Tag: israel airstrikes
Israel Intensifies Aerial Offensive Amid More Rocket Attacks From Gaza

Israel Intensifies Aerial Offensive Amid More Rocket Attacks From Gaza

By Batsheva Sobelman and Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times

JERUSALEM — Warning that its offensive would only intensify, Israel stepped up its aerial campaign against the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, firing missiles that medical sources said killed at least 10 people in the Palestinian enclave Wednesday, including four children.

The barrage came as militants in Gaza kept up their rocket fire into Israel, penetrating deeper into the Jewish state than in the past and causing residents to scurry for cover in communities dozens of miles away, including Tel Aviv. There have been no reports so far of Israeli fatalities or serious injuries.

The airstrikes on Gaza targeted weapons caches, command centers, smuggling tunnels, homes of suspected militants and the alleged militants themselves. Smoke billowed into the sky from damaged and demolished buildings.

Among those killed during the first part of Wednesday were two brothers, 11 and 13; a 4-year-old boy, and a 14-year-old youth, medical sources in Gaza said. At least 32 people have been reported killed and 150 injured since Israel began pounding Hamas-controlled Gaza this week in response to a stream of rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.

“The battle against Hamas will become wider in coming days. It won’t be a short campaign, and we should be patient,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon warned.

Israel is also mobilizing up to 40,000 reservists in preparation for a possible ground incursion into the Gaza Strip. So far, the call-up of the reservists has been selective, drafting troops for headquarters, aerial defense and home-front assignments.

Some of the reservists will relieve troops stationed in the West Bank to free them up to take up positions around Gaza or for a ground operation, an Israeli military official said.

The secretary-general of the Arab League, Nabil Arabi, called for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council. A statement from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi’s office said that intensive efforts were underway to broker an end to the outbreak of violence, similar to Cairo’s intervention when hostilities last boiled over between Gaza and Israel at the end of 2012.

But neither the Israeli government nor Hamas gave any indication that the confrontation would soon ease. Israeli officials say that their goal is not just to mount reprisals for rocket attacks but to cripple the capabilities of Hamas and other extremist organizations such as Islamic Jihad.

“Over the last few years, Hamas has built up in Gaza a very formidable terrorist military machine, and we are now acting to dismantle that machine,” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told Sky News. “Over the last two, three weeks, there have been messages sent to Hamas: Stop the rocket fire, that quiet will be met by quiet. … Hamas did not heed our warnings.”

The Israeli military said it struck 129 targets across the Gaza Strip between 7 a.m. and early afternoon Wednesday, on top of dozens of airstrikes it had mounted overnight.

In the past few days, more than 170 rockets have hit Israel from Gaza, and more than 50 have been intercepted by Israel’s missile-defense system, known as Iron Dome. The rockets have reached farther into Israel; Hamas said Wednesday it had fired one at the coastal city of Haifa, nearly 90 miles north of Gaza.

The militants are believed to possess hundreds of longer-range rockets, which represent a significant advance in their capabilities.

“Hamas still has surprises left in its arsenal, including long-range rockets. Despite pretending we weren’t, we were surprised by yesterday’s fire,” Danny Yatom, the former head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, said in a television interview.

The sharp increase in armed hostilities follows the kidnapping and killing last month of three Israeli teenagers, which Israel blames on Hamas, and the brutal revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager in East Jerusalem last week.

AFP Photo/Menahem Kahana

Israel, Hamas Slide Towards Major Gaza Conflict

Israel, Hamas Slide Towards Major Gaza Conflict

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Israeli warplanes killed 13 Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, with Israel weighing “all options” in a new drive to stamp out Hamas rocket fire as the two sides slid toward another major conflict.

The most serious flare-up over the Gaza Strip since November 2012 comes as Israel struggles to contain a wave of violence in Arab towns over the grisly murder of a Palestinian teenager by Jewish extremists.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas demanded that Israel “immediately stop” its air campaign, dubbed Operation Protective Edge.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to order a “significant broadening” of the operation, army radio said, quoting a source close to the premier.

After nearly four weeks of intensifying rocket fire on the south, Israel appeared bent on dealing the Islamist Hamas movement a heavy blow, with the cabinet authorizing the call-up of some 40,000 reservists.

In the worst strike, a missile slammed into a house in the southern city of Khan Yunis killing seven people, among them two teenagers, and wounding 25, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP.

Witnesses said an Israeli drone fired a warning flare, prompting relatives and neighbors to gather at the house as a human shield.

But shortly afterwards, an F-16 warplane fired a missile that leveled the building.

In response to the pounding, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said all Israelis would be potential targets for retaliation.

“The Khan Yunis massacre… of children is a horrendous war crime, and all Israelis have now become legitimate targets for the resistance,” Abu Zuhri wrote on his Facebook page.

In another strike, east of Gaza City, two people were killed, Qudra said, without giving details on their identities.

Earlier, three people were killed in a separate strike on a car in central Gaza City, he said, correcting an earlier report of four fatalities.

Relatives told AFP all three were Hamas militants. One was identified as Mohammed Shaaban, 32, a senior commander who ran the Brigades’ naval unit.

Meanwhile, the military was preparing all options to stamp out rocket fire from Gaza, including a ground assault, a senior Israeli official told AFP.

“The army is preparing for all possible scenarios, including an invasion or a ground operation,” he said.

Military spokesman General Moti Almoz also confirmed preparations for a possible ground offensive.

“We have been instructed by the political echelon to hit Hamas hard,” he told army radio, saying the campaign against Hamas would happen “in stages.”

“All options are on the table; all these steps are being considered. Two brigades, which are currently stationed around the Gaza Strip, are prepared and ready, and in the coming days, more will arrive,” he said.

An army statement said the government authorized the call-up of 40,000 reservists.

Around Gaza, dozens of tanks and soldiers could be seen massing along the border, AFP correspondents reported.

Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon warned it was likely to be a protracted campaign.

“We are preparing for a campaign against Hamas, which will not end in just a few days,” he said in a statement which defined the aim as being “to exact a very heavy price from Hamas.”

Since June 12, when the current round of tit-for-tat violence began, more than 250 rockets have hit southern Israel, with another 40 intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.

So far no Israelis have been killed.

Since midnight Monday, militants have fired more than 130 rockets, an army spokeswoman told AFP.

All schools and summer camps were cancelled within a 25-mile radius of Gaza, except those being held in protected spaces, army radio reported.

“We have to hit Hamas because our power of deterrence has been reduced,” Interior Minister Gideon Saar told public radio. “No one is enthusiastic about the idea of a military confrontation, but we cannot hesitate any more.”

The rocket fire drew a strong reaction from Washington and Brussels.

“We strongly condemn the continuing rocket fire into Israel, but we also support Israel’s right to defend itself against these attacks,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

On a visit to southern Israel, EU Ambassador Lars Gaza Andersen also denounced the ongoing fire, expressing “unreserved solidarity” with those living there.

“Indiscriminate shooting of rockets against innocent civilians can never be a legitimate response,” he said in remarks broadcast on army radio.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague added his condemnation.

“I condemn the firing of rockets into Israel by Gaza-based militants. The UK calls on Hamas and other militant groups to stop these attacks,” he said.

The Arab League, meanwhile, called for the UN Security Council to hold an urgent meeting on the Israeli air campaign in Gaza.

Amnesty International also weighed in, urging both Israel and Gaza militants to avoid all harm to innocent civilians.

“All sides to the conflict have an absolute obligation under international humanitarian law to protect the lives of civilians caught up in the intensifying hostilities,” it said.

AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams