"At this time the Israeli army is mobilizing infantry and armored vehicles to the Judea and Samaria area," a military source confirmed to Reuters. IDF commanders and Defense Ministry officials held late-night consultations in order to "prepare and be ready" for Israel's leadership to give a green light to a major military operation against the Palestinians.

Israel's security cabinet was scheduled to meet this

"We will have to respond. How and when, we will decide." - Government spokesman Avi Pazner

morning to discuss the deteriorating security situation. Military sources said the launching of a mortar attack against a Jerusalem neighborhood "crossed a red line that Israel cannot disregard." Government spokesman Avi Pazner told Reuters, "We will have to respond. How and when, we will decide.''

An immediate military action was put on temporary hold after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon received an urgent phone call last night from U.S. President George W. Bush, who called on Israel to continue to act with restraint despite the recent rise in Palestinian terrorist activities.

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who canceled his scheduled trip to the United States due to the escalation in violence, spoke yesterday with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, calling on them to apply American and European Union pressure on PA Chairman Yasser Arafat to restrain the terror attacks against Israel.

Arafat's aide Ahmed Abdel-Rahman said the IDF's new deployment proved Israel's intentions to attack the Palestinian Authority. "These reinforcements, tanks and military units are pushing the fragile situation to the edge of explosion," he said.

First mortar attack on Jerusalem
For the first time since the start of the Intifada, Palestinians fired mortars at the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. One shell, reportedly a stolen IDF 60mm mortar, struck in a yard near a building under construction on Habush Street. A second shell fired later in the night landed near the northern entrance to the Tunnel Road, which connects Jerusalem to the Gush Etzion area. There were no injuries in either attack, but two Israeli women were slightly injured by glass shards in the gunfire between the IDF and Palestinian forces in Beit Jala that followed the launchings.

Gilo residents, who have accustomed themselves reluctantly to be targeted regularly by Palestinian gunmen, found the escalation in the violence traumatic. "At least with gunfire we can hear it and take cover," one Gilo resident told Israel Radio. "But mortars can bring the house down on us."

The Jerusalem Municipality and the IDF's Home Front Command issued orders to prepare bomb shelters in Gilo. Jerusalem Police Chief Cmdr. Mickey Levi said that the IDF had "plans ready for any eventuality" in Gilo, but said that the security forces would wait to see if last night's attack was a one-time strike or would be repeated.

According to Ha'aretz, the "united front of 14 Palestinian factions in Bethlehem took responsibility for the mortar attack." IDF sources blamed Arafat and the Palestinian Authority directly, as the PA has total control over Beit Jala and a meeting earlier in the week between Arafat and Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres paved the way for West Bank Preventive Security head Jibril Rajoub to position troops in the area.

IDF strikes at Hamas operatives in Bethlehem
Palestinian sources said yesterday's IDF missile strike against Hamas operatives in Bethlehem signaled the end of the cease-fire. "We promise our people revenge very soon," Hamas said in a statement after IDF Apache helicopters fired 4-5 missiles at a shack where the Hamas men were allegedly preparing a terrorist strike to be staged at the closing ceremony of the Maccabiah.

"We are talking about a clear preventive operation," the IDF spokesman said in a statement.

The strike killed Omar Muhammad Sa'ada 45, the head of the Hamas military wing in the Bethlehem area. Also killed were his brother, Eshak Sa'ada, 51, his cousin, Mohammed Sa'ada, 29, and Taha Arouj, 37. Military sources said that all four were Hamas terrorists. Palestinians reported that at least 10 other people were wounded in the attack, 2 seriously, including women and children.

West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti denounced the Israeli helicopter strike as a "massacre against Palestinian civilians."

The IDF, which described the attack as a "classic and pinpoint operation to foil a terror attack," said it would "continue to stage pinpoint strikes at terrorists who are planning to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers."

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