Gaza: The Timeline
J-Wire details the series of events which has lead up to today’s situation….
J-Wire acknowledges the work of www.camera.org in preparing this timeline…
Timeline of Gaza-Israel Cross-Border Violence
January-November 2012
Between Jan. 1, 2012 and Nov. 5, 2012, 674 rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel.
Sunday, Nov. 4:
A Palestinian man approaches the Israeli border with Gaza. After he ignores orders to stop and warning shots by Israeli soldiers guarding the border, he is shot and killed. Palestinian media claim he is mentally disturbed, but a photo is posted to an online Hamas forum showing the man holding an assault rifle and wearing an armored vest. He is buried wrapped in a Hamas flag, suggesting an affiliation with the terror group.
Tuesday, Nov. 6:
Morning: Palestinians detonate an explosive device near IDF soldiers patroling on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, seriously injuring two Israelis.
Thursday, Nov. 8:
Evening: Israel enters Gaza to disable additional explosive devices.
A boy in Gaza is killed in during a shootout between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces. AP reports that “It was not clear who shot the boy.”
Hamas detonates a massive explosives-filled tunnel on the Israel-Gaza border, injuring an Israeli soldier.
Saturday, Nov. 10:
7:30 PM: Palestinian fire an anti-tank missile from Gaza across the border at an IDF jeep performing a routine patrol on the Israeli side of the borderwithin Israeli territory, 500 feet from the border. The jeep is blown up and four soldiers are injured, two seriously, and airlifted to Beersheva for medical care. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), claims responsibility for the attack.
Israeli returns tank fire toward the direction of the Palestinian missile, and at weapons facilities in Gaza. A militant in the area from which the anti-tank missile was launched is killed. In addition, Palestinians report four civilians killed and 25 wounded at a mourning tent that was hit by Israeli fire. Israel denies targeting civilians.
The Hamas leadership issues a call to arms.
9:00 – 11:30 PM: Palestinians fire rockets into southern Israel, some are intercepted by the Iron Dome. The IDF reports 25 rockets fired.
11:30 PM: The IDF fires at a rocket launching team firing rockets into southern Israel. A local Islamic Jihad commander is killed.
Sunday, Nov. 11:
Overnight: Additional rockets are launched into southern Israel and the Israeli Air Force responds by striking a weapons manufacturing facility, weapons storage facilities, and rocket-launching sites in the Gaza Strip. Residents are told to be within 15 seconds running distance from a bomb shelter.
Day and evening: Rocket fire from Gaza continues throughout the day and evening bringing the total number of rockets fired at southern Israel to 100. In Sderot and Sha’ar Henegev, two homes and a factory building are damaged and three civilians are wounded by rocket debris and hospitalized. Another person is treated for shock.
Monday, Nov. 12:
Overnight: Israeli Air Forces strike a tunnel, weapons storage facility and rocket launching site in the Gaza Strip.
Day and evening: Rockets are fired into southern Israel. More than 20 rockets are launched into southern Israel. A home in Netivot and a factory in the industrial area of the city are damaged. Half the schools in southern Israel are closed after a rocket lands near a school. Four civilians are injured and 43 civilians are treated for shock. Residents of southern Israel call upon the government to bring an end to the attacks from Gaza.
Egypt tells Hamas to stop launching rockets into Israel.
Tuesday, Nov. 13:
Overnight:: Israeli air forces strike rocket launching sites a weapons storage facility in the Gaza Strip.
Day: A Grad rocket is fired into the Israeli city of Ashdod and a Qassam rocket explodes near the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council.
Wednesday, Nov. 14:
Israel begins what it calls its “Pillar of Defense” operation with the stated goal of protecting Israeli civilians and crippling the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
4:30 PM: An Israeli Air Force strike hits the car in which Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas’ military wing, in the Gaza Strip is travelling and kills the terrorist leader. Jabari commanded the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, was involved in the planning of multiple, deadly terror attacks against Israel and ordered the firing of rockets into Israel.
Hamas proclaims that “The occupation has opened the gates of hell.”
Afternoon and Evening: Israeli forces target long and medium range missile storage facilities and launching sites. For details, photos and videos of the operation, see IDF blog. Reuters reports 10 Palestinians killed, including three children, and 40 wounded. IDF blames Hamas for storing weapons near kindergartens and mosques.
Rockets are launched into Israeli ciites, some of which are intercepted by the Iron Dome. Others hit homes, shopping center, city streets. Sixteen people are treated for injuries or shock.
9:49 PM: The United States State Department “strongly condemns” the barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel, and regrets “the death and injury of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians caused by the ensuing violence.” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks by telephone to US President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and EU Foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and thanks them for supporting Israel’s right to self-defense.
Night: The Cabinet authorizes the army to call up reserve units.
UPDATE: Thursday, Nov. 15
Thursday, Nov. 15
Overnight and Morning: More than 200 rockets are launched into southern Israel from Gaza, of which more than 80 are intercepted by the Irone Dome. Rockets explode in Ashdod, Ofakim, Beersheba, Eshkol Regional Council area, Gan Yavne and Ashkelon. A house in Ashdod and a school in Ofakim are damaged.
A four story building in Kiryat Malachi is hit by a rocket, killing three people and wounding seven others, including two infants and a four-year-old child.
Israeli communities bordering Gaza are in lockdown.
Various Palestinian terrorist factions are launching rockets into Israel from Gaza. It is reported that Hamas is trying to take the lead.
Since the beginning of the operation, IDF has struck nearly 250 terrorist targets in Gaza, including rocket launching squads preparing to fire rockets at Israel, as well as long-range and medium-range rocket launchers in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources report 13 killed, including 4 children, and more than 100 wounded.
