Israeli Defense Force Uses Gazan Cell Phones to Warm Civilians
The New Media Journal -- December 30, 2008

The Israeli Radio Network "B" is reporting that the Israel Defense Force has gone to the unprecedented measure of amassing the complete list of cellular telephone numbers of the population of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and warning civilians to take cover prior to airstrikes. The IDF refuses to either confirm or deny the report.

New Media Journal contributor Howard Linett, an attorney and sniper instructor in the Israeli Police Civil Guard, who resides in Israel, reported having heard the information broadcast twice on Israel Radio Network B on two separate occasions since Operation Cast Lead was initiated. After calling the IDF's information unit and being told that they could neither confirm nor deny the report, Mr. Linett called the Israeli Military Censor to make sure the subject was not one which was prohibited from publication. The Israeli Military Censor said there was "no problem" in running with the story.

Included in the first report was that the IDF had amassed the cellular telephone numbers of the entire population of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip with thousands having had been called and told to get out of harm's way shortly before an air strike targeted a Hamas strategic location close to their location.

The second report from Israel Radio Network B indicated that the number of calls placed to cellular phone owners within the Gaza Strip had reached 90,000. Mr. Linett said he had neither heard nor seen, "the IDF is Calling" report anywhere else.

The preventative action taken by the IDF in actually calling civilians located in the Gaza Strip on their cellular telephones to warn them to get out of harm's way is unprecedented and verifies and validates claims made by Israeli officials that every effort is being made to try and keep Palestinian civilians from harm and civilian casualties to a minimum. The IDF initiative is unprecedented in the annals of warfare.

Since the start of Operation Cast Lead many in the international community have falsely accused the IDF of indiscriminately targeting Palestinian civilians. Pro-Hamas supporters have launched into uneducated screeds regarding Israel's "disproportionate" use of force against Hamas, a group condemned for using Palestinian civilians as human shields and locating their military units among the general population.

Hamas has continuously launched rockets into civilian locations within the State of Israel in defiance of an agreed to ceasefire. Their attacks have claimed Israeli civilian lives. Hamas been cited by the United States and Britain as a terrorist entity.

Israel warned that the military operations in Gaza are only “the first of several” military stages intended to wipe out Hamas. As the IDF prepared to launch a ground incursion and military forces massed on the border, the deputy to Ehud Olmert, the Prime Minister, said, “The goal of the operation is to topple Hamas.” It was the first time since Operation Cast Lead was launched that Israel has openly stated that regime change is its ultimate goal.