Hamas Used Cease Fire To Attempt Covert Attack

Hamas attempted to sneak a 13-man terrorist cell into Israel during the five-hour “humanitarian” ceasefire on Thursday but Israel Defense Force personnel stopped the infiltration.

IDF soldiers manning a border area near Kibbutz Sufa when one of them noticed a man rising out of the desert.  The troops quickly closed in and discovered a Hamas tunnel and the terrorists attempting to sneak into the country.

The official IDF statement says the troops “neutralized the threat.”

“Units arrived at the area, and terrorists were apparently surprised. They began returning to the tunnel. The air force began attacking them from the air,” IDF spokesman Brigadier General Moti Almoz said. “We understand there are casualties [among the terrorists]. The full picture is not yet known.”

“This is another successful thwarting of a Hamas attack planned for the southern area. We are ready for these scenarios in the coming days,” Almoz added.

No Israeli troops were hurt in the exchange with the terrorists.

Netanyahu: Hamas Committing “Double War Crime”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that Hamas is conducting a double war crime in firing rockets at Israeli citizens while at the same time using innocent Palestinian citizens as human shields.

The prime minister spoke to reporters this morning taking questions about the ongoing Israeli response to Hamas’ continual terrorist attacks.

“Israel will continue to do what it needs to do to defend itself until peace and quiet are restored,” Netanyahu said. “[The] most important step for the international community to insist on is the demilitarization of Gaza.”

Hamas said today they rejected the peace proposal that Israel had accepted from Egypt because “Egypt has too many interests within Israel” to be impartial.

Hamas fired over 60 rockets Wednesday, 37 of which made it through the Iron Dome defense system.  Two Israeli citizens were slightly injured when a rocket destroyed by Iron Dome fell to the ground.

Israel Red Alert App Drives Some To Prayer; Drives Others Nuts

It’s an app that tells residents of Israel it’s time to take cover because a terrorist rocket is headed their way.

In other parts of the world, it’s an app that some people use to pray for the people of Israel…and for others, it’s a siren that’s driving them crazy.

Red Alert Israel has been downloaded over 780,000 times in the last week, with about half of the downloads happening outside of Israel.  The app was created in 2012 by software developer Ari Sprung and his partner Kobi Snir, who feared that some residents would not be able to hear the new “Red Color” emergency sirens in their homes.

“People were having a hard time,” said Sprung. “They couldn’t really sleep because they were too afraid they were going to miss the sirens. The app allows them to go to bed knowing the phone will wake them up in case of an emergency.”

The app gives a 15 to 90 second warning dependent on how close the resident lives to Gaza.

Some users, however, say the app is driving them crazy because of the amount of times it goes off during the recent terrorist assault.

“Every time a rocket was launched, my phone went haywire,” Dor Eldar, a 22-year-old dance instructor from Tel Aviv, told the Daily Beast. “I finally had to get rid of it. It was driving me nuts.”

In America and other western nations, users of the app have been seeing the app’s siren song as a call to prayer for the Jewish people.  William Koenig recently praised the app on the Jim Bakker Show.

“The beauty of this (almost a million people now have this app on their iPhone and I’ve been reading it very closely) is the prayer of support from Christians that go on. They can respond to these alerts and encourage people through prayers and comments. And it’s beautiful to see how many Christians right now have this on their iPhones so they can pray – so they can pray to God to cover and protect the state of Israel as these rockets fall,” Koenig said.

The app is available in the iPhone app store.

Israel Strikes Back After Hamas Rejects Peace Proposal

Air strikes against Hamas rocket launching positions resumed after Hamas flatly rejected a peace proposal from Egypt that would end the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Israel had approved the peace deal and had de-escalated their forces as per the outline set up by Egypt; however Hamas completely rejected the deal and immediately fired up to 50 rockets into Israel.  Israeli officials then announced they would resume their offensive against Hamas because of the terrorist’s ongoing rocket campaign.

Israeli officials say that no one was hurt during the six-hour window that the IDF had scaled back and Hamas fired rockets into Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would likely intensify their campaign against Hamas because of their rejection of the cease-fire.

“If Hamas rejects the Egyptian proposal and the rocket fire from Gaza does not cease, and that appears to be the case, we are prepared to continue and intensify our operation,” he said in a statement.

While President Obama told a group of Muslim leaders that Israel had the right to defend itself from Hamas’ attacks, Secretary of State John Kerry announced he would skip visiting the region on his way home from talks with Iran in Geneva.

Hamas Terrorist Drone Shot Down Over Israel

The terrorist campaign against Israel took a surprising turn on Sunday when the Israeli Defense Forces shot down a drone as it approached the city of Ashdod.

The IDF would not say what was on the drone, only that they had shot it down with a Patriot missile and it clearly originated from the Gaza Strip.

It marks the first time that a drone has been confirmed in the terror attacks against Israel.

The IDF reported that almost 1,000 rockets have been fired into Israel by the terrorists in the first six days of “Operation Protective Edge”, the Israeli response to the provocations of the terrorist group.

Israeli analysts say that the bombardment is likely to continue well into the future because of Iranian shipments of arms that have been brought into Gaza for years.  The analysts estimate over 10,000 rockets, including some longer range weapons that could strike anywhere in Israel, are under the control of the terrorists.

Israeli ground forces continue to muster on the border with Gaza.

Hamas Terrorists Found In Lebanon

Hamas terrorists could be attempting to create a second front in their battle to kill Israel’s citizens.

A spokesman for Lebanon’s military says they found a group of terrorists working at a rocket launching location in their territory and there were at least two working rockets ready for launch into Israel at the time of the discovery.  A man was arrested after soldiers followed a blood trail from the site.

Friday morning, rockets from that area were fired into Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces responded by firing heavy artillery into the area.  At least 25 shells struck the site near the Lebanese city of Kfar Shuba.

A spokesman for the IDF said at this point they are not going to say if the attack was symbolic or an attempt to open up battle on a second front.  They have referred the situation to the United Nations force in Lebanon for investigation into the incident.

Two Israelis Injured In Rocket Attack In Beersheba

A Hamas rocket that made it through the Iron Dome defense system struck a home in Beersheba today, injuring two people including an 80-year-old grandmother who had to be rushed to a local hospital.

The rocket came an hour after Iron Dome has intercepted two rockets over Tel Aviv and at least two over Herzliya.  The Israeli Defense Force says that the percentage of rockets shot down by Iron Dome is around 70 percent.

The IDF says that more Iron Dome batteries will be deployed throughout the country to try and increase the interception percentage of the system.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon spoke with the people who manufacture the system to encourage them as they increase their output to meet the current battle situation.

“Your efforts, and those of your people in this operation is very impressive, and inspirational,” Ya’alon added. “In recent days, you and your people are working with dedication, day and night, to instantly set up more Iron Dome batteries, which will go into operation during [the current] Operation Protective Edge, and will defend the Israeli people.”

At least 90 rockets from Hamas have been fired into Israel in the last 24 hours.

Israelis Using Smartphone To Track Rocket Attacks

Under attack from Hamas rockets?  There’s an app for that.

A new app has been made available for smartphones that allow Israelis to track the incoming rockets from Hamas and give themselves time to get to shelter.  Half a million people have already downloaded the app in just three days.

Many Israelis are seeing the app as vital because the traditional ways to inform citizens about incoming rockets was radio stations and television interrupting programming.  However, with the increased use of satellite radio, iPod and other electronic devices, many Israelis do not have a television or radio on 24 hours a day.

“It gives us a sense of control in a situation where there is no control,” writer and journalist Debra Kamim, who lives in Tel Aviv, told the Washington Post. “It’s especially useful at night because people are worried they won’t hear the sirens while they sleep, and this way they can have the phone next to their beds.”

The app includes a social element where users can post comments about attacks in their area, damage from any rockets that land and requests for help if necessary.

The app is available in English for users in the West to keep track of the rockets if they wish to pray for Israelis when a rocket is approaching them.  The app is available for iPhones, iPad and Android.

Netanyahu Says Gaza Conflict Shows Importance Of West Bank

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Friday that the current conflict in the Gaza Strip shows the importance of keeping control of the West Bank.

In a strongly worded statement, Netanyahu took several world leaders to task including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for their insistence that Israel give up control of the West Bank for a Palestinian State.

Netanyahu said that the fact Hamas has turned the Gaza Strip into a “terrorist bunker” shows that any land given up by Israel will just be used by Islamic terrorist groups to launch attacks upon Israel.

“I think the Israeli people understand now what I always say: that there cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan,” he said.  “I told John Kerry and General Allen, the Americans’ expert: We live here, I live here, I know what we need to ensure the security of Israel’s people.”

Netanyahu noted that the West Bank is 20 times the size of Gaza and said the last thing Israel needs is “to create another 20 Gazas.”

Netanyahu also noted the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt that the Egyptians have sealed up to keep the terrorists from moving through their country.

“If we were to pull out of Judea and Samaria, like they tell us to, there’d be a possibility of thousands of tunnels,” Netanyahu said.

Israeli Ambassador: We Must Respond

The Israeli ambassador to the United States says that his country cannot sit by and be passive while Hamas rains down rockets upon its citizens.

Ambassador Ido Aharoni told Fox News that his country will remain on high alert and that air strikes will continue because of the increased hostility toward Israel from the terrorist group Hamas.

“Hamas’ decision to escalate the situation puts us in a very difficult and unpleasant position,” said Aharoni. “We have to respond in a swift and comprehensive fashion because we are looking at a century-old Arab onslaught on Jewish national sovereignty in the land of Israel – that didn’t start yesterday.”

Aharoni said that Israel’s cabinet is currently debating a plan to send troops into the Gaza Strip to root out Hamas’ leadership and networks.

“One thing for sure we understand: We are in it for the long run, the goal of Operation Protective Edge, named for the offensive [against Hamas], is to bring about stability, calm and quiet to Israel’s southern and central region,” he said.

He said that Hamas has about 12,000 rockets in the Gaza Strip.