallah while he was riding on a motorcycle in the northern Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources had earlier reported that Israeli aircraft struck a motorcycle killing one person and seriously injuring another. The IDF stated that Difallah had been responsible for firing rockets into Israel. According to Palestinian media, three other people were killed in IAF strikes on Wednesday, bringing the death toll since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge to 27, with more than a hundred injured. “This activity will continue and escalate,” the defense minister said. “From our standpoint, this is a campaign that will not end anytime soon, and we must continue to maintain stamina and patience. We will continue to hit Hamas and other terrorist organizations hard from the air, at sea, and on the ground in order to ensure the security of the citizens of Israel.” “The campaign against Hamas will expand further in the next few days, and the organization will pay a very steep price,” Ya’alon said. “I would like to once again praise the manner in which the citizens have conducted themselves and I call on them to continue to be attentive to instructions. I would like to once again offer my hearty best wishes to the commanders, soldiers, and support staff on land, at sea, and in the air who continue to act with determination and professionalism in order to protect the citizens of Israel.” IDF units intercepted a Hamas commando unit that sought to infiltrate Israel from the sea at Zikim Beach, just north of the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. Soldiers killed several terrorists, and pursued at least one more, security sources said, stressing that they were speaking as the incident continued to unfold. A senior security official said an IDF detachment was dispatched to Zikim Beach after the military detected suspicious movements in the area. The unit engaged the terrorists, and shot and killed five of them. One soldier was lightly wounded in the exchange of fire. Civilian eyewitnesses told Channel 2 that soldiers ran toward the beach from the Zikim Army Base and fired their weapons, as a boat approached from the Mediterranean sea and men on board fired at the beach. Police closed off the vicinity and told residents of Kibbutz Zikim to stay indoors. Izzadin Kassam, Hamas’s military wing, claimed on its Twitter account responsibility for the attack, saying that it “stormed the Zionist naval base on the shores of the sea.” JERUSALEM – Deputy Minister of Defense Danny Danon (Likud) demanded this morning during the Security Cabinet meeting that Israel stop supplying Gaza with electricity and fuel. “The supplying of electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip must be stopped immediately”, said Danon, “It’s inconceivable that on one hand we are fighting the Hamas and on the other hand we supply them with electricity and fuel used for the propelling of rockets fired at us.” He demanded that Israel use all its leverage to bring Hamas to a cease fire. THIS IS VERY INTERESTING: This morning an Egyptian news site quoted an Egyptian military official who stated that Egypt has destroyed 19 tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to the Sinai. This further hinders the Hamas’ supply and rearmament efforts. Are ISRAEL and Egypt working together???? Three explosions were heard in Jerusalem as Hamas launched long range rockets at the city, as well as around the country. This rather annoyed people as they spent way too long in a hot, stuffy bomb shelter. Jerusalem has opened its bomb shelters. There are reports that a house was hit.