After the Hamas terrorist organization fired missiles into Israel during and immediately after a “humanitarian cease fire”, the Israeli Defense Forces have launched a ground offensive into the Gaza strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will continue the offensive until Gaza has been “demilitarized”. He said that only when Gaza has been demilitarized can peace truly begin to come into the region because the terrorist threat from Hamas will have been eliminated in south Israel.
The initial wave of the ground offensive is aimed to destroy the tunnels that Hamas would use to attempt to sneak into Israel and to move weapons unseen throughout the Gaza region.
Hamas reportedly fired more than 100 rockets within the hour after the cease-fire, leading military experts to believe Hamas used the five hour window of peace to plan a massive offensive against Israel.
The IDF warned civilians to leave Gaza hours before the start of the ground offensive.
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.
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.
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.
Two Iron Dome batteries were deployed in Safed and Haifa, as a result of tensions in the north.
Following an IDF evaluation of developments in the region, culminating in Israeli strikes on Syria – as confirmed by officials – Israel is bolstering protective measures in preparation for possible retaliatory rocket fire. Continue reading →