300 ROCKETS FIRED FROM GAZA, IDF ATTACKS 100+ TARGETS IN RESPONSE

Elderly woman severely wounded • IDF hits more than 120 targets in Gaza • Schools closed Sunday throughout the South

BY Anna Ahronheim, JPOST

Yael Nisinbaum reacts after house near the Gaza border was struck by a rocket on May 4, 2019

Israel appeared to be on the verge of a prolonged escalation of its conflict with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad after close to 300 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israeli communities on Saturday, striking several homes and leaving one elderly woman severely wounded by shrapnel.

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The attacks occurred in advance of Israel’s Independence Day and 10 days before the Eurovision Song Contest.

Dozens of projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

While the majority of rockets launched by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fell in open areas, several hit homes in communities in southern Israel, including in Beersheba, Sderot and Ashkelon.

Magen David Adom reported that an 80-year-old woman was severely wounded in her head and limbs by shrapnel. She was evacuated to Barzilai Hospital by MDA teams. Another 50-year-old man in Ashkelon was transferred to hospital moderately injured with shrapnel wounds to his limbs. A 45 year-old man from the northern Negev was transferred to the hospital in fair condition after being injured in the leg.

In addition, MDA treated 10 injured people while they were running to shelter including a 15-year-old girl in Sderot, a 30-year-old man in Ashkelon and a 40-year-old woman in Gan Yavne.

MDA teams also treated 45 victims suffering from stress symptoms including an 11-year-old girl.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with senior defense officials at the Kirya Military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Saturday afternoon. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Aviv Kochavi also held a situational assessment with his deputy Eyal Zamir, the heads of the Southern Command, Military Intelligence, Operations Directorate, Air Force, Home Front Command, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Shin Bet, and other senior officials.

Incoming rocket sirens began on Saturday morning and by the afternoon were heard in Kiryat Malachi and Beit Shemesh.

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In response, the IDF targeted more than 120 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) positions across the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Health Ministry said a 14-month-old baby and her mother were killed by one of the Israeli strikes and at least 18 other Palestinians were wounded throughout Saturday.

Among the targets struck were several Hamas military compounds in the Gaza City neighborhoods of Tel Alawah and Shajiya used for training and manufacturing weapons. Other targets struck belonged to Hamas’ naval force and a joint military compound used by Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO) in Beit Lahiya.

Several targets belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad were struck including military compounds in Deir al-Balah, Tel Sultan, Shati and Khan Yunis.

The IDF also struck two high-trajectory launchers, and several observation posts along the border, as well as a multi-story building in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City that Israel said was being used by the Hamas intelligence service. The building reportedly also housed the Gaza offices of Turkey’s Anadolu News Agency.

The military also struck a PIJ cross-border attack tunnel in the Rafiah area of the southern Gaza Strip which, according to IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis, was intended by the group to be used to carry out a terrorist attack.

Other targets included an underground Hamas rocket manufacturing facility, which the military said was “unique in its production abilities, which was a mainstay of the organization’s ability to manufacture rockets.”

Another target was the command center of Hamas’ Bureij troops, which included sites for manufacturing weapons. Other targets included a military compound in Tel al-Hawa, which served as a training center for Hamas’ naval wing and several military compounds in Jabalia, Shuja’iyya and Tel al-Hawa.

Two Beit Lahia military compounds shared by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were also targeted.

“Hamas is the sovereign entity in Gaza, and it operates in coordination with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” Manelis said. “At this moment, we are attacking military targets of the two organizations, and from last night there are five or six terrorists killed by the two organizations.”

May 5, 2019 | 2 Comments »
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  1. An update from JP:

    Four Israelis dead, 700 rockets and a weekend full of terror in Israel
    On Sunday afternoon, Israel’s security cabinet met and instructed the military to intensify its attacks in the Strip.

    The house in Ashkelon hit by a rocket fired from Gaza
    The house in Ashkelon hit by a rocket fired from Gaza. (photo credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
    The IDF has reinforced troops along the Gaza border after close to 700 rockets were fired towards southern Israel since Saturday by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) from the Gaza Strip, killing four civilians and injuring close to 80 others.

    Terrorist groups fired dozens of rocket barrages toward southern Israel on Sunday, as well as several longer-range projectiles towards central Israel. According to the IDF, terrorist groups in the Strip also tried to carry out a terrorist attack using a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) attached to a drone. The RPG-laden drone, which landed on a tank deployed along the border, did not explode.

    On Saturday night, Moshe Agadi, a father of four, was killed when a rocket struck his home in Ashkelon when he went out to smoke a cigarette. He was struck by shrapnel to his stomach and chest and was taken by Magen David Adom teams to Barzilai Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
    Moshe Feder, 64, from Kfar Saba, was killed Sunday afternoon after a Kornet anti-tank guided missile struck a car near the Gaza border between the communities of Yad Mordechai and Sderot.

    A Bedouin man was killed after he was critically injured in his chest by shrapnel from a direct strike on a factory in Ashkelon, dying from his wounds shortly after.

    A 23-year-old Israeli man was also killed Sunday evening after he suffered severe shrapnel injuries to his chest while running to a shelter in Ashdod.

    On Sunday afternoon, Israel’s Security Cabinet met and instructed the military to intensify its attacks in the Strip.

    Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Sunday night that he does not rule out the possibility of reaching a ceasefire agreement with Israel.

    In a statement, Haniyeh said that the “return to calm is possible and depends on the commitment of the occupation to a complete ceasefire.”

    Haniyeh said any ceasefire should also include the weekly protests along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, also known as the Great March of Return.

    “The response of the resistance is linked to the level of Zionist aggression,” Haniyeh said, adding that Israel must also abide by the recent Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire understandings between the Gaza-based groups and Israel.

    “The slow pace of the implementation of the understandings and the attempt to gain time have created an increased state of tension among our people in Gaza because of the crimes committed by the occupation during the current aggression,” the Hamas leader added.

    Due to the violence in the South, the IDF has deployed the 7th armored brigade, “which would be ready to act as an offensive force within the Gaza Division” as well as the Golani brigade. The Paratroopers brigade is on standby to deploy south if needed, the military said.

    A senior Israel Air Force officer said Sunday that over 600 hundred rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip since Saturday morning, and that over 150 had been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. While the majority struck in open areas, 35 struck urban areas in Israel.

    In retaliation, the IAF struck over 280 targets belonging to PIJ and Hamas, IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis said. In addition, Manelis and the senior Air Force officer both confirmed that the military had begun carrying out targeted assassinations in the Strip against Hamas militants.

    The first targeted strike since 2014 hit a vehicle carrying 39-year-old Hamed Ahmed Abed Khudari, who the IDF said was in charge of large-scale money transfers from Iran to terror groups in the Strip.

    Israeli airstrikes kill two Hamas` fighters as protests in Gaza flare up

    The officer told reporters that the IDF “had not carried out a targeted assassination in a long time” and that a number of aircraft participated in the strike, which was carried out in the heart of Gaza City with the approval of Israel’s political echelon.

    “We are prepared to continue operating with the message that Hamas and its men are vulnerable,” the officer said, adding that this is in an attempt to “renew deterrence” against the terrorist group.

    “We are acting against Hamas and the PIJ – but for us, Hamas is the sovereign and its role is to stop PIJ,” he said, explaining that under this directive, the IDF has carried out over 100 sorties, striking weapon warehouses, terror infrastructures, terrorist cells, tunnels and more.

    “We are prepared for the possibility of escalation,” he continued, warning that “we have not used everything yet: there’s a lot more we can do.”

    The targets struck by Israel’s military overnight included rocket launchers and a Hamas military position in the northern Gaza Strip, as well as dozens of private homes belonging to Hamas and PIJ commanders. Also struck were attack tunnels, military compounds and emplacements, storage houses and weapons factories belonging to Hamas and PIJ.

    Israel’s navy also struck several naval targets belonging to the two groups.

    According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, 16 Palestinians have been killed including several members of the terror groups’ rocket-launching cells. Another 80 Palestinians were said to have been injured. The ministry also claimed that a Palestinian woman and her 14 month-old niece were killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday night, a claim repeatedly denied by the IDF which says that the two were killed by a Hamas rocket which failed to launch within a populated area.

    On Sunday morning, the two groups threatened to increase the range of their rocket fire, saying in a joint statement that they are considering firing rockets to cities over 40 kilometers from the blockaded coastal enclave.

    “We are prepared for additional days of fighting,” Manelis told reporters in a telephone call, adding that the military is “prepared” for rocket fire on central Israel, including Tel Aviv.

    The Home Front Command instructed residents living within 40 km. of the Gaza Strip to consult with heads of local authorities, and remain near protected spaces. Public gatherings were limited to 300 people in enclosed spaces only, and agricultural work was banned. All studies in southern Israel were also canceled due to the security situation.

    While Tel Aviv did not open public shelters, many municipalities did, including Beersheba, Rishon Lezion, Netanya and others.
    Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz decided on Sunday to temporarily halt natural gas supplies from the offshore Tamar field due to a surge in violence with Gaza militants, the ministry said in a statement.

  2. My question is very simple: why were there hundreds of known targets in Gaza that had not yet been taken out by the IDF before the most recent barrage of Rockets from Gaza? Why are there hundreds more that have still not been taken out? Fear of civilian casualties and adverse propaganda, are lame excuses given attacks by Arabs on Jewish civilians day in and day out and continuous vilification of Israel on the world stage.