Israel strikes 320 targets in the Gaza Strip since launching Operation Pillar of Defense with assassination of Hamas military chief; 16 Palestinians killed; Gazans fire over 300 rockets into South, killing 3.
The Israeli Air Force struck some 70 targets in the Gaza Strip in one hour’s time, the IDF Spokesman’s Office said Thursday night. Among the targets, the IDF statement said, were underground medium-range rocket launching pads. The most recent blitz of air strikes brought the total number to some 320.
Palestinians have fired over 300 rockets from Gaza into the South since the IDF launched its operation. Two rocketstriggered an air raid siren in Tel Aviv, marking the first time that a real siren was sounded in Tel Aviv since the Gulf War in the early 1990s.
According to Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency, 16 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the operation. At least two children, including an 11-month-old baby were among the casualties.
The IDF shifted infantry brigades and tank columns to the Gaza border, and announced the call-up of 30,000 reservists, as it made preparations for a possible ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.
“The aim of the attacks is to disrupt the ability of the terrorist organizations to fire rockets,” the IDF said. “Terrorist cells involved in firing rockets have also been hit.”
The targets were chosen after intelligence reports on their locations were gathered over recent months.
“The IDF is landing painful blows against Hamas and against terrorist infrastructure,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. He said the rocket fire on greater Tel Aviv was “an escalation, and the other side will have to pay a price for this escalation.
Earlier on Thursday, Barak hinted that Operation Pillar of Defense against Gaza-based terrorists could be a lengthy battle.
Addressing the possibility of a ground operation, the defense minister said he had instructed the IDF to prepare for “any type of development, if and when necessary.”
On Wednesday, the IAF struck and killed Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari, marking the start of the operation. One other person was killed in the attack.
Following the assassination, the IAF struck over 20 underground rocket launchers belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The airstrikes targeted long-range rockets in the possession of terror organizations, such as the Fajr-5 and other rockets that are capable of striking Tel Aviv from Gaza. Palestinian sources said that six Gazans were killed in the IDF strikes.
In response to the attacks, Hamas said that “the occupation has opened the gates of hell.”
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Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said the assassination will not “break the will of our people, nor weaken our resistance,” Al Ahram reported. Al-Rishq made the comments on his Facebook site, adding that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is using the “war crime” to boost his chances of reelection, but that it could “cost him his political future.”
Wednesday’s violence came after a four-day rocket barrage which began Saturday appeared to have come to an end on Tuesday evening. The hostilities saw over 100 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel and Israeli retaliatory strikes which killed six Palestinians.
Both Israel and Hamas sent signals to each other via Egypt that they would hold their fire unless attacked, after five days of mounting violence.
Yaakov Lappin and Reuters contributed to this report.
Two Photos Above: Iranian made Fajr-5 rockets used to terrorise Israel
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By Max Fisher
The Washington Post
As the Israeli air force launches airstrikes against the Gaza Strip in what it’s calling Pillar of Defense, some analysts are already worrying about the potential implications for the region of renewed Israel-Gaza violence.
Middle East watchers are by temperament a cynical bunch, and their assessments are just predictions, so take them with a grain of salt. But it’s worth considering them, both to examine the wider risks should violence increase (the Israeli military has signaled its readiness for a ground invasion “if necessary”) and as a reminder of how closely connected these disparate Middle Eastern security and political issues can be.
Egypt’s reaction to the violence could be particularly significant as a test of how the new, Muslim Brotherhood-allied government will respond to renewed Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some analysts have worried that the more populist, democratically elected government now in Cairo could feel compelled to take a tougher line against Israel and on behalf of Palestinians. Egypt’s foreign minister has condemned the strikes, as has the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party, which announced in a statement, “the state of occupation [Israel] should learn that the changes in the region including Egypt won’t allow for putting Palestinians under the brunt of Israeli aggression like in the past.”
A number of Egypt watchers in the United States have in the past expressed strong opinions on how the new Egyptian government would handle an Israeli-Gaza crisis. Some argue that the post-revolution Cairo government is so fundamentally different from Hosni Mubarak’s that it would be either unwilling or unable to avoid responding somehow; some analysts even worry Egypt may be looking for a pretext to downgrade relations with Israel. Others argue that the fundamentals of the Egypt-Israel relationship secured in the 1979 Camp David Accord are solid, and that cooler heads and rational statesmanship will largely maintain the status quo. So, if and when President Mohamed Morsi does respond (or doesn’t), it could tell us much about the foreign policy of the new Egypt.
Middle East watchers are also expressing some concern about Israel’s once-solid relationship with Turkey, which has looked a bit more tenuous since a 2010 Gaza-bound aid flotilla ended with an Israeli raid that killed nine Turkish passengers, still a source of consternation in Turkey. Just two days ago, Turkey analyst Michael Koplow worried about what an Israeli strike on Gaza would “do to Turkish-Israeli relations in light of [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan’s embrace of Hamas and imminent trip to Gaza.” In a speech earlier Wednesday, Israeli politician Tzipi Livni warned that Israeli-Turkish “relations are affected by what happens to Palestinians, whether we like it or not,” according to Israeli analyst Meir Javedanfar, who was present at the speech. Turkey and Israel have long maintained an important military relationship, which could become more important as violence in Syria escalates.
Even the much-discussed potential opening for direct U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations could potentially be affected, The New York Times’s Tehran-based Thomas Erdbrink warned on Twitter. “While #Iran and #Hamas have been estranged over Syria, Iran’s leaders will be highly upset over Jabari’s assassination today in Gaza,” he wrote. “Forget ANY #Iran-US talks if conflict in Gaza escalates. … #Iran leaders can never be seen as talking to US, while its ‘eternal’ ally Israel assassinates Iran’s ideological allies.” The Washington Post recently reported that Tehran is “locked in internal debate” over the possible U.S. talks, so anything that weakens Iranian advocates for negotiations and exposes them to greater political risk would seem likely to reduce the odds of those talks taking place.
See also: Israeli military and Hamas exchange threats on Twitter
Gazans try to extinguish fire following an Israeli air strike. (Mohammed Abed — AFP/Getty Images)
Israel claims Turkey’s Erdoğan’s has “embraced Hamas” with his and imminent trip to Gaza
Photo By Dan Balilty
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: This year alone they’ve fired over 1000 rockets and missiles at Israel, including close to 200 rockets in the last 24 hours.
I am stressing this because it’s important to understand one simple point – there is no moral symmetry, there is no moral equivalence between Israel and the terrorist organisations in Gaza.
In the past 24 hours Israel has made it clear that it will not tolerate rocket and missile attacks on its civilians. I hope that Hamas and the other terror organisations in Gaza got the message. If not, Israel is prepared to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people.
Tags: 1979 Camp David Accord, Ahmadinejad, air strikes, Egypt, Fajr-5, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Iran, Iranian, Islamic Jihad, Israel, long-range rockets, Muslim Brotherhood, Netanyahu, News, Palistinians, Pillar of Defense, politics, Tel Aviv, terrorists, Turkey, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
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