Not for an hour. Not for a day. Close down all the crossings permanently. They have a border with Egypt - use it. But of course our useless gov't. will do nothing of the kind. "Human rights" groups might complain. The UN might complain. Abbas might complain. So, it will be business as usual tomorrow. No one cares if we complain.

do u think that the boarder with egypt is permitted to the palestinians , friend our good government already banned them from leaving gaza , they are inside an open jail , they are our prisoners , see why all this will continue to happan.

Wow what a great idea, No. 2, let's open the border of Gaza into Israel, and let the terrorists flood into Israel, killing, maiming and wrecking havoc. For all I care, let them stay in their "open jail" as you put it, and stay far away from us. That will save some lives. And a question, why do you think that the border of Egypt is closed to them?

In their own words, and seen on TV bragging in fluent English, the terrorists in Gaza use google earth to target mainly kindergartens and schools, and sometimes try to hit military or industrial targets. They are also known to place GPS devices to guide their rockets into civilian targets. On the other hand, our soldiers have to lie down on the ground, with sand in their eyes and mouths, trying not to hurt civilians and getting killed by themselves. However, the Gaza strip faces a humanitarian crisis, and due to petrol shortages they will no longer be able to drive their Mercedes' s, jeeps, vans, etc - that is ferry rockets to launching sites. Their generators will shut down no longer enabling them to access the internet to target little children in Sderot. Not to mention the fact that they are unable to provide adequate medical care for their patients and need to send them to Israel (Gaza physicians are known to fabricate letters of referral for potential suicide bombers, such as in this extreme instance: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/280467/pregnant_palestinian_woman_and_niece.html Madam Ferrero whoever cannot tolerate the situation where Israel is threatening to impose minimal sanctions on Gaza, such as a 10% reduction in gas and benzine deliveries, in this strip of land oversatured with luxury cars, weapons of all denominations, computers, internet connections (consider the number of people blogging from Gaza), Farfur, Nahil, with an unparalleled concentration of terror cells (except probably Iraq). The UN, the academics, the BBC, etc, cannot tolerate Israel defending herself. Therefore we have to send troops in an attempt to disrupt and thwart terror attempts. And we sacrifice our soldiers because we are so humane that we would not hurt our enemy. Ehud Efrati, 34, of the blessed memory, rest in peace! My heart goes out to your family and friends.

you still have two Ehuds. Although still ineffective, by the time they'll do.

Israel used to understand the idea of defeating her enemy .Now it a stupid losing game of small incursions that reall accomplish little. The reason of this is that the people of Israel have cosen to become serf's to their King George and he does not permit them to defeat those who threaten them. The Jewish serfs area only permitted limited and restrained operations becasue King George prtotects his Palestinan terrorist to please his Arab business partners.

Breaks my heart to read of yet another killing of an IDF soldier. May Ehud rest in peace. I agree, close the border with Gaza, this way lives will ber saved.

Can we Israelis travel freely? to say, Lebanon? Syria? Jordan? OK Jordan is open but only a mental Israeli would go there now, or Egypt. So, what's the difference between Gaza and Israel? Gaza is a prison within another prison. That's all. Terry, we cannot close the borders, we need to know how many tunnels they are digging into Israel, and therefore our boys need to go in and out of Gaza. We cannot simply lock the door and throw away the key. My heart and my thoughts are with the Efrati family and also to the other young soldiers injured. Bless you.

you are our hero.....a light unto the nations. may god keep and protect you and your family. breaks my heart to no end.

Perfect email in this case.

lets make peace already and finish with this blood shed , mothers are on both sides and there is no need to pay attention to all those very few extremists for the sake of the majority of those who want peace .... peace , peace , peace , peace , peace ................

May First Sargeant Major Ehud Efrati rest in peace. We need to know what is going on within Gaza. Since we left the area, the attacks are increased. I do think it's a case where we will need to go in full-scale. I just don't see any other way aound of it. The more troops that go in, the safer it will be for those doing the operation. We go in to restore order-no more Hamas in charge. And while we're at it, give the Settlers back the lands and towns so they may rebuild their lives.

I am a long time Zionist and want Israel to flourish and SURVIVE. Many years ago I spoke to a friend who fought in Vietnam. HIs analysis: Israel is losing the war. Time is on the side of the Arabs., who have an infinite number of terrorists to lose. Israel cries for each death, but is not doing anything realistic to stop this conflict. Israle has to hit back and hit back much harder. The bottom line: Israel is trying to placate the Big4, the UN and Condi., with it's restraint. It can destroy entire PALs cities with tank columns or artillery. But won't. The latest casualty is but one of many deaths, which, could have been avoided. Remember when Israel warned Arafat of pending strikes? Nothing really has changed, only the leaders. Shame, shame, shame. The summit will be a failure and guess who will be blamed. Israel should create a no man's land in the Strip...stop all supplies from going in OR OUT. I ask, when will Olmert wake up?

Another unnecessary loss of a precious Jewish life . Government of Israel has an obligation to protect its citizens and to create a safe environment for its people , and not to be overly concerned with other parties involved in the conflict. Closing boarders, cutting electricity, reducing water supply, freezing the bank accounts, cutting gasoline supply these are all options but not limiting to these few that the government of Israel has. My opinion is that I do not care much what the rest of the world has to say if we were to use these measures, since the rest of the world would not tolerate these conditions.

the enemy must be made to pay a horrible price for their crimes. then, maybe, one day some "palis" will wake up and wonder why they always cared more about hurting the Jews than in helping their own people. it is, after all, evident that the "palis" have put most of their energy, talent, industry into their attempts to destroy what the Jews have built than in building anything for themselves. senseless people.

In our modern times,no army send any infantery,nor paratroopers to fight hand to hand with the enemy troops.Already in the sec. W.W. before sending the troops to charge the enemy-forces they prepared the area,with bombing it by airplanes or by artillery and only thereafter were th man sent to neutralise the area The IDF was astounded the last year by the modernday weaponry of the Libanon terrorist and suffered heavy unneeded losses. Andi mi ha kfar