WarSclerotic

Iron Dome intercepts Gaza missile over Tel Aviv.

DEBKAfile Special Report November 17, 2012, 4:56 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israeli tanks on standby outside Gaza

Missile alert sirens were heard across the Greater Tel Aviv area Saturday, Nov. 17, before the explosion caused by Iron Dome’s interception of one of the two rockets incoming from the Gaza Strip to Israel’s largest conurbation for the third day in a row. The second rocket landed harmlessly on open ground.
Hamas claimed to have launched Iran-made Fajr-5 long-range missile against Tel Aviv. The Iron Dome anti-missile battery, the fifth, was deployed for the first time in Greater Tel Aviv that morning as a defense for the Greater Tel Aviv area and Jerusalem.  Jerusalem came within Hamas missile radius for the first time Friday night.
debkafile reported Friday.

Signs of an approaching full-scale war increased Friday afternoon, Nov. 16. The IDF obtained government approval to call up reserves in addition to the 30,000 already approved. Hospitals across the country were placed on emergency footing and patients not needing urgent treatment were sent home. The security cabinet meets urgently after 550 Palestinian rockets fired in three days. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were targeted Friday by Hamas which reported firing two “homemade M-75” missiles each at Israel’s capital and commercial hub. There were no casualties in either town.
The Jerusalem siren was heard in outlying towns Mevaseret Zion, Motza Ilit, Beitar Ilit, Kibbutz Maaleh Hahamisha, Ora and Har Adar.
Israeli ground forces continue to stand by on the Gaza border awaiting government orders to go in.
debkafile reported earflier Friday: As Hamas government officials greeted Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil on his arrival for a short visit to the Gaza Strip, Friday morning, Nov. 16, Palestinian rocket crews stepped up their barrage against Israel. After Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu acceded to Cairo’s request to suspend military action for the visit, air strikes were resumed over northern Gaza to counter Palestinians fire across the South: Dozens of rockets exploded in Beersheba, Ashdod, Hof Ashkelon, Ashkelon, Shear Hanegev, Ofakim, Sderot, Eshkol and Kiryat Malachi. There were several panic victims and direct hits to houses.

Thursday night, long-range Fajr rockets exploded in Greater Tel Aviv region, Israel’s urban and commercial heartland (3 million population) – two landing near Bat Yam or the sea and one or two between Rishon Lezion and Palmachim.

IDF armored, artillery and mechanized infantry units continued to stream to the Gaza border Thursday and Friday, gathering at jumping-off positions for crossing into the enclave in the next stage of the operation. Reservists are reporting for duty on the orders the defense minister issued for 30,000 call-ups. They are reporting at schools in various towns which were converted to registration stations.
Schools in the heavily battered south remain closed indefinitely and all locations within 40 kilometers stay on emergency footing for rocket attacks.

The IDF is rushing forward the completion of the fifth Iron Dome battery after the first four stopped some 150 incoming rockets in the last 48 hours.

debkafile:  Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and the high IDF command are pushing for the ground operation, Stage B of the Pillar of Cloud operation, to start without delay. The prime minister and defense minister prefer to wait.

Thursday night, as the operation wound up its second day, the Israeli Air Force intensified its action, conducting 250 strikes across the territory, supported from the Mediterranean by the Israeli Navy. They targeted rocket-launching positions, stores, silos, arms and ordnance dumps and the eight tunnels snaking under the border fence for use in terrorist attacks and exploding booby-traps.  A generator was hit near the residence of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Our sources report that Thursday, some international airlines cancelled flights to Israel. International airline officials told debkafile that security in central Israel is uncertain after Palestinian rockets from Gaza reached the Tel Aviv area. They fear Ben Gurion international airport at Lod may be next.

The sources noted that the landing of a rocket in the sea off Bat Yam posed a serious aviation hazard because it occurred under the flight path of passenger planes bound for and departing Israel. Intense Israeli Air Force activity over Gaza was making commercial flights additionally “hazardous if not impossible,” they said.
Air France was the first to reschedule flights and advise passengers to call in before setting out for their airport of departure.
Also on Thursday, the US embassy in Tel Aviv advised its nationals and staff to avoid non-essential travel to southern Israel and the children of staff to stay home from their schools in the Tel Aviv area.
A skeleton staff would operate the embassy with most of the diplomats and personnel taking the day off and staying home for their own safety, in case Yarkon Street where the building is situated were to come under Palestinian rocket fire.

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Report in Lebanon: Long-range missiles smuggled into Gaza – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper says Lebanese ‘resistance’ on high alert for fear of Israeli attack

Roi Kais

The flow of arms to Gaza has not ceased despite Israel’s massive airstrikes in the Hamas-ruled territory, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Saturday.It was further reported that Grad rockets, as well as Kornet anti-tank missiles used by Palestinian terrorists to attack armored IDF vehicles, were transferred to Gaza by the regime in Damascus.

According to the Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper, a “considerable” amount of long-range missiles have been transferred to Gaza over the past 24 hours.

Hezbollah chief Nasrallah (Photo: AFP)

Al-Akhbar also said Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have declared a state of alert. The report said the units that have been mainly include those that are in charge of arms smuggling from Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Sudan to Gaza. The weapons pass from Iranian and Syrian ports to Sudan, from which there they are transported to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, and from there to Gaza.

Sources told the newspaper that during the first hours of the IDF’s operation in Gaza, the armed Palestinian terror groups briefed Hezbollah on the damage caused to long-range missiles.

Another Lebanese newspaper quoted sources as saying that the “resistance” in Lebanon has raised its alert level to the highest possible. They said the conflict in Gaza indicates that Israel won’t engage in military action against Lebanon due to what they claim is the Jewish state’s inability to deal with the Lebanese resistance.

Ahla hu Akbar ! «.

The invasion of Gaza is in the move, as we speak. No need bidding my beard on this.

Besides, I have no beard anymore…

Direct hits on Ashdod building, Eshkol house – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Rocket fire from Gaza continues: Three projectiles explode in residential area in Ashdod; four people lightly hurt, a few other residents suffer panic attacks; Iron Dome intercepts four more rockets fired at city

Omri Efraim

A barrage of four rockets was fired from Gaza toward Ashdod at around noon Saturday. One of the rockets struck a building in the city and two others landed in a residential area. A number of people suffered from anxiety. The fourth projectile did not cause any injury but damaged a vehicle. Channel 2 said four people sustained light wounds during the attack on Ashdod. They were evacuated to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot.

Roughly 15 minutes after the direct hit on the building the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted another four-rocket salvo that was fired toward Ashdod.

A short while later another rocket launched by Palestinian terrorists hit a house located in the Negev’s Eshkol Regional Council. The house was empty at the time of the attack. A barrage of five rockets was fired from Gaza toward Beersheba, all exploding in open areas. Four rockets fired toward Be’er Tuvia were intercepted.

Car damaged by rocket in Ashdod (Photo: Avi Roccah)

Earlier on Saturday, four soldiers sustained light injuries when a mortar landed in the Eshkol Regional Council.

More than 60 rockets were fired toward Israel on Saturday after the Israeli aircraft leveled the Hamasgovernment building in Gaza City.

The IDF has attacked more than 200 terror targets throughout Gaza since 6 pm Wednesday. The targets included 120 rocket launchers and more than 20 smuggling tunnels in Rafah. Saturday morning saw the Israeli Air Force attack a terror cell as it was preparing to fire rockets toward Beersheba. Three terrorists were hit.

Ashdod building hit by rocket (Photo: Ron Benishu)

Also on Saturday, Israeli aircraft killed a Hamas officer who was in charge of air defense in Gaza. Palestinian sources in Gaza reported Saturday that the IDF attacked a motorcyclist in Khan Younis. They said one Palestinian was killed in the attack. Later it was reported that three people were killed in an Israeli strike east of the al-Maghazi refugee camp.

In addition, three people were killed in an IDF strike in the al-Zahour neighborhood, located west of Rafah in the southern part of the coastal enclave. Another Palestinian was killed and three others were wounded in an IDF strike in Deir al-Balah.

Ashdod under attack (Photo: Avi Roccah)

According to the report, another person was killed in an attack on a terror cell in Rafah’s al-Sulan neighborhood.

More than 830 terror targets have been attacked in Gaza since the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense on Wednesday.

Since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense, Gaza terrorists have fired 703 rockets towards Israel, with only 27 projectiles, or 4%, landing in urban areas. The Iron Dome has intercepted 217 of the rockets.

Israel tells world it’s gearing for ground Gaza op – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Laying ground for expanded Gaza offensive, Jewish state says it’s drafting major reserve forces, blasts Hamas

Itamar Eichner

With Operation Pillar of Defense well into its fourth day, Israel has launched a diplomatic campaign meant to lay the ground for an expanded offensive on Gaza.

In a message to the world’s nations, Israel said the IDF is gearing towards significantly expanding its operation in the Gaza Strip, and has begun drafting tens of thousands of reserve troops ahead of a ground incursion.

In addition, the Jewish state is making use of gruesome images of the destruction caused by the rockets fired on southern communities from the Hamas-ruled enclave. A statement accompanied by pictures of a baby injured when a projectile hit the city of Kiryat Malachi on Thursday accuses Hamas of hurting “children on both sides” of the conflict.

Baby hurt by rocket (Photo: Gideon Rahamim)

The statement further asserts that the terror group uses Gaza kids as human shields.

“The citizens of Israel are behind the operation, and their resilience is a major component of our national strength,” the message added.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liebermansaid on Saturday that the Gaza offensive has three goals – to restore the calm in Israel’s south, reinstate Israel’s deterrence and destroy the stockpiles of long-range missiles belonging to Gaza terror groups.

“The only way we can achieve peace and security is to create real deterrence via a crushing response that will make sure they don’t try to test us again,” Lieberman said at a lecture in Kiryat Motzkin. “This isn’t an all-out war, but an operation with defined goals.”

The minister stressed that in the event that such a ground incursion is launched, Israel will have to see it through.

“This wasn’t done during Operation Cast Lead, which is why we failed to achieve our goal and had to pay a heavy toll when it came to global public opinion,” he argued.

‘Start talks with Hamas’

Meanwhile, Meretz Chairwoman Zahava Gal-On warned against the expanded operation.

“Our leadership is trying to drag us into another unnecessary war that will claim victims for naught,” she said. “Our experience indicates that ground operations are a recipe for a bloody conflict.”

Gal-On urged the government to initiate talks with Hamas via Egyptian or international mediation.

For the time being it appeared the US is backing the operation. The White House said in a statement early on Saturday that President Barack Obama reiterated US support for Israel’s right to defend itself during a phone conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

However, the New York Times reported that the Obama administration fears that an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza will result in civilian casualties, play into Hamas’ hands and cause damage to Israel.

The report said American officials have been urging their Israeli counterparts not expand the conflict for fear that further escalation would damage Israel’s already shaky relations with Egypt and Jordan.

Iran: Muslim world must hit back at Israel for Gaza – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Iranian defense minister says joint strike by Muslim world is only way to end ‘Zionist regime’s crimes’; Tehran to send delegation to enclave

AFP

Islamic countries must close ranks and respond to Israel‘s deadly attacks on the Gaza Strip, Iran‘s Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Saturday.

“Putting an end to the Zionist regime’s crimes is only possible through a united, revolutionary retaliation by the Muslim world,” Vahidi said in remarks carried by the official IRNA news agency.

Israel is “massacring the oppressed Palestinian people, including women and children” and its strikes amount to a “clear example of war crimes,” the defense minister charged.

IAF strike in Gaza (Photo: EPA)

Israel launched a concerted air campaign, dubbed Operation Pillar of Defense, against the densely populated territory on Wednesday with the stated aim of halting regular rocket fire out of Gaza that has disrupted life across southern Israel.

  Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, whose country is a key backer of Hamas, on Thursday urged the United Nations and European Union to pressure Israel to halt its offensive, saying the security of the Middle East was at stake.

Salehi has also announced his readiness to visit Gaza.

Rocket damage in Israel’s Kiryat Malachi

 Speaking to exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on the telephone, Salehi said Iran was ready to send “medical and medicinal aids” to Gaza, the official IRNA news agency reported.

On Saturday, media reports said Iran was preparing to dispatch a parliamentary delegation to the Palestinian territory.

The foreign ministry is “talking with Egyptian officials to facilitate the visit through Rafah,” a terminal at Gaza’s southwestern border with Egypt, according to MP Mansour Haqiqatpour. Previous attempts by Iran’s hardline parliament to dispatch a team into Gaza failed during the rule of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Iron Dome intercepts Fajr-5 missile aimed at T… JPost – Defense.

Egypt to meet with Qatar, Turkey, Hamas on… JPost – Middle East.

Photo: REUTERS

CAIRO – Egypt’s president will hold four-way talks with the Qatari emir, the prime minister of Turkey and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Cairo on Saturday to discuss the Gaza crisis, a presidential source said.

Egypt has been working to reinstate a truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, after an informal truce brokered by Cairo broke down.

Israel launched a http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=292138 on Wednesday with the declared aim of deterring Hamas from launching cross-border rocket salvos that have plagued southern Israel for years.

“Egypt’s presidency will meet today with (exiled Hamas leader Khaled) Mashaal, Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the situation in Gaza,” the presidential source told Reuters.

He said it would be a meeting of all four leaders.

Erdogan, who arrived in Egypt earlier on Saturday, has been an outspoken critic of Israel, while Qatar’s emir visited Gaza in October, breaking the isolation of the Palestinian group.