Casualties in Hamas - Egyptian gunbattle at Gaza crossing

Boredom and anarchy between Gaza and Egypt:

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh waiting for permission to cross
Rafah border from Egypt into Gaza on Thursday evening. (Reuters)

From The Jerusalem Post:

Witnesses said Hamas gunmen were firing at the Egyptian side of the border, drawing return fire from the Egyptians and presidential guards from Fatah.

During the battle, masked gunmen in three cars and a bulldozer stormed the terminal, witnesses said. The gunmen went on a rampage inside the building, destroying computers and furniture inside and plunging the area into darkness, the witnesses said.

From Ynet News:

Defense Minister Amir Peretz has ordered the closure of the Rafah crossing in Gaza Thursday to prevent the return of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to the Strip with dozens of millions of dollars in aid.

From Haaretz:

Other senior Hamas officials have taken into Gaza in recent months millions of dollars raised overseas for this purpose. Security sources said that the decision was made in order to curb the cash transfer, and not to prevent the actual return of Haniyeh to Gaza.

More details on the Hamas money trail.

Further to the north:

The IDF reports that Palestinians fired a Kassam rocket into a "city in the western Negev," Thursday evening, causing damage, according to my beeper. UPDATE: The rocket hit Sderot, damaging cars and buildings.

Earlier,

Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket into Israel from Gaza Thursday morning, breaching the ceasefire for the 24th time. Despite the mulitple attacks, the latest of which caused destruction on a kibbutz near Gaza, the Israeli government and defense forces have not responded to the aggression. This latest attack came as PM Olmert sat for meet-and-greets and welcomed praise from leaders on his European tour.

Hannukah: Leaving the "latkes" (Video)

This is the first episode of the "Israelicious" cooking show, hosted by renowned Israeli-American chef, Phyllis Glazer.

Learn how to make fast & easy
"sufganyot" for Hannukah.

For the "covenantally-impaired" among us, consider "sufganyot" the Jewish-Israeli version of "beignets." Unless you're from New Orleans. In which case, I'll just shut up and let Phyllis get on with it...