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Hamas
claims fire of several rockets on Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa
9
July, 2014
The
armed wing of Hamas claimed that it fired several rockets at
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa Tuesday. "For the first time, the
(Ezzedine al-) Qassam Brigades strike Haifa with an R160 rocket, and
strike occupied Jerusalem with four M75 rockets and Tel Aviv with
four M75 rockets," a statement said.
Three
loud explosions rocked Jerusalem shortly after air raid sirens wailed
across the city Tuesday night, AFP correspondents said. The sirens
sounded at around 19:00 GMT, with at least four bright flashes
lighting the sky southwest of the city, a correspondent said.
8 July, 2014, 2014
Following the catalysts of broken down US-sponsored peace-talks and the teenager deaths on both sides Hamas (admitting its responsibility for the first time) unleashed more than 240 rockets into Israel in the past four weeks (including 100 since yesterday), Israel has drawn the line. As Bloomberg reports, Israel struck more than 90 targets in the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip from air and sea and PM Netanyahu suggested the option of a ground incursionwas on the table. This is heaviest barrage since November 2012 and is set to worsen as Defense minister Ya'alon warned, this "will not end in just a few days," adding that Israel "is prepared to expand the campaign by every means at our disposal." In preparation for escalation, Israel has called up 40,000 reservists today as news hits that Tel Aviv airport has been closed due to shelling as "Operation Protective Edge" expands.As Bloomberg reports,ISRAEL CARRIES OUT ABOUT 50 STRIKES ON GAZA OVERNIGHTISRAEL LAUNCHES MORE AIR STRIKES AGAINST GAZA STRIP: JAZEERAISRAELI AIR STRIKE IN GAZA STRIP INJURES 8 PEOPLE: AL JAZEERAISRAELI STRIKES TARGET GAZA MILITANTS' HOMES, ROCKET LAUNCHERSPALESTINIAN KILLED IN ISRAELI AIR STRIKES ON GAZA: JAZEERAMore than 240 rockets have struck Israel in the past four weeks, including more than 100 since yesterday, the military said.[Here the Iron Dome intercepts a barrage of rockets into Israel...]Israel struck more than 90 targets in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip from air and sea and called up more reservists for a possible ground operation to quell a barrage of Palestinian rockets into its territory.
[And IDF's response...}
“There are continuous air strikes on our people, an open war on innocent civilians, women and children,” he said on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa television. “Israel wants to turn things around and hide the truth.”Among the targets hit today were command centers, rocket launchers, training bases and at least four homes of Palestinian militants, according to an e-mailed statement from the army. The military has also been given approval to mobilize more reservists in case a ground incursion is ordered, spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said by phone.
ISRAEL TO WIDEN GAZA OPERATION, CHANNEL 2 SAYSISRAEL IS CONSIDERING GROUND OPERATION IN GAZA, CHANNEL 2 SAYs
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with top security officials at military headquarters in Tel Aviv and directed them to conduct an extensive and lengthy offensive that includes the option of a ground incursion according to an official who spoke anonymously because he wasn’t authorized to comment on record. The campaign is Israel’s biggest in Gaza since November 2012 and follows weeks of rocket fire and retaliatory air strikes.
*ISRAEL CABINET APPROVES CALLUP OF 40,000 RESERVISTS: MINISTRY“We are preparing a campaign against Hamas that will not end in just a few days,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said in an e-mailed statement. “We will not tolerate rocket fire at Israeli communities and we are prepared to expand the campaign by every means at our disposal.”Residents of Israeli communities within a 25-mile radius of Gaza have been instructed not to congregate in large groups, and kindergartens and summer camps in that area have been told to cancel sessions, Lerner said.
Still
the US is shockingly quiet...
Abbas
spokesman Nabi Abu Rudeina, in a statement posted by the official
Palestinian news agency Wafa, said the president denounced the
escalation. “The silence of
the international community, especially the U.S. administration, will
push the Palestinian leadership to make fateful decisions in defense
of our people,” the
statement cited Abbas as saying.
But
there are concerns...
Some
Israeli officials raised concerns
about possible implications from the military campaign.
“Hamas
is weaker than ever,” Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid said
today on Army Radio. “Hamas
is so weak that we also have to examine all the possible scenarios if
Hamas collapses, and who will take over in the vacuum that will be
created.”
But
things are escalating fast...
*TEL
AVIV'S SDE DOV AIRPORT CLOSED DUE TO ROCKETS: CHANNEL 2
*TEL
AVIV MUST BE PREPARED FOR GAZA ROCKETS: ISRAEL'S YA'ALON
*SIRENS
HEARD IN TEL AVIV AREA
Israel
readies 'ground
assault' on Gaza, calls up
40,000 reservists
RT
,
8
July, 2014
Israel’s
army is formulating options to eradicate rocket fire coming from
Gaza, “including ground assault,” an anonymous Israeli official
stated on Tuesday. An unspecified number of troops are being called
up after preliminary approval for 40,000.
Air
raid sirens rang through Tel Aviv as Israel’s 'Iron Dome'
anti-missile system intercepted a rocket in images shown on live
television, shortly after the troop mobilization.
The
sirens rang out for a second time just under three hours later as the
'Iron Dome' intercepted another rocket. Sirens sounded in Jerusalem,
Tel Aviv, and the northern Israeli town of Binyamina.
The
reserve soldiers were mobilized as backup for the regular forces in
anticipation of a possible escalation in the conflict, spokesman
Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner told Reuters.
Some
1,500 reservists had already been mobilized by the time that Israel
approved the calling up of the extra 40,000. Israel’s security
cabinet voted in favor of calling up the tens of thousands of extra
personnel as part of a potential “ground operation.”
“The
army is preparing for all possible scenarios, including an invasion
or a ground operation,” an anonymous official told the AFP agency.
Israeli
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Tuesday: “We are preparing
for action against Hamas, which will not end within a few days,”
according to RT’s Paula Slier from the Israeli/Gaza border area.
More than100 sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip were struck over the
course of the day.
There
will be no immediate attempts at cease-fire, an Israeli official
stated. “It won't end in a day and it won't end in two days. It
will take time,” Yitzhak Aharonovitch, the country's Cabinet
minister for internal security, told Channel 2 TV.
“If
we need to go inside in a ground operation, then we will do it. These
things are on the table. These options exist. We will not stop
anything until the rocket firing ends,” he said, stating that
presently there were no efforts being made to broker a cease fire.
At
least 15 Palestinians, among them three children, have been killed in
the attacks, Palestinian medical officials told AP. Hamas stated
shortly after discovering that at least two children had been killed,
that "all Israelis" would be considered legitimate targets,
according to AFP.
One
specific assault targeted an Israeli assault on a house in the Gaza
Strip, the Palestinian Interior Ministry reported on Tuesday. The
home had belonged to the family of a Hamas member, local residents
told Reuters, and six people died in the assault, two of which were
the aforementioned children.
Tel
Aviv Municipality is preparing to open public bomb shelters, reported
Slier, and flights departing and arriving at Ben Gurion Airport are
being diverted because of fears they could be hit by rocket fire,
according to Haaretz.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military earlier in
the day to "take off the gloves," with one source claiming
he told the IDF to "go all the way."
Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar told Ynet on Tuesday that the IDF should take more aggressive measures in the Gaza Strip. "Israel need to step it up and operate with more ferocity against Hamas....I wouldn't rule out the possibility of rockets at Tel Aviv," Sa'ar stated.
Early on Tuesday, Israel began a major counter-offensive on Gaza, following the launch of over 85 rockets at southern Israel on Monday. The IDF deemed the figure to be higher.
Isra
al-Modallal from the Ministry of Information in Gaza told RT that the
strikes constituted a "real war"against Gaza, calling for
an end to the "siege" and temed Israel's behavior "illegal
and immoral".
Peter
Lerner from the Israeli Defense Force asked RT: "What is the
alternative? To just let Hamas terrorists continue their barrage or
aggression, of rockets?"
"This
is an unfortunate situation," he said. "Israel had no
intention, no wish to go and attack Gaza, but Hamas put us in this
corner."
At
least 14 people were injured as the Israeli Air Force carried out
airstrikes against Hamas targets.
Operation
Protective Edge was launched in Gaza following rocket fire, the
Israeli Defense Force said on Twitter.
The
Israeli air force and navy landed hits on 50 separate targets across
Gaza.
A
further official confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that the army had
received instructions “to prepare different military alternatives
in order to be ready in case of need.” Protective Edge was launched
in Gaza following rocket fire, the Israeli Defense Force said on
Twitter.
The
Israeli air force and navy landed hits on 50 separate targets across
Gaza..
Russia,
the US, France and the UK have all expressed unease over events in
the Gaza Strip. Moscow has stated that "it is with deep concern"
that there have been further escalations around Gaza and that the
"use of force against the civilian population of Gaza deserves
condemnation."
"I
am deeply concerned by the recent escalation of violence in Gaza and
southern Israel. I condemn the firing of rockets into Israel by
Gaza-based militants," said the UK Foreign Secretary William
Hague in a statement published by the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office.
"All
sides have a responsibility to respect in full the November 2012
ceasefire, and to address the underlying causes of conflict and
instability in Gaza," he said.
The
US stated that it "strongly" condemned continuing rocket
fire inside of Israel and "the deliberate targeting of civilians
by terrorist organizations in Gaza," White House spokesman Josh
Earnest said at a news briefing. "We support Israel's right to
defend itself against these vicious attacks."
France
has urged all sides to show restraint, with Foreign Ministry
spokesman Romain Nadal stating: "We reaffirm our rejection of
any form of violence," reported Reuters.
The last time Israel attacked Gaza Harry Fear did a supurb job of following events on the ground
You can follow Harry's blog HERE
For the presstitutes' coverage -
BBC
Hamas fires rockets at Israeli cities after Gaza offensive
CNN
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