There were blood stains upand down the stairwell of theKiryat Malachi building wherea Gazan rocket killed threeIsraelis on Thursday morning.

In the apartments on the toptwo floors, the damage andthe disarray made it look as ifa tornado had crashed into thebuilding and scattered every-thing asunder.

One of the two apartmentson the top floor had a bed-room with three beds and acrib, and another room with acrib, all of them next to thesouthern window, facingGaza. It it was unclear whythere weren’t even more casu-alties in the attack that tookthe lives of Mirah Scharf, 25,Aharon Smadja, 49, and Itzik

Amsalem, 27.Scharf, whose husband,

Shmuel, is an emissary to NewDehli, had been visiting Israelfor the memorial service of

Gabi and Rivka Holtzberg, theChabad emissaries who werekilled in the terrorist massacre

A high-level Egyptian dele-gation is expected to arrive inthe Gaza Strip on Friday fortalks with Hamas leaders onways of ending the currentround of fighting with Israel,a Hamas spokesman said onThursday.

Egyptian Prime MinisterHesham Kandil will head thedelegation, which will con-sist of a number of cabinetministers, announced Tahera-Nunu, spokesman for theHamas government.

This would be the first visitto the Gaza Strip by an Egypt-ian prime minister.

Nunu expressed apprecia-tion for Cairo’s decision todispatch the delegation, say-ing that the planned visit“reflected Egypt’s bravestance toward the conflict.”Kandil’s visit to Gaza is seenin the context of Egypt’sefforts to achieve a cease-firebetween Hamas and Israel.

The visit comes as someHamas officials in the Gaza

Strip expressed disappoint-ment over Egypt’s “mildresponse to the Israeli aggres-sion.”

The officials said that theywere expecting EgyptianPresident Mohamed Morsi totake a tougher stance towardthe conflict.

“Recalling the ambassadoris just a symbolic act,” said

one official, referring toCairo’s decision to recall itsambassador to Israel for con-sultations. “We were expect-ing Morsi to at least threatento cut off diplomatic ties withIsrael.”

Meanwhile, defiant Hamasleaders continued to issue

THEJERUSALEM POSTVolume LXXX, Number 24404 NIS 17 (EILAT NIS 14.50)FOUNDED IN 1932

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Esther Pollardwrites a letterto US PresidentBarack Obama

Morsi’s dilemma

13

24Are deterioratingties with Israel in

Egypt’s interest?

Lyra player RossDaly performs adistinct style ofGreek music

A newexhibitionshowcases

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Cairo to send high-leveldelegation to Gaza today

Move comes after Egyptian President Morsi slams strikes onGaza as ‘unacceptable’ • Abbas cuts short European visit

• By KHALED ABU TOAMEH,

JOANNA PARASZCZUK

See DELEGATION, Page 4

There were no signswhatsoever on Thursdaythat Hamas was interestedin a cease-fire with Israel atthis stage.

In past rounds of fight-ing, Hamas leaders used toappeal, both openly anddiscreetly, to the Egyptiansto intervene in order toachieve another truce with

ANALYSIS• By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Hamas trying to restoreshattered morale, lost dignity

During the last two wars,Tel Avivians were accused ofacting like they were “in abubble,” far removed fromthe heightened state of alerta mere hour’s drive away.

This time, they could notignore the loud sirens thatcautioned them to seekshelter.

Even though no rocketactually hit the city, there isno doubt that the siren and

ANALYSIS• By GIL HOFFMAN

Has the bubble burst?

Islamic Jihad targets Tel Aviv as IAF pounds Gaza Grad kills three in Kiryat Malachi

• IAF hits 320 targets, destroys mostlong-range missiles • 300 rockets firedat Israel since start of IDF operation

Air raid sirens rang out acrossgreater Tel Aviv on Thursdayfor the first time since the 1991Gulf War, after Islamic Jihadfired what it said were twolong-range Fajr missiles at cen-tral Israel.

Soon afterward, the Israel AirForce replied by carrying out amassive wave of strikes in Gaza,targeting 70 undergroundmedium-range rocket launch-ers.

The IDF shifted infantrybrigades and tank columns tothe Gaza border, andannounced the call-up of30,000 reservists, as it madepreparations for a possibleground incursion into the GazaStrip.

The developments came aftera direct Grad rocket strike killedthree people in Kiryat Malachias they stood on a balcony oftheir apartment building. Thedeaths were the first Israelifatalities from the wave ofPalestinian rocket attacks.

Day two of Operation Pillarof Defense was marked by

intensive Palestinian rocket fireat Israeli population centers,with Beersheba, Ashdod, Ris-hon Lezion and Gaza-bordercommunities all coming underfire. At least 45 Israeli civilianswere wounded in Thursday’sattacks.

Terrorist factions in Gazahave fired more than 300 rock-ets at Israel since the start of theoperation on Wednesday after-noon. Iron Dome missiledefense batteries intercepted105 of the incoming projec-tiles.

The IAF has struck some 320terrorist targets in Gaza sinceWednesday, focusing on elimi-

nating long-range Fajr missileshidden in underground sitesand medium-range Grad rock-ets possessed by Hamas andIslamic Jihad.

“The aim of the attacks is todisrupt the ability of the terror-ist organizations to fire rock-ets,” the IDF said. “Terroristcells involved in firing rocketshave also been hit.”

The targets were chosen afterintelligence reports on theirlocations were gathered overrecent months.

“The IDF is landing painfulblows against Hamas andagainst terrorist infrastructure,”Defense Minister Ehud Baraksaid. He said the rocket fire ongreater Tel Aviv was “an escala-tion, and the other side willhave to pay a price for this esca-lation.

“I said at the beginning of theoperation that there would bedifficult moments, and thatthis would not be an easy test.Today, we saw that price inKiryat Malachi, and our heartsare with the families of the

30,000 reservistsmay be called up,Page 3

A war fought overTwitter, Page 5

Ratcheting up thepressure on Hamas,Page 10

• By YAAKOV LAPPIN

See TEL AVIV, Page 10

Devastation and anger at site of fatal rocket attack

Pregnant wife of Chabad emissary to India among the dead• By BEN HARTMAN

AHARON SMADJA

MIRAH SCHARF

ITZIK AMSALEMSee ANGER, Page 10

A POLICE OFFICER walks across the wreckage of an apartmentin Kiryat Malachi yesterday after a rocket ripped through thebuilding, killing three people. (Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)

Israel seeks backing for Pillar of Defenseas Egypt, US work to end hostilities

Liberman: We won’t settle for a two-week cease-fire

Israel rallied world leaderson Thursday to support moremilitary strikes against Gaza,as Egypt, with US backing,continued to work toward acease-fire.

US State Departmentspokesman Mark Toner saidWashington had urged Cairoto take steps to calm the situ-ation.

“We ask Egypt to use itsinfluence in the region tohelp de-escalate the situa-tion,” he said.

Both US President BarackObama and Secretary of StateHillary Clinton spoke to theirEgyptian counterparts byphone on Wednesday in anappeal for partnership in de-escalating the tension.

Obama told PresidentMohamed Morsi that Egypthad a “central role in preserv-ing regional security.”

Obama, according to a WhiteHouse statement put outafter the call, stressed toMorsi that Israel has the rightto self-defense.

Prime Minister Netanyahutold the foreign press that“Israel will continue to takewhatever action is necessaryto defend our people.”

Foreign Minister AvigdorLiberman said, “We are notgoing to settle for a cease-fire

• By TOVAH LAZAROFF

and HILARY LEILA KRIEGER

in Washington

See HOSTILITIES, Page 10

See HAMAS, Page 10

THIS 155 mm. mobile cannon was moved tojust outside the northern Gaza Strip yesterday.(Amir Cohen/Reuters)

See BUBBLE, Page 10