Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.
The soldier’s bulletproof vest prevented serious injury.
It was the third time in recent days that fire from battles raging between the Syrian military and rebels near the border of Israel crossed the border.
Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.
Seventy Israelis have been injured in rocket attacks since the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Channel 10 reported on Thursday.
According to Channel 10, 16 rocket victims suffering bodily injuries were admitted to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, including a four-year-old child suffering moderate injuries. Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba has treated 12 people suffering bodily injuries, and 30 additional people suffering shock. An additional 12 people were admitted to Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, two of whom suffered serious injuries.
Several of the injuries occurred while residents of the South were running to shelters.
Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.
Rockets have targeted Ashdod, Gan Yavne, Ashkelon, Beersheba, Kiryat Malachi, Kiryat Gat and the Eshkol Regional Council.
Well over 200 rockets have been fired into southern Israel since the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense on Wednesday afternoon.
Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.
“The Syrian government condemns the heinous atrocities committed by the enemy Israeli army against the Arab Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read.
It concluded by urging the international community to “pressure Israel to stop the sinful aggression on our people in the defiant Gaza Strip.”
Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.
CAIRO – Egypt officially requested on Thursday a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss what it described as Israeli “aggression” on Gaza, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It said Egypt’s representative to the United Nations had sent formal requests to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and to the current head of the council, India’s representative.
The Security Council held an emergency meeting on Wednesday night to discuss Israeli strikes against the Gaza Strip but took no action
Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.
DUBAI – Iran condemned on Thursday as “organized terrorism” an offensive by Israel against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
“Iran considers the criminal act of Israeli military forces in killing civilians as organised terrorism and strongly condemns it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
The spokesman also criticized what he called “the silence of international organizations claiming to defend human rights,” following the strikes.
Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.
He added that the IDF “believes the rocket fire will intensify.”
The IAF hit hundreds of targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Wednesday, the spokesman said, including several terrorist cells preparing to fire rockets at Israel, along with some 100 long- and medium-range rocket launchers located across the Strip.
Tank fire also was directed at terror targets, he added.
The spokseman urged the populace to remain steadfast, as “home front resilience is vital for the continuing operation.”
Kiryat Malachi: 3 dead; boy, babies injured – Israel News, Ynetnews.
A four-year-old boy sustained severe injuries, and two babies were evacuated to a hospital after injured by shrapnel. The father of one baby sustained light to moderate injuries.
Three people were reported dead after buildings in which they were staying suffered rocket fire. According to Magen David Adom, the three were two women and a man in their thirties.
Three dead in attack on Kiryat Malachi | The Times of Israel.
Israeli cities suffer constant attacks, Iron Dome downs dozens of rockets as Operation Pillar of Defense enters second day
Three people were killed and a baby was critically injured Thursday morning after a rocket blasted into a four story building in Kiryat Malachi.
As emergency services scrambled to rescue those still trapped inside the shattered structure another five missiles were fired at the town but the Iron Dome system intercepted them before they landed.
Two salvos of rockets were fired at Ashdod and the Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted some of the incoming rockets. However, one missile landed near a house in Ashdod lightly injuring three people. A chicken coup in Eshkol Region was also hit causing damage but no injuries.
During Thursday morning Israeli media reported on several salvos of missiles some of which penetrated the Iron Dome defenses. One missile was reported to have landed near Beersheba and another hit Kiryat Gat. Missiles were also fired at the port city of Ashkelon.
The Home Front command ordered residents in the areas under attack to remain in shelters until further notice.
The IDF Spokesman’s Office reported that seven terrorists were killed overnight in Israeli airstrikes across the Strip, as the army continued its day-old offensive against Gaza terror groups. Israel carried out strikes on more than 100 terror targets overnight, successfully hitting five rocket launching squads. The air force also distributed leaflets over Gaza warning residents to stay away from terrorist bases and weapons depots, stressing that civilians were not the targets of the strikes.
At least eight rockets were fired Thursday morning at Beersheba, which took the brunt of the 90 rockets Gaza hurled at Israel a day earlier following the assassination of Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari. Five rockets were shot down by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, which is programmed to intercept rockets heading towards populated areas. The rest fell in open areas, causing no injuries or damage.
A smoke ring in the sky above Beersheba, following a successful interception by Iron Dome (screen capture: Channel 2 News)
Iron Dome also intercepted rockets fired towards Ashdod and Ashkelon.
Four mortar shells landed in the Eshkol region. No injuries were reported.
The assassination of Jabari marked the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense, which Israeli leaders have warned could widen as they attempt to break Hamas’s ability to shoot rockets into Israel.
On Thursday morning, Israel targeted a motorcycle carrying a rocket squad, killing three terrorists.
Tank shells and naval gunfire have backed up the air onslaught. Few in the territory’s largest urban area, Gaza City, heeded the call for dawn prayers, and the only vehicles plying the streets were ambulances and media cars.
In Israel, the rocket fire continued into the dead of the night, with rockets falling around Beersheba, Ashdod, Sderot and other towns in Israel’s south. The fire ceased temporarily around 4 a.m. Thursday, resuming just after 6 a.m.
The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system has so far downed some 30 rockets over Beersheba and towns surrounding the Gaza Strip, out of some 35 attempts. All in all, about 110 rockets were launched by Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip Wednesday evening, including dozens of long-range Grad rockets that were fired at Beersheba.
Three of the rockets Wednesday night fell in the vicinity of Dimona in the central Negev, which is located some 70 kilometers from the Gaza Strip. According to foreign sources, the Dimona nuclear research facility is a focal point of Israel’s nuclear weapons program.
A factory in Ashkelon suffered a direct hit, causing damage, but no injuries.
One rocket scored a direct hit on a store in Beersheba, lightly injuring one woman. Another slammed into a car, setting it ablaze, and there were reports of damage to several buildings.
Residents within range of rocket fire from Gaza were requested to remain within 15 seconds of a shelter. School was called off on Thursday throughout the south, including in Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon. Residents in the towns immediately surrounding Gaza were instructed to take the day off work. The police raised alert levels across the country amid fears of terror attacks.
According to Channel 2 military correspondent Ronnie Daniel, some of the IAF strikes in Gaza were preemptive, targeting silos of Fajr missiles with a 70-kilometer range that could hit Tel Aviv. Pundits compared the strikes on the most potent Hamas missiles to the first day of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, when Israel took out Hezbollah’s longer-range missile sites.
The burnt remains of a car after being hit by a Grad rocket in Beersheba Wednesday. (photo credit: Dudu Grunshpan/Flash90)
In response to Jabari’s death, Hamas’s military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, had proclaimed that the “occupation opened the gates of hell on itself.”
Jabari was credited with being one of the leaders of Hamas’s violent putsch to take control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, and masterminded the professionalization of the organization’s military.
Israel attempted to kill Jabari in an airstrike in 2004, but ended up killing his eldest son, his brother, and several cousins instead.
Jabari was the most senior Hamas official to be killed since Operation Cast Lead four years ago. Jabari has long topped Israel’s most-wanted list and was notorious in Israel, which blamed him for a string of attacks, including the terror infiltration which saw the capture of soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006.
Released captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (center). Assassinated Hamas military leader Ahmed Jaabari can be seen behind him. (photo credit: Flash90)
Despite being a stickler for personal security, Jabari personally escorted Shalit in the 2011 handover to Egyptian authorities, who then released him to Israel after five years in captivity. Video footage from the handoff showed the Hamas leader standing behind Shalit.
Hamas’ West Bank branch called on all Palestinians to hold protest demonstrations against the “Zionist aggression against the residents of Gaza.”
Israel has repeatedly stated that it holds Hamas responsible for all attacks on its territory from the Gaza Strip, including those carried out by other terror factions.
On Tuesday, even as a tentative quiet seemed to be descending on the south, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that “the matter is definitely not over, and we’ll decide how and when to act when there is need to do so.”
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