Third night in a row – Gazan terrorists bomb Israel, IAF hits back
Gaza-based terrorists fired rockets at southern Israel on Sunday night, and the Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighters bombed Hamas targets in the Strip in response, for the third night in a row.
Tamir missile is launched from the Israeli Iron Dome, positioned in central Israel, towards rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Jul 11, 2014. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS
Terrorists in Gaza fired a rocket toward Israeli civilians, and an Iron Dome Aerial Defence system intercepted it mid-air.
In response, the IAF bombed four Hamas compounds used for military training, a weapons workshop, an entrance to an underground terror tunnel.
Later on in the night, terrorists launched a second rocket at Israel, which was intercepted by the Iron Dome.
The IAF struck again, hitting a Hamas military post and a machine gun which was used to fire toward Israel during the IAF’s first strike.
No damage was caused in the rocket attacks, and a few Israelis were treated for shock or for falling while running for shelter.
“Once again, the Hamas terrorist organization chooses terrorism over the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip. The IDF will not accept a situation in which terrorist organizations are working against the Israeli home front. The IDF will continue to respond strongly to terrorist acts from the Gaza Strip and considers Hamas responsible for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip,” the military stated.
The Islamic Jihad terror organization is believed to be behind the attacks, possibly a response to the capture of four terrorists who escaped from prison and who were recaptured by Israeli forces over the weekend. Three of them are members of the Islamic Jihad.
Speaking at a ceremony on Sunday night, Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi declared that “the IDF is defending the Gaza Strip border and we will not accept any violation of the sovereignty of any kind. We are vigorously attacking after any violation and so we will continue. If the situation escalates, Hamas and the Gaza Strip will pay a heavy price.”
Member of Knesset Bezalel Smotrich criticized Prime Minister Naftali Bennett over his failure to follow through with his declaration that “an attack on Sderot is like an attack on Tel Aviv” and therefore a cause for war.
“Whoever wonders where Bennett of ‘an attack on Sderot is like an attack on Tel Aviv’ disappeared in favour of Bennett who contains the killing a soldier on the fence, firing on the north of the country, firing rockets night after night on Sderot when at best the response is the bombing of a dune or greenhouse while returning the money suitcases to Hamas, is welcome to return to the statement of MK Gida Rinawi of Meretz just a month ago. The job before anything.”
Rinawi said in August that “Bennett knows that if the government goes to a military confrontation – the coalition will fall because both Meretz and [the Arab Islamist party] Ra’am will not agree to such a thing. The presence of Meretz and Ra’am in the coalition limits the sharpness of any military decision.”
“If Netanyahu had been in power he would have launched a major operation against Lebanon, Bennett is restrained because he knows he has no right-wing support,” she said.
“Once the government decides on something military, there will be a danger to the coalition,” she noted.
