Israeli soldiers entered Gaza on Tuesday night in an attempt to pressure the Palestinians into releasing a kidnapped soldier.
Soldiers have positioned themselves in lookout posts while two infantry and armor brigades are on high alert waiting to enter the strip.
Fighter planes bombed a power station in the Gaza Strip, causing a blackout in some parts of southern Gaza. Three large bridges were bombed, for fear that the kidnappers of Cpl. Gilad Shalit would try to transfer the soldier to a different hiding place.
The goal at this stage is to isolate the southern part of the Gaza Strip, where Shalit is thought to be held by his captors.
Shalit was abducted on Sunday when three armed Palestinian groups entered Israeli territory through a 100-meter deep tunnel and attacked a military post. Two soldiers were killed and Shalit was captured.
Israel has stalled a large-scale operation in Gaza for several days, but has deployed tanks on the Gazan border, while trying to secure Shalit’s release through diplomatic channels.
Security officials have said this is the first stage of Operation Summer Rains, and that the army will do all in its power to get out of Gaza with the abducted soldier, Israel’s Army Radio reported.
Close aides to Palestinian Authority Mahmoud ‘Abbas started stocking up large quantities of food supplies, fearing Israel’s raid on Gaza would cause a shortage of supplies in Gaza’s markets, the London-based Al-Hayyat reported.
Meanwhile, the Popular Resistance Committees claims it has kidnapped an Israeli civilian, and has warned it would kill him if Israel did not stop the operation in Gaza. There is speculation that the civilian is 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri, from the Itamar community, who has been missing since Sunday.