Israel Matzav

Three Palestinian children were killed Tuesday night in an IAF missile strike on a car that was carrying terrorists through the crowded Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip in violation of the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention is clear that the presence of "civilians shall not be used to render . . . areas immune from military operations. . . . in attempts to shield military objectives from attack."

An additional 13 Palestinians were wounded in the missile strike, which the IDF said had targeted an Aksa Martyrs Brigades terror cell.

Senior Aksa Brigades operatives Amad Abu Hamed, who was the target of the attack, escaped by jumping out of the way in the last minute. He was lightly wounded in the attack. The IDF said that the targeted terror cell was responsible for launching three rockets at Sderot earlier in the day.

In response to the strike, al Aksa Martyrs' Brigades declared war against Sderot, urging its operatives to launch rockets at the city. As if they're not doing that already.

A flier issued by the terror group said, "We will strike against the enemy everywhere. The Palestinian organizations must increase the attacks against the occupiers and declare war on Sderot and the other Zionist settlements."

But maybe the Olmert administration is starting to get it, even though almost no one else outside of Israel is. Listen to this from the Jerusalem Post:

A high-ranking IAF officer said that, while the military regretted the harm caused to innocent civilians, Israel was at war and would continue to target terror cells even in populated areas. "The Palestinians launch rockets from urban areas, and therefore we need to hit them there," the officer said. [Precisely what the Geneva Convention allows us to do. CiJ]

He said that the air force had invested a great deal of resources and effort in minimizing collateral damage during air strikes, even to the extent of cancelling targeted assassinations at the last minute after fears arose that innocent civilians might be hurt. Last Tuesday the IAF killed eight civilians alongside three Islamic Jihad terrorists in an air strike in Gaza City.

In Tuesday night's air strike, the officer said, the targeted car was driving down an empty road and the air force did not foresee any civilian casualties when it launched the two missiles.

Abu Hamed served in the past as an officer in the PA police, [The PA police were armed by Israel and trained by the CIA. CiJ] and was also recently involved in trying to establish an infrastructure to kidnap Israelis to be used as bargaining chips for Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails. [Too bad the IAF didn't get him. Hopefully next time they will. CiJ]