Schools have been shut down for at least three days across Jerusalem and many government offices are closing ahead of a massive blizzard that is expected to blanket the city in snow and ice.
The Israel Defense Forces are also moving to a heightened state of alert because of the storm, sending tanks into parts of northern Israel that could face being cut off because of high snowfall on roadways.
At least 1,000 soldiers have been deployed to northern Israel and Jerusalem to assist residents during the storm. The troops will make sure that all area hospitals will remain operational if doctors and nurses cannot make it into their offices because of the storm.
The front wave of the storm brought 45 mile per hour winds to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, downing trees across the region.
Last year a similar storm left wide areas with electricity, water or road access for days. The government will be shutting down major roadways ahead of the storm to avoid having vehicles trapped on the highway as they were in December 2013.
Residents have been spending the week stocking up on basic food supplies.
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.
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.
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.
Iranian state television called it a documentary.
World leaders are calling it an Islamic extremist fantasy involving Iran attacking and destroying Israel.
A video played computerized simulations of drones and missiles attacking Tel Aviv, Haifa, the Ben Gurion Airport and the Dimona nuclear reactor. The video claims that the attacks would only happen if Iran were to be attacked by Israel or the United States.
Israel wasn’t the only target of the faux documentary. The video showed a simulated attack on the USS Abraham Lincoln, shooting down American aircraft and then attacking American bases throughout the Middle East.
The video is entitled “The Nightmare of Vultures” and features Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stating that “anybody who thinks of attacks the Islamic Republic of Iran should be prepared to receive strong slaps and iron fists from the Armed Forces.”
According to a Sunday Times report, Syria is preparing a massive missile attack on Tel Aviv should Israel make another strike against the Assad government’s attempts to transport weapons to Hezbollah. Continue reading →