AP: IDF moves toward Gaza border – Israel News, Ynetnews.
At least a dozen trucks carrying tanks and armored vehicles were seen late Thursday moving toward the border area, while buses ferried soldiers.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that he had authorized the army to draft reserve forces for possible activity in Gaza. The army said as many as 30,000 troops could be drafted. (AP)
Rocket Falls Near Tel Aviv, IDF Massing Armor – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and residents were told to head for shelter Thursday evening. An explosion was reportedly heard. Magen David Adom said that there were no casualties.
Voice of Israel public radio said that the rocket is believed to have struck in a southern suburb of Tel Aviv, but Home Front Defense Minister Avi Dichter said that the rocket apparently fell into the sea near Bat Yam.
Minister of Public Security Yitzchak Aharonovich gave a conflicting account and said that a missile fell into the sea.
The IDF is amassing ground forces near Gaza and preparing for a possible assault. Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) told Voice of Israel that Gaza is in for an “unprecedented attack.”
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday approved the call-up of 30,000 reserve soldiers, who can be called into action by the military at any point, the army’s official spokesman said.
“We are in the process of expanding the campaign,” Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai told Channel 2 television as Israel pressed a massive air campaign against Gaza terrorists.
“The Defense Minister approved a few minutes ago, based on the army’s request, the recruitment of another 30,000 soldiers. We will determine how many of them will be called in,” he said. “All options are on the table.”
The United States is calling on Egypt to use its sway with the Palestinians to try to end the violence from Gaza, a top U.S. official said Thursday, adding Hamas must stop its rocket attacks on Israel.
“We ask Egypt to use its influence in the region to help de-escalate the situation,” deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, adding that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had spoken with her Egyptian counterpart.
Egypt’s prime minister is to visit Gaza Friday.
Three sirens were also sounded in Be’er Sheva a few minutes before 7:00 p.m. and Magen David Adom said that a salvo of rockets was fired at the city. The Iron Dome system reportedly succeeded in intercepting seven rockets, bringing the total of interceptions by Iron Dome to 105. A few minutes before 8:00 p.m., Color Red sirens were sounded in Be’er Sheva and additional southern communities, including IAF Base Hatzerim.
A rocket fired from Gaza on Thursday struck Rishon Letzion, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of Tel Aviv, but there were no injuries or damage. Experts said it was most likely an Iranian-built Fajr 5 from Hamas’s arsenal, which have a range of up to 75 kilometers (46 miles).
“There was a rocket that hit in an open field in the Rishon Letzion area. There were no injuries or damage,” an army spokeswoman said. The city, with a population of some 228,000, lies about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Gaza. It borders on the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan zone.
IDF to call up 30,000 reserves ahead of possible Gaza ground operation | The Times of Israel.
‘Too early to talk about ceasefire,’ says IDF spokesman
The IDF Spokesperson announced on Thursday evening that 30,000 reservists were being called up as Israel prepared for a possible extended ground incursion into Gaza as part of Operation Pillar of Defense.
The large-scale call up is Israel’s first since Operation Cast Lead in 2008, and represents a major escalation of the two-day old operation, which is aimed to put a halt to rocket fire on Israel.
“IDF Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz has authorized the army’s regular units to prepare for a ground operation,” IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai told Channel 2 earlier in the day.
Some of those called up for reserves would be dispatched to replace those units in their routine duties.
Mordechai said it was “far too early to talk about a ceasefire,” and that the army planned to continue its attacks on terror targets until the operation’s goals were met.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night announced the onset of a broad aerial and naval bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, and said the country’s military was ready to widen its operations until its objectives were reached.
Netanyahu’s national security cabinet also announced it had tasked the Israel Defense Forces with calling up extra reserve units, should the need arise, a possible precursor to a wider ground operation.
The military said it was ready, if necessary, to send ground troops into Gaza. The defense officials who said a ground operation was likely in the coming days spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive military plans.
The prime minister reiterated the IDF’s report that Israeli Air Force planes had “damaged strategic targets of Hamas in a precise fashion” and “substantially damaged the launch capabilities of rockets from Gaza” at central and southern Israel.
“The terror organizations hurt our citizens with premeditation, while they deliberately conceal themselves behind their own citizens,” he said.
Speaking after Netanyahu, Barak told reporters that “the accuracy of the Shin Bet’s information and the sharpness of the IDF’s operation brought about the assassination of Hamas chief of staff [Ahmed] Jabari and the neutralization of Fajr missiles and Hamas’s infrastructures.” He added that most of Hamas’s Fajr long-range rocket arsenal was destroyed in IAF airstrikes.
Barak noted that Operation Pillar of Defense would not be completed in “one fell swoop,” but that the objectives would be attained in due time.
The defense minister delineated the operation’s objectives as “strengthening deterrence, damaging the rocket arsenal, damaging and hurting Hamas and minimizing injury to the civilians on the homefront of the State of Israel.”
“The IDF will receive all of the support to do everything necessary in order to return calm to the South,” Barak said.
In an earlier address to the press, former deputy chief of General Staff Maj. Gen. (res.) Dan Harel said that “Hamas thought [Israel] would not retaliate” to rocket barrages in recent weeks. “They were wrong.”
Hamas has escalated its smuggling of high-quality weaponry recently, Harel explained, and “felt it has enough power to face down Israel,” Harel said. “We are in the early hours of the clash, and where it goes from here depends on Hamas’s activity.”
Besides the killing of Jabari, he added, “some of the long-range rockets of Hamas were destroyed. Fighter jets are bombing rocket cylinders buried in the ground. We’re trying to take away [Hamas’] launching capability. It will be difficult, but we’re doing our best.”
Israel does not wish to launch a ground operation, Harel said, but is willing to do so to stop the rocket fire.
“We’re not looking at going further on the ground, but if we have to do it, we will do it.”
Haviv Rettig Gur, Asher Zeiger and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Defense Minister: We will exact heavy toll for today’s escalation – Israel News, Ynetnews.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, “The fire directed at the greater Tel Aviv area, as well as the scale of the fire directed at Israel in general today is an escalation that will have a heavy price for the other side to pay”.
Barak reiterated his confidence that the operation will achieve its goals “even if it will take some time.” (Ynet)
Two rockets fired from Gaza toward Tel Aviv – JPost – Defense.
Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post
Two booms were heard following an air raid siren in Tel Aviv Thursday evening, just an hour after a rocket from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open field outside of Rishon Lezion. There were no reports of injuries in either strike.
The attacks mark the first time the center of the country was hit renewed violence from the Gaza Strip. The incident was also the first time that a real siren was sounded in Tel Aviv since the Gulf War in the early 1990s. Palestinian Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the rocket on Tel Aviv.
The rockets, among 274 fired from Gaza into the South since the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense Wednesday to root out the terror infrastructure in the coastal territory, landed less than 15 km south of Tel Aviv. The operation began with the Wednesday afternoon targeted killing of Ahmed Jabari, the chief of Hamas’s military wing.
Earlier Thursday, three people were killed and two others injured in a direct hit on a Kiryat Malachi apartment building. Hours later, a rocket fired into the Eshkol region injured three IDF soldiers, two moderately.
MDA paramedics treated five wounded people at the site of the Kiryat Malachi attack, in which a rocket hit a four-story building. Three people were pronounced dead on the scene and two others were suffering moderate injuries, including a baby.
A house in Ashdod and a school in Ofakim near Beersheba also sustained damage from rockets on Thursday morning. Rockets also landed in the Eshkol Regional Council area, Gan Yavne and Ashkelon.
The IDF Spokesman’s Office stated the Iron Dome rocket defense system has successfully intercepted more than 80 rockets since the operation began.
A separate IDF spokesman confirmed that all Palestinian terror factions took part in rocket fire overnight Wednesday, with Hamas trying to take the lead.
He added that the IDF “believes the rocket fire will intensify.” Tank fire also was directed at terror targets, he said.
Since beginning its operation, the IDF has struck nearly 250 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, including several terrorist cells preparing to fire rockets at Israel and medium-range rocket launchers located across the Strip.
Palestinian sources said that 15 people were killed in Gaza as a result of the IAF strikes, with more than a hundred suffering injuries.
The spokesman concluded by describing the Hamas-ruled Strip as “a forward Iranian base,” and urged the populace to remain steadfast, as “home front resilience is vital for the continuing operation.”
Schools within 40 km. of the Gaza Strip were declared closed Thursday, and residents were urged to follow directives from the IDF Home Front Command. Magen David Adom paramedics treated 13 Israelis for injuries suffered overnight prior to the fatal strike in Kiryat Malachi, the organization said. Of the injured, four suffered light wounds while nine more suffered shock symptoms.
Gaza-border communities were in lockdown, with residents ordered to remain in their homes if they live within 7 km. of Gaza.
Explosions have been reported as far away as Dimona, some 75 km. from the Gaza Strip.
At an emergency meeting in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the security cabinet authorized Defense Minister Ehud Barak to mobilize reservists if needed.
The cabinet also agreed that the IDF should continue to act against terrorist infrastructure and activity in Gaza. It instructed the Foreign Ministry to begin a diplomatic public relations campaign to explain that Israel was acting in self-defense against military targets, as the continued rocket barrage had become intolerable.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on the telephone on Wednesday night with US President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. He was also scheduled to speak with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The prime minister thanked Obama and Biden for taking the position that Israel had a right to defend itself.
The military operation immediately increased tensions with Egypt, which condemned Israel’s actions and recalled its ambassador.
Tovah Lazaroff and Reuters contributed to this report
Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.
( Damn right! – JW )
He added: “We must allow the IDF to complete its missions.”
Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.
The White House says the US strongly condemns the barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and regrets the loss of life.
Spokesman Jay Carney says there is “no justification” for the violence perpetrated by Hamas and other terrorist organizations. And he called on those responsible to immediately stop the “cowardly acts.” (AP)
via White House: No justification for Hamas violence – Israel News, Ynetnews.
Rockets hit Gush Dan area for first time since 1991 Gulf War; Israel suffers first three fatalities after rocket hits residential building in Kiryat Malachi; three soldiers injured by mortar fire; 245 rockets fired into Israel since start of operation
On Operation Pillar of Defense’s second day, rocket fire is bringing life in southern and central Israel to a standstill while the IDF inflicts heavy blows on Gaza terror groups. The Times of Israel is live-blogging. Press refresh for latest updates.
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai says that no rockets landed on the ground in the greater Tel Aviv area. He added that “tonight is not expected to be quiet.”
Channel 2 reported that the rocket fell between Rishon Lezion and Tel Aviv in an open area.
Sky News uploaded footage of the siren wailing in Tel Aviv.
Two rockets have landed near Tel Aviv in the past several minutes.
Haaretz is reporting that one rocket fired by Islamic Jihad at Tel Aviv exploded near the southern suburb of Holon.
No injuries were reported, according to Magen David Adom.
Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for the Fajr missile that it says it fired at Tel Aviv minutes ago, Channel 10 reports.
Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.
The missile caused the emergency siren to ring in the city, and two booms were heard shortly thereafter. The Fajr missile is Iranian-made.
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