Israel Braces For Heightened Tension With Gaza

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel's military has braced for rising tension with the
Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military sources said the Hamas regime, pressed by such allies
as Iran and Syria, was ending the restraint demonstrated during the
ceasefire, which began on June 2008. The sources said Hamas was expected to
exploit the power vacuum in Israel and the United States.
"For several months, Hamas showed that it could observe a ceasefire," a
military intelligence source said. "But the feeling is that this period is
over."
On Nov. 5, Hamas fired about 40 Kassam-class missiles and mortar shells
into Israel. Hours earlier, Israeli troops and aircraft raided the Gaza
Strip to destroy a Hamas tunnel located near the Israeli border.