The Israeli Defense Forces struck over 320 Hamas terror sites in the Gaza Strip overnight bringing the total to 750 in the last three days. The sites struck were mainly rocket launcher sites and areas connected to the terrorist organization’s tunnel system.
The strikes come as Israeli intelligence stopped an attempt by Hamas terrorists to sneak a bomb into Israel. Authorities stopped a car with Palestinian plates at a checkpoint and discovered the bomb inside. The suspects were arrested and admitted they were planning to carry out an attack on civilians.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters the situation is at a crisis level.
“This is one of the most critical tests the region has faced in recent years,” he said. “Gaza is on a knife-edge. The deteriorating situation is leading to a downward spiral which could quickly get beyond anyone’s control.”
Palestinians have been trying to claim that Israel is targeting civilians but the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. told reporters that Hamas has taken to hiding in civilian homes and businesses to try and avoid retribution for their activities. One Hamas headquarters is located within a working hospital.
Officials say that half of the Israeli population is in bomb shelters because of ongoing rocket attacks in central Israel by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. The terrorist group has declared in a public statement “all Israelis have now become legitimate targets.”
The leaders of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem opened their city’s public bomb shelters because of the level of the attacks. Officials also told residents to open and prepare their private bomb shelters for the possibility of a prolonged assault.
An Iron Dome battery was able to successfully shoot down an incoming rocket over Tel Aviv. Hamas announced they had fired four rockets at the capital but there was no evidence of three more rockets impacting in the city.
According to the Israeli Defense Force, over 120 rockets struck within the Israeli borders during the night. Iron Dome destroyed 23 rockets in Ashdod, Ashkelon and communities along the Gaza border.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev told reporters that Israel had reached out to the terrorist group in an attempt to de-escalate the situation and found that the terrorist group was not interested in ending the current conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called world leaders to tell them their position that they could not sit by and allow their country to be attacked by a terrorist organization and not respond to their provocation.
Islamic terrorist group Hamas attempted to send a group of terrorists inside the Israeli border to launch attacks from inside the country.
The Israeli Defense Forces drove back the terror squad that was attempting to sneak into the country north of the Gaza Strip from the ocean. The IDF exchanged gunfire with the group and killed at least four of the terrorists whose bodies were left on the beach.
Israeli officials say that the current assault, Operation Protective Edge, could continue for a significant length of time.
“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 Israeli TV.
Israel has called up 40,000 more troops to be deployed throughout the country to prevent another group from attempting to take advantage of Hamas’ current actions and launch another assault on Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu alluded to the possibility of other attacks but mainly focused on Hamas an address to his Security Cabinet.
“The army is ready for all possibilities,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “Hamas will pay a heavy price for firing toward Israeli citizens. The security of Israel’s citizens comes first. The operation will expand and continue until the fire toward our towns stops and quiet returns.”
Israeli military officials reported carrying out over 100 airstrikes in the last 24 hours at Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip.
The new offensive is part of a potential offensive into the Gaza Strip. Israel has called up over 40,000 troops to the border along the Gaza Strip as military officials continue to meet with senior Israeli ministers.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the Israeli leadership has had enough of dealing with terrorists.
“We have repeatedly warned Hamas that this must stop and Israel’s defense forces are currently acting to put an end of this once and for all,” spokesman Mark Regev told Fox News.
The movements and air strikes, called “Operation Protective Edge”, reportedly plans to continue air strikes at Hamas positions over the next several weeks.
Hamas has fired nearly 300 rockets into Israel over the last few weeks including 100 on Monday. The attacks come amid increased tensions after the terrorist group kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers.
Palestinians threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli police and military after the body of a Palestinian teen was found in the Jerusalem forest.
The rioting teens blocked Jerusalem’s light rail service and were driven back when Israeli defense forces responded to their assaults by firing rubber bullets at rock throwers.
Israeli investigators say they were called with a report of an Arab teen that was forced into a car and that a partially burned body was found in the woods a few hours later but say there is no evidence connecting the incidents, if a teen was actually forced into a car.
The investigators also say there is no evidence the dead teen was killed by Israelis and assert that it could be an attempt by Palestinian terror groups to deflect attention from the kidnapping and brutal murder of three Israeli teenagers by the terrorist group Hamas.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that authorities used tear gas on some of the protesters and that security in the area has been heightened. Police have also closed holy sites in the Old City to visitors because of rock throwing Palestinian youths.
The kidnapping of three teenagers in Israel, including one that has U.S. citizenship, is becoming more evident the action of the terrorist group Hamas.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is speaking out about the incident, saying that “many indications point to Hamas’ involvement” in the kidnapping.
“The United States strongly condemns the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers and calls for their immediate release,” Kerry said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with their families. We continue to offer our full support for Israel in its search for the missing teens, and we have encouraged full cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian security services. We understand that cooperation is ongoing.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the government has confirmed Hamas’ involvement and they are placing responsibility for the kidnapping on the new Palestinian government of Mahmoud Abbas because they are backed by Hamas.
Hamas, while not making a claim to responsibility, praised the kidnappings and said as a group they “pay tribute to the heroes who are behind the kidnapping.”
Israeli soldiers are searching the West Bank after three teenagers, one of them an American, went missing from nearby settlements.
Authorities believe that Palestinians abducted the teens. Military officials, while refusing to officially confirm the position of many government officials, made a terse comment about the situation.
“The main mission is to ensure their return,” Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz told reports.
The three teens reportedly were heading home from working late at their Yeshiva and have not been seen since they left. The abduction comes on the heels of a new Palestinian government that the Israelis say has been controlled by the terrorist group Hamas.
Hamas routinely conducts kidnapping of Israelis as part of their terror campaign.
A new crisis between Israel and its closest ally is developing because of the Obama Administration’s glowing support for a Hamas-supported government in Palestine.
Several key Israeli officials expressed their anger publicly concerning the U.S. State Department saying they are willing to work with the new Palestinian unity government that was built with the help of Hamas. Even U.S. officials identify Hamas as a terrorist group yet the State Department ignored that in their endorsement of the new government.
“I have to say I do not understand this American announcement,” said Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz. “You cannot present it as a Hamas government internally, then present it publically as a government of technocrats. If these (ministers) are people who identify with Hamas, Hamas identifies with them and appointed them, then they are representatives of Hamas. This is a Hamas government, and Hamas is a terror organization.”
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki tried to avoid reporter’s questions about Hamas’ intimate involvement with the new Palestinian coalition.
“At this point, it appears that president Abbas has formed an interim technocratic government that does not include ministers affiliated with Hamas,” she said. “With what we know now, we will work with this government.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly was “betrayed and deceived” by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry who told him that the U.S. would not recognize the new government immediately but then did so within five hours.
The Hamas government in Gaza held a celebration for 13,000 teenagers that have been trained to be terrorist suicide bombers.
Students from grades 10-12 were put into a one-week camp separated by gender. They were all trained in the techniques of Hamas terrorists and how to execute a successful suicide attack on Israeli forces.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Interior Minister Fathi Hammad and Education Minister Usama Mzeini all gave speeches praising the “new generation of Palestinian combatants.”
“Beware this generation,” Haniyeh said during a portion of the speech targeting Israel. “This is a generation which knows no fear. It is the generation of the missile, the tunnel and the suicide operations.”
The Hamas leaders made multiple references to a coming war with Israel.
Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip have taken responsibility for a mile and a half long tunnel that ran under the border between Israel and Gaza.
According to a report on a Hamas radio station website, the group’s armed wing claimed the tunnel. Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Islamic terror group’s military wing, said in an interview that Hamas’ armed brigades built the tunnel and were responsible for maintaining its operation.
Ubaida claimed the reason for the tunnel was to try and force Israel to release Hamas prisoners. The plot was similar to a 2006 military style operation where the terrorists kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit using a border tunnel. Israel released over 1400 Hamas inmates to obtain the release of Shalit.
The tunnel raised concern in Israel because it had been reinforced with concrete supports. Israel had recently lifted the ban on transporting construction materials into the Gaza Strip amid international pressure over the blockade. Israel had claimed they restricted the transport of materials because Islamic terrorists would use the materials to build fortified bases and weapons.