Iran fired NDP fireworks at midnight 9.Aug on Israel! 200 hits!
https://www.newsweek.com/200-rockets-and-mortars-fired-israel-one-day-where-outrage-1027416
Opinion
200 Rockets and Mortars Fired on Israel in One Day—Where Is the Outrage? | Opinion
Vladimir Sloutsker
On 7/17/18 at 4:30 AM
How Strong Is Israels Military?
Share
Opinion Israel Hamas
This weekend, as Israelis were marking the holy Sabbath, thousands of families across southern Israel had to spend this day running in and out of bomb shelters.
In the space of 24 hours, starting Friday evening, Hamas terrorists in Gaza rained down a barrage of over 200 rockets and mortars on communities in southern Israel, representing the single heaviest day of rocket fire since the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
One of these rockets hit a children’s play area in Sderot, while another hit a Synagogue. Thankfully both were empty at the time.
A member of the Israeli security forces inspects the damage on the rooftop of a building in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, caused by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on July 14, 2018. Rockets were fired at southern Israel from Gaza, the Israeli military said, without causing any casualties. AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-pounds-gaza-in-widest-day-of-strikes-since-2014-war/
As dozens of rockets hit Israel, IDF pounds Gaza in heaviest strikes since 2014
Palestinians fire over 100 projectiles at Israel; In Sderot, 3 Israelis wounded, empty synagogue damaged by rocket; 2 Palestinians said killed as IAF hits Hamas complex
By TOI staff 14 July 2018, 4:37 pm 19
A picture taken on July 14, 2018, shows a smoke plume rising following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City (AFP PHOTO / MAHMUD HAMS)
Israeli aircraft on Saturday attacked more than 40 targets in the Gaza Strip in the most extensive daytime assault since 2014’s Operation Protective Edge as Palestinian terror groups fired repeated salvos of rockets and mortar shells into Israel.
Three Israelis were moderately wounded when a rocket hit a house in Sderot. Palestinians said two teens were killed and 14 injured in the Israeli strikes.
The surge in violence intensified after midnight Friday-Saturday as the Israel Defense Forces hit an attack tunnel and Hamas training bases in Gaza in response to the moderate wounding of an IDF officer by a hand-grenade thrown during a border riot on Friday.
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During the night, Palestinians fired more than 30 projectiles into Israel and kept up the attacks on Saturday, firing a further 100 rockets and mortar shells. Residents of Israeli border communities spent the night in bomb shelters and were cautioned to remain close to the shelters during the day.
In the evening, several rockets were fired toward the town of Sderot. Iron Dome intercepted several of them. Two rockets fell in the town, hitting a house and an empty synagogue. Three people were moderately wounded by shrapnel and evacuated to the hospital, the Magen David Adom rescue service said.
The air force said Saturday it had bombed a multi-story Hamas training complex in the Gaza Strip, completely destroying the building and exposing a tunnel complex underneath. Palestinians reported that two teens were killed in the bombing.
The Hamas-run health ministry identified the dead as 15-year-old Amir al-Nimra and 16-year-old Louay Kahil. It said 14 others were wounded in the more than 40 Israeli strikes throughout the day.
The army said civilians were warned to leave the building before the strike.
The IDF said Iron Dome intercepted at least 20 projectiles that were headed for residential areas in total.
A picture taken on July 14, 2018 shows Palestinian rockets being fired from Gaza City towards Israel. ( AFP PHOTO / BASHAR TALEB)
Israel’s political leadership is considering a range of possibilities for trying to halt the rocket fire, including targeted assassinations of Hamas terror chiefs, the use of ground forces, and a ceasefire mediated by Egypt and/or others, but no decision had been made as of Saturday late afternoon, Hadashot TV news reported.
The primary target of the IAF strikes Saturday was the Hamas battalion headquarters in Beit Lahia, in the north of the Strip, the army said.
An aerial illustration of the Hamas Battalion headquarters in Beit Lahia. (IDF Spokesperson)
“The focus of the attack is a wide-scale strike of the Hamas Battalion HQ in Beit Lahia, which includes urban warfare training facilities, weapon storage warehouse, training compounds, command centers, offices and more,” the IDF said in a statement.
“In addition, a weapons manufacturing site and storage facilities housing various types of weapons, including Hamas’ naval capabilities, were struck,” it said.
The air force also attacked a Palestinian terrorist cell launching mortars. Palestinian media said the IDF had shelled the home of a senior Islamic Jihad leader, but there was no confirmation from the army.
The IDF spokesman said the aim of the operation was to “restore a sense of security” and that the military would “respond as necessary” to a wide range of scenarios.
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The Hamas-run health ministry said it had not received any reports of injuries in the Israeli strikes.
According to IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, the operation had three aims: To end the incendiary kites and balloons from Gaza, end the large-scale border protests, and end the rocket and mortar fire.
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis (screen capture of National Assembly footage)
“There are three factors occurring that we view seriously and cannot allow to continue,” he said, adding that this was the largest daytime Israeli strike on Gaza since the 2014 Gaza War.
Media reports said that Egyptian intelligence services had contacted the Hamas leadership in Gaza to try to prevent a further escalation of violence.
In the Saturday afternoon salvo, Palestinians fired more than 60 rockets and mortar shells and sirens wailed frequently in southern Israel. Army Radio reported that at least one projectile was intercepted, with the remainder falling in unpopulated areas.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
A farm building was lightly damaged in one border community, with no harm to any animals reported.
Local residents, who had earlier been told they could return to their usual routines after an earlier barrage overnight Friday, were instructed to remain close to bomb shelters, and large gatherings of people were to be canceled.
The day of tension and violence came after terrorists fired more than 30 rockets and mortars toward Israel overnight Friday in the wake of IDF strikes on a number of Hamas targets in Gaza in response to violence along the border.
No injuries or damage were reported but warning sirens wailed for much of the night in border communities including the Sdot HaNegev Regional Council area and the town of Sderot.
The army earlier on Saturday said it targeted two Hamas attack tunnels as well as other military compounds in the Strip, including those involved in the spate of incendiary kite and balloon attacks.
Even as the airstrikes were being carried out, the IDF said rockets were fired toward Israel.
According to the IDF, six projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system. One rocket landed inside a kibbutz in the Shar HaNegev Regional Council area.
Hamas on Saturday said the barrage of rockets and mortar shells into Israeli territory overnight was fired by the “resistance” to “stop Israeli escalation.”
The spokesman for the terrorist group, Fawzi Barhoum, also said the projectiles were an “immediate response” that was meant to “deliver the message” to Israel.
The army said it held Hamas responsible for all violence emanating from Gaza, which the terror group has ruled since 2007.
“The Hamas terror organization is responsible for the events transpiring in the Gaza Strip and emanating from it and will bear the consequences for its actions against Israeli civilians and Israeli sovereignty,” the army said, adding that “the IDF views Hamas’ terror activity with great severity and is prepared for a wide variety of scenarios.”
The IDF said aircraft had attacked “an offensive terror tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, in addition to several terror sites in military compounds throughout the Gaza Strip, among them complexes used to prepare arson terror attacks and a Hamas terror organization training facility.”
The IDF published video of its air strikes.
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The latest round of violence has threatened to spark a further conflagration after weeks of tensions along the volatile border.
Israel in recent weeks has repeatedly warned Hamas that while it has no interest in engaging in the kind of conflict that led to the sides fighting three wars over the past decade, it would not tolerate its continued efforts to breach the border fence and its campaign to devastate Israeli border communities with incendiary attacks.
On Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered near the Gaza border for their near-weekly protest. The army said protesters attacked soldiers with grenades, bombs, Molotov cocktails, and rocks.
A 15-year-old Palestinian who tried to climb over the fence into Israel was shot dead, media reports in Gaza said.
Later the IDF said an Israeli officer was moderately wounded by a grenade thrown at him during the clashes at the border.
On Saturday, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza announced that a 19-year-old succumbed to his wounds sustained at the clashes a day earlier.
It was not clear whether the two deaths were tied to the attack that wounded the Israeli officer.
Gaza officials said 220 others were hurt in Friday’s riots. Most were treated at the scene, while several dozen were taken to hospital. The violence was held under the banner of “Identifying with Khan al-Ahmar,” a West Bank Bedouin village whose planned demolition by Israel is being debated at the High Court.
Since March 30, weekly clashes have taken place on the Gaza border, with Israel accusing Hamas of using the demonstrations as cover to carry out attacks and attempt to breach the security fence. The “March of Return” protests have also seen Palestinians fly airborne incendiary devices toward Israeli territory, sparking hundreds of fires in southern Israel and causing millions of shekels in estimated damages.
The Israeli army reportedly notified Hamas in recent days that if the incendiary kite and balloon attacks from the Gaza Strip don’t cease, Israel would respond with major military action.
Palestinians prepare a kite with flammable materials that they will fly into southern Israel from Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on June 22, 2018. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
On Monday, Israel announced it was shutting down the Kerem Shalom border crossing — the Strip’s main crossing for commercial goods — in response to the endless stream of incendiary and explosive kites and balloons that have been flown into southern Israel, sparking fires that have burned thousands of acres of land and caused millions of shekels in damages. Humanitarian and essential supplies continue to enter Gaza.
The IDF has sought to avoid an escalation of hostilities on the southern front despite the attacks, but according to the Haaretz daily, the political pressure to act has been building as the economic and psychological harm caused by the fires takes its toll.
On Wednesday, incendiary kites and balloons sparked 19 fires of varying sizes in Israel, according to local government officials. Fifteen of them occurred in the Eshkol region, which abuts the southern Gaza Strip. The other four occurred in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, which lies to the northeast of the coastal enclave.
In response, the Israeli military conducted an airstrike against a group of Palestinians it said was launching incendiary balloons toward Israel from the southern Gaza Strip, east of the city of Rafah. There, too, no injuries were reported.
After shuttering Kerem Shalom, the army said humanitarian aid, notably food and medicine, would still be allowed into Gaza, but would require special permission from the military liaison, Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon, to the Palestinians.
The military said the closure would continue so long as Palestinians persist in launching incendiary kites and balloons into Israel.
Agencies contributed to this report.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/inte...in-response-to-rockets-hitting-city-of-sderot
Israeli army strikes Gaza in response to rockets hitting city of Sderot
08/09/2018
2:56:48 AM
Updated on
08/09/2018
3:37:46 AM
Written by
i24NEWS
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) fires an Iron Dome rocket from a ship-mounted battery
Israel Defense Force Spokesman's Unit
IDF confirmed launching air strikes in Gaza on Wednesday in response to four rockets from Gaza which fell in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, lightly injuring three people according to medics at the scene.
According to IDF, the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted two of 36 rockets fired in total.
A 34-year old man was lightly injured by broken glass, 13 others suffered from anxiety attacks and damages to several cars were reported.
The area where the rockets fell have been closed off by the police as bomb disposal units were called to the scene.
Earlier on Wednesday, air raid sirens warning of incoming rocket fire sent Israeli residents of communities along the tense Gaza border scrambling for shelter before the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) determined them to have been a false alarm.
The sirens were triggered shortly before 10 a.m. in the city of Sderot and communities in the Sha’ar Hanegev region of southern Israel.
The IDF later announced that they were false alarms, without specifying what had activated the sensitive detection system. Previous false alerts have been triggered by heavy gunfire near the border mistaken by the system for rocket fire.
In another separate incident on Wednesday, IDF said that “terrorists fired shots at civilians” engaged in the construction of the barrier along the security fence near the northern Gaza Strip and that an engineering vehicle was hit.
In response, a tank targeted a Hamas position, since Israel holds the organization responsible for all violence coming from Gaza.
Damage done after rockets hit city of Sderot
Meanwhile, an official from the Islamist Gaza Strip government told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that Hamas may be ready to reach an agreement toward a truce with Israel.
The Hamas official reportedly said the truce agreement will begin with a two-week cease-fire trial period beginning in late August in accordance with ongoing talks mediated by Egypt.
Qatar and Turkey are also involved in facilitating the talks alongside the United Nations and Egypt, the source said.
The agreement stipulates Gaza’s Rafah border crossing to Egypt will be permanently opened and the Kerem Shalom crossing, the blockaded enclave’s only intake point for commercial goods, will ease restrictions “dramatically”, according to the report.
The push for a long-term ceasefire agreement follows months of clashes between Israel and Hamas, marked by a surge in cross-border arson attacks, rocket fire, and violent clashes which brought the sides to the brink of a full-scale war in two separate military flare-ups in July.
However, fighting between Israel and Hamas continue despite the ceasefire talks.
On Tuesday, the IDF admitted that earlier shootings from Hamas did not target Israeli soldiers which caused IDF to strike back, killing two Hamas militants, Israel's Channel 10 reported.
Damaged house in Sderot after rockets fell
Channel 10 cited IDF Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the head of the army’s Southern Command, saying the shootings were not aimed at IDF's Rotem battalion of the Givati infantry brigade but were part of a Hamas naval exercise.
Following the strike, Hamas' Izzedine Al-Qassam Brigades announced that two of its members were killed in the strike, naming them as Ahmad Margan and Abdel Hafex Al-Silawi, both 23-years-old and from the Jabalia refugee camp.
Palestinian reports said the two were killed when IDF artillery struck a graduation ceremony of al-Qassam members at a Hamas base Askelan, northern Gaza, where senior Hamas figures were in attendance.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/agency-urges-israel-emergency-fuel-gaza-57103715
Israel hits Gaza after Palestinian rockets target Israel
The Associated Press
Injured person is taken to ambulance after a missile from Gaza Strip hit in the town of Sderot, Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2018. Sirens wailed in southern Israel warning of incoming projectiles from Gaza and Israeli media reported two people were lightly injured from shrapnel in the border town of Sderot. (AP photo/Yehuda Peretz)more +
Israel struck targets in the Gaza Strip after dozens of rockets were launched Wednesday from the coastal territory ruled by the Islamic militant Hamas group, the Israeli military said.
The exchange came amid continued attempts by Egypt to broker a broad cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Sirens wailed in southern Israel, warning of incoming rockets from Gaza, and Israeli media reported six people were wounded by shrapnel in the border town of Sderot.
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One Palestinian rocket hit a house, Israeli media said, showing footage of houses and cars pockmarked with shrapnel. Reports said it wasn't clear if one of those hurt was wounded by a rocket or by debris from the rocket defense system.
The military said that it identified 36 rockets fired from Gaza at Israel and that the Iron Dome defense system intercepted several of them.
Gaza residents reported several Israeli airstrikes after the Palestinian rocket barrage.
Israel's military later confirmed it struck Gaza, saying it hit 12 Hamas sites in all, including "an offensive maritime terror tunnel ... several terror sites in military compounds throughout the Gaza Strip ... rocket manufacturing facilities and a central logistical military complex."
Gaza's Health Ministry said three Palestinians were slightly injured in the strikes.
Israel's military earlier said shots were fired from Gaza at civilians working on the barrier that separate the territory and Israel, damaging a vehicle. Israel said it struck a Hamas post in retaliation. No casualties were reported.
On Tuesday, Israel struck a Hamas military post in Gaza, saying it was in response to militant fire at Israeli troops. Hamas said two of its fighters were killed. It also disputed Israel's account, saying shots were fired as part of a graduation ceremony for a group of fighters inside the camp.
Also Wednesday, a U.N. aid agency called on Israel to allow emergency fuel into the Gaza Strip to avert the shutdown of hospitals and sanitation facilities
Jamie McGoldrick, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, in a news release called Israel's restriction of fuel imports "a dangerous practice, with grave consequences on the rights of people in Gaza."
Israel halted the supply of petroleum and natural gas to Gaza last week in response to incendiary kites and balloons launched from Gaza into southern Israel. Israel temporarily suspended fuel shipments to Gaza in July for similar reasons.
Israel has been battling large fires caused by kites and balloons rigged with incendiary devices or burning rags launched from Gaza that have destroyed forests, burned crops and killed wildlife and livestock.
The almost daily airborne arson attacks have been part of months of weekly border protests led by the Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza aimed in part at drawing attention to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after it took control of the territory in 2007.
The demonstrations have been fueled in large part by pervasive despair caused by the blockade that has caused widespread economic hardship and left the coastal territory with crippling fuel shortages and just a few hours of electricity a day.
Over the past four months, 158 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, including at least 120 in the protests near the fence and others in Israeli air strikes and other incidents elsewhere in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and a local rights group. Twenty-four of the slain protesters were minors, the ministry has said. One Israeli soldier was killed by a Gaza sniper during this period.
Israel says it is defending its border and nearby communities and accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover for attempts to breach the fence and carry out attacks.
Mahmoud Daher, of the World Health Organization in Gaza, said in a telephone interview "the situation is very serious." He said by the end of the month, all fuel supplied by the U.N. will run out "and the problem is there is no sign of renewed funding from donors in the horizon."
http://www.sohu.com/a/246067461_99967552
战争在凌晨爆发，70枚火箭砸到以色列头上，伊朗出手了
2018-08-09 09:04 以色列 /伊朗
据以色列时报8月9日报道，在叙利亚军队收复南部地区之后，刚刚松了一口气的以色列再次遭到突然打击，据以色列军方最新消息，当地时间8日晚上到9日凌晨，加沙地带向以色列境内发射了几十枚导弹、火箭弹和迫击炮弹，造成了多名以色列平民和军人的伤亡，现场的目击者声称，先是突然响起了刺耳的空袭警报，然后大批火球落入了以色列境内，当地上万名居民紧急逃入了附近的防空洞中避难。随后以色列空军出动了十多架战机发动反击，轰炸了哈马斯至少12个军事目标。
以色列军方表示，此次哈马斯袭击以色列背后依然是伊朗操纵，从落入以色列境内的导弹残骸来看，都是典型的伊朗风格，在近期遭到多次空袭之后，伊朗终于对以色列发动了反击。以色列军方发言人表示，此次袭击不同以往，袭击事件横跨整个夜间，一波又一波的导弹和火箭落入了加沙附近的以色列定居点，导弹警报响彻了一整个晚上，以色列“铁穹”反导系统只拦截了少数导弹，这说明伊朗此次发射的导弹机动性更强。
以色列军方证实，截止现在至少有70枚火箭落入了以色列境内，该国的“铁穹”反导系统拦截了至少11枚来袭的火箭，虽然拦截率比想象要低得多，但是以色列军方称，大部分火箭都落入了空地，因此铁穹反导系统不会拦截这些目标。以色列军方还直接威胁伊朗称，如果伊朗一直“躲在哈马斯身后”的话，那么以色列将不介意对伊朗目标发动更大规模的军事行动。
哈马斯在袭击之后宣布对此事负责，表示此举是为了报复以色列暗杀其成员和对加沙地带的封锁，负责中东特种作战的伊朗少将苏莱曼尼也对哈马斯的袭击表示了支持，称伊朗将尽一切力量支援巴勒斯坦对以色列的反抗，他还表示，伊朗曾经发誓要对以色列进行报复，现在这个承诺正在慢慢实现，未来以色列人将更加频繁地面临“复仇之火”的报复，直到以色列被彻底消灭。返回搜狐，查看更多
https://www.newsweek.com/200-rockets-and-mortars-fired-israel-one-day-where-outrage-1027416
Opinion
200 Rockets and Mortars Fired on Israel in One Day—Where Is the Outrage? | Opinion
Vladimir Sloutsker
On 7/17/18 at 4:30 AM
How Strong Is Israels Military?
Share
Opinion Israel Hamas
This weekend, as Israelis were marking the holy Sabbath, thousands of families across southern Israel had to spend this day running in and out of bomb shelters.
In the space of 24 hours, starting Friday evening, Hamas terrorists in Gaza rained down a barrage of over 200 rockets and mortars on communities in southern Israel, representing the single heaviest day of rocket fire since the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
One of these rockets hit a children’s play area in Sderot, while another hit a Synagogue. Thankfully both were empty at the time.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-pounds-gaza-in-widest-day-of-strikes-since-2014-war/
As dozens of rockets hit Israel, IDF pounds Gaza in heaviest strikes since 2014
Palestinians fire over 100 projectiles at Israel; In Sderot, 3 Israelis wounded, empty synagogue damaged by rocket; 2 Palestinians said killed as IAF hits Hamas complex
By TOI staff 14 July 2018, 4:37 pm 19
A picture taken on July 14, 2018, shows a smoke plume rising following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City (AFP PHOTO / MAHMUD HAMS)
Israeli aircraft on Saturday attacked more than 40 targets in the Gaza Strip in the most extensive daytime assault since 2014’s Operation Protective Edge as Palestinian terror groups fired repeated salvos of rockets and mortar shells into Israel.
Three Israelis were moderately wounded when a rocket hit a house in Sderot. Palestinians said two teens were killed and 14 injured in the Israeli strikes.
The surge in violence intensified after midnight Friday-Saturday as the Israel Defense Forces hit an attack tunnel and Hamas training bases in Gaza in response to the moderate wounding of an IDF officer by a hand-grenade thrown during a border riot on Friday.
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During the night, Palestinians fired more than 30 projectiles into Israel and kept up the attacks on Saturday, firing a further 100 rockets and mortar shells. Residents of Israeli border communities spent the night in bomb shelters and were cautioned to remain close to the shelters during the day.
In the evening, several rockets were fired toward the town of Sderot. Iron Dome intercepted several of them. Two rockets fell in the town, hitting a house and an empty synagogue. Three people were moderately wounded by shrapnel and evacuated to the hospital, the Magen David Adom rescue service said.
The air force said Saturday it had bombed a multi-story Hamas training complex in the Gaza Strip, completely destroying the building and exposing a tunnel complex underneath. Palestinians reported that two teens were killed in the bombing.
The Hamas-run health ministry identified the dead as 15-year-old Amir al-Nimra and 16-year-old Louay Kahil. It said 14 others were wounded in the more than 40 Israeli strikes throughout the day.
The army said civilians were warned to leave the building before the strike.
The IDF said Iron Dome intercepted at least 20 projectiles that were headed for residential areas in total.
A picture taken on July 14, 2018 shows Palestinian rockets being fired from Gaza City towards Israel. ( AFP PHOTO / BASHAR TALEB)
Israel’s political leadership is considering a range of possibilities for trying to halt the rocket fire, including targeted assassinations of Hamas terror chiefs, the use of ground forces, and a ceasefire mediated by Egypt and/or others, but no decision had been made as of Saturday late afternoon, Hadashot TV news reported.
The primary target of the IAF strikes Saturday was the Hamas battalion headquarters in Beit Lahia, in the north of the Strip, the army said.
An aerial illustration of the Hamas Battalion headquarters in Beit Lahia. (IDF Spokesperson)
“The focus of the attack is a wide-scale strike of the Hamas Battalion HQ in Beit Lahia, which includes urban warfare training facilities, weapon storage warehouse, training compounds, command centers, offices and more,” the IDF said in a statement.
“In addition, a weapons manufacturing site and storage facilities housing various types of weapons, including Hamas’ naval capabilities, were struck,” it said.
The air force also attacked a Palestinian terrorist cell launching mortars. Palestinian media said the IDF had shelled the home of a senior Islamic Jihad leader, but there was no confirmation from the army.
The IDF spokesman said the aim of the operation was to “restore a sense of security” and that the military would “respond as necessary” to a wide range of scenarios.
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The Hamas-run health ministry said it had not received any reports of injuries in the Israeli strikes.
According to IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, the operation had three aims: To end the incendiary kites and balloons from Gaza, end the large-scale border protests, and end the rocket and mortar fire.
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis (screen capture of National Assembly footage)
“There are three factors occurring that we view seriously and cannot allow to continue,” he said, adding that this was the largest daytime Israeli strike on Gaza since the 2014 Gaza War.
Media reports said that Egyptian intelligence services had contacted the Hamas leadership in Gaza to try to prevent a further escalation of violence.
In the Saturday afternoon salvo, Palestinians fired more than 60 rockets and mortar shells and sirens wailed frequently in southern Israel. Army Radio reported that at least one projectile was intercepted, with the remainder falling in unpopulated areas.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
A farm building was lightly damaged in one border community, with no harm to any animals reported.
Local residents, who had earlier been told they could return to their usual routines after an earlier barrage overnight Friday, were instructed to remain close to bomb shelters, and large gatherings of people were to be canceled.
The day of tension and violence came after terrorists fired more than 30 rockets and mortars toward Israel overnight Friday in the wake of IDF strikes on a number of Hamas targets in Gaza in response to violence along the border.
No injuries or damage were reported but warning sirens wailed for much of the night in border communities including the Sdot HaNegev Regional Council area and the town of Sderot.
The army earlier on Saturday said it targeted two Hamas attack tunnels as well as other military compounds in the Strip, including those involved in the spate of incendiary kite and balloon attacks.
Even as the airstrikes were being carried out, the IDF said rockets were fired toward Israel.
According to the IDF, six projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system. One rocket landed inside a kibbutz in the Shar HaNegev Regional Council area.
Hamas on Saturday said the barrage of rockets and mortar shells into Israeli territory overnight was fired by the “resistance” to “stop Israeli escalation.”
The spokesman for the terrorist group, Fawzi Barhoum, also said the projectiles were an “immediate response” that was meant to “deliver the message” to Israel.
The army said it held Hamas responsible for all violence emanating from Gaza, which the terror group has ruled since 2007.
“The Hamas terror organization is responsible for the events transpiring in the Gaza Strip and emanating from it and will bear the consequences for its actions against Israeli civilians and Israeli sovereignty,” the army said, adding that “the IDF views Hamas’ terror activity with great severity and is prepared for a wide variety of scenarios.”
The IDF said aircraft had attacked “an offensive terror tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, in addition to several terror sites in military compounds throughout the Gaza Strip, among them complexes used to prepare arson terror attacks and a Hamas terror organization training facility.”
The IDF published video of its air strikes.
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The latest round of violence has threatened to spark a further conflagration after weeks of tensions along the volatile border.
Israel in recent weeks has repeatedly warned Hamas that while it has no interest in engaging in the kind of conflict that led to the sides fighting three wars over the past decade, it would not tolerate its continued efforts to breach the border fence and its campaign to devastate Israeli border communities with incendiary attacks.
On Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered near the Gaza border for their near-weekly protest. The army said protesters attacked soldiers with grenades, bombs, Molotov cocktails, and rocks.
A 15-year-old Palestinian who tried to climb over the fence into Israel was shot dead, media reports in Gaza said.
Later the IDF said an Israeli officer was moderately wounded by a grenade thrown at him during the clashes at the border.
On Saturday, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza announced that a 19-year-old succumbed to his wounds sustained at the clashes a day earlier.
It was not clear whether the two deaths were tied to the attack that wounded the Israeli officer.
Gaza officials said 220 others were hurt in Friday’s riots. Most were treated at the scene, while several dozen were taken to hospital. The violence was held under the banner of “Identifying with Khan al-Ahmar,” a West Bank Bedouin village whose planned demolition by Israel is being debated at the High Court.
Since March 30, weekly clashes have taken place on the Gaza border, with Israel accusing Hamas of using the demonstrations as cover to carry out attacks and attempt to breach the security fence. The “March of Return” protests have also seen Palestinians fly airborne incendiary devices toward Israeli territory, sparking hundreds of fires in southern Israel and causing millions of shekels in estimated damages.
The Israeli army reportedly notified Hamas in recent days that if the incendiary kite and balloon attacks from the Gaza Strip don’t cease, Israel would respond with major military action.
Palestinians prepare a kite with flammable materials that they will fly into southern Israel from Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on June 22, 2018. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
On Monday, Israel announced it was shutting down the Kerem Shalom border crossing — the Strip’s main crossing for commercial goods — in response to the endless stream of incendiary and explosive kites and balloons that have been flown into southern Israel, sparking fires that have burned thousands of acres of land and caused millions of shekels in damages. Humanitarian and essential supplies continue to enter Gaza.
The IDF has sought to avoid an escalation of hostilities on the southern front despite the attacks, but according to the Haaretz daily, the political pressure to act has been building as the economic and psychological harm caused by the fires takes its toll.
On Wednesday, incendiary kites and balloons sparked 19 fires of varying sizes in Israel, according to local government officials. Fifteen of them occurred in the Eshkol region, which abuts the southern Gaza Strip. The other four occurred in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, which lies to the northeast of the coastal enclave.
In response, the Israeli military conducted an airstrike against a group of Palestinians it said was launching incendiary balloons toward Israel from the southern Gaza Strip, east of the city of Rafah. There, too, no injuries were reported.
After shuttering Kerem Shalom, the army said humanitarian aid, notably food and medicine, would still be allowed into Gaza, but would require special permission from the military liaison, Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon, to the Palestinians.
The military said the closure would continue so long as Palestinians persist in launching incendiary kites and balloons into Israel.
Agencies contributed to this report.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/inte...in-response-to-rockets-hitting-city-of-sderot
Israeli army strikes Gaza in response to rockets hitting city of Sderot
08/09/2018
2:56:48 AM
Updated on
08/09/2018
3:37:46 AM
Written by
i24NEWS
Israel Defense Force Spokesman's Unit
IDF confirmed launching air strikes in Gaza on Wednesday in response to four rockets from Gaza which fell in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, lightly injuring three people according to medics at the scene.
According to IDF, the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted two of 36 rockets fired in total.
A 34-year old man was lightly injured by broken glass, 13 others suffered from anxiety attacks and damages to several cars were reported.
The area where the rockets fell have been closed off by the police as bomb disposal units were called to the scene.
Earlier on Wednesday, air raid sirens warning of incoming rocket fire sent Israeli residents of communities along the tense Gaza border scrambling for shelter before the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) determined them to have been a false alarm.
The sirens were triggered shortly before 10 a.m. in the city of Sderot and communities in the Sha’ar Hanegev region of southern Israel.
The IDF later announced that they were false alarms, without specifying what had activated the sensitive detection system. Previous false alerts have been triggered by heavy gunfire near the border mistaken by the system for rocket fire.
In another separate incident on Wednesday, IDF said that “terrorists fired shots at civilians” engaged in the construction of the barrier along the security fence near the northern Gaza Strip and that an engineering vehicle was hit.
In response, a tank targeted a Hamas position, since Israel holds the organization responsible for all violence coming from Gaza.
Meanwhile, an official from the Islamist Gaza Strip government told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that Hamas may be ready to reach an agreement toward a truce with Israel.
The Hamas official reportedly said the truce agreement will begin with a two-week cease-fire trial period beginning in late August in accordance with ongoing talks mediated by Egypt.
Qatar and Turkey are also involved in facilitating the talks alongside the United Nations and Egypt, the source said.
The agreement stipulates Gaza’s Rafah border crossing to Egypt will be permanently opened and the Kerem Shalom crossing, the blockaded enclave’s only intake point for commercial goods, will ease restrictions “dramatically”, according to the report.
The push for a long-term ceasefire agreement follows months of clashes between Israel and Hamas, marked by a surge in cross-border arson attacks, rocket fire, and violent clashes which brought the sides to the brink of a full-scale war in two separate military flare-ups in July.
However, fighting between Israel and Hamas continue despite the ceasefire talks.
On Tuesday, the IDF admitted that earlier shootings from Hamas did not target Israeli soldiers which caused IDF to strike back, killing two Hamas militants, Israel's Channel 10 reported.
Channel 10 cited IDF Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the head of the army’s Southern Command, saying the shootings were not aimed at IDF's Rotem battalion of the Givati infantry brigade but were part of a Hamas naval exercise.
Following the strike, Hamas' Izzedine Al-Qassam Brigades announced that two of its members were killed in the strike, naming them as Ahmad Margan and Abdel Hafex Al-Silawi, both 23-years-old and from the Jabalia refugee camp.
Palestinian reports said the two were killed when IDF artillery struck a graduation ceremony of al-Qassam members at a Hamas base Askelan, northern Gaza, where senior Hamas figures were in attendance.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/agency-urges-israel-emergency-fuel-gaza-57103715
Israel hits Gaza after Palestinian rockets target Israel
- By ilan ben zion, associated press
Injured person is taken to ambulance after a missile from Gaza Strip hit in the town of Sderot, Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2018. Sirens wailed in southern Israel warning of incoming projectiles from Gaza and Israeli media reported two people were lightly injured from shrapnel in the border town of Sderot. (AP photo/Yehuda Peretz)more +
Israel struck targets in the Gaza Strip after dozens of rockets were launched Wednesday from the coastal territory ruled by the Islamic militant Hamas group, the Israeli military said.
The exchange came amid continued attempts by Egypt to broker a broad cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Sirens wailed in southern Israel, warning of incoming rockets from Gaza, and Israeli media reported six people were wounded by shrapnel in the border town of Sderot.
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One Palestinian rocket hit a house, Israeli media said, showing footage of houses and cars pockmarked with shrapnel. Reports said it wasn't clear if one of those hurt was wounded by a rocket or by debris from the rocket defense system.
The military said that it identified 36 rockets fired from Gaza at Israel and that the Iron Dome defense system intercepted several of them.
Gaza residents reported several Israeli airstrikes after the Palestinian rocket barrage.
Israel's military later confirmed it struck Gaza, saying it hit 12 Hamas sites in all, including "an offensive maritime terror tunnel ... several terror sites in military compounds throughout the Gaza Strip ... rocket manufacturing facilities and a central logistical military complex."
Gaza's Health Ministry said three Palestinians were slightly injured in the strikes.
Israel's military earlier said shots were fired from Gaza at civilians working on the barrier that separate the territory and Israel, damaging a vehicle. Israel said it struck a Hamas post in retaliation. No casualties were reported.
On Tuesday, Israel struck a Hamas military post in Gaza, saying it was in response to militant fire at Israeli troops. Hamas said two of its fighters were killed. It also disputed Israel's account, saying shots were fired as part of a graduation ceremony for a group of fighters inside the camp.
Also Wednesday, a U.N. aid agency called on Israel to allow emergency fuel into the Gaza Strip to avert the shutdown of hospitals and sanitation facilities
Jamie McGoldrick, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, in a news release called Israel's restriction of fuel imports "a dangerous practice, with grave consequences on the rights of people in Gaza."
Israel halted the supply of petroleum and natural gas to Gaza last week in response to incendiary kites and balloons launched from Gaza into southern Israel. Israel temporarily suspended fuel shipments to Gaza in July for similar reasons.
Israel has been battling large fires caused by kites and balloons rigged with incendiary devices or burning rags launched from Gaza that have destroyed forests, burned crops and killed wildlife and livestock.
The almost daily airborne arson attacks have been part of months of weekly border protests led by the Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza aimed in part at drawing attention to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after it took control of the territory in 2007.
The demonstrations have been fueled in large part by pervasive despair caused by the blockade that has caused widespread economic hardship and left the coastal territory with crippling fuel shortages and just a few hours of electricity a day.
Over the past four months, 158 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, including at least 120 in the protests near the fence and others in Israeli air strikes and other incidents elsewhere in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and a local rights group. Twenty-four of the slain protesters were minors, the ministry has said. One Israeli soldier was killed by a Gaza sniper during this period.
Israel says it is defending its border and nearby communities and accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover for attempts to breach the fence and carry out attacks.
Mahmoud Daher, of the World Health Organization in Gaza, said in a telephone interview "the situation is very serious." He said by the end of the month, all fuel supplied by the U.N. will run out "and the problem is there is no sign of renewed funding from donors in the horizon."
http://www.sohu.com/a/246067461_99967552
战争在凌晨爆发，70枚火箭砸到以色列头上，伊朗出手了
2018-08-09 09:04 以色列 /伊朗
