IAF aircraft blew up a key strategic bridge in the northern Gaza Strip shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The army said that the operation was intended to keep Hamas from taking kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit out of the Gaza Strip. In addition, IDF tanks were amassing around Gaza, and were awaiting orders to begin a ground incursion into the strip. However, the the army denied an Israel Radio report that the armored forces had actually begun a ground incursion into the strip.
Earlier, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that "the clock is running out, and Israel is poised and ready for a military operation in the Gaza Strip."
Earlier, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had urged the need to "be focused on bringing home [kidnapped IDF soldier] Gilad Shalit. "We are ready for a long and assertive operation. We will fight terror and we won't negotiate with the kidnappers," Olmert told the Knesset.
