WarSclerotic

Egyptian FM and Clinton jointly announce Gaza ceasefire at 9 p.m..

DEBKAfile  Exclusive Report  November 21, 2012, 7:50 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tel Aviv bus blown up by terrorist

The announcement was made in Cairo by Egyptian foreign minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Cairo Wednesday, Nov. 21. A statement from Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Avigdor Lieberman follows half an hour before the ceasefire is due to go into effect at 9. p.m.
Palestinians have fired 90 missiles against Israel day while the IAF carried out sorties against 120 terrorist and government targets in the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined world leaders in harshly condemning bombing of a Tel Aviv bus Wednesday, Nov. 21, as a “terrorist attack” when she arrived in Cairo from Jerusalem and Ramallah. She found Egyptian-brokered ceasefire for the Gaza Strip near vanishing point. Police are hunting for the bomber who placed his explosive device under a bus seat and fled before it blew up on Shaul Hamelekh Blvd. opposite the defense ministry and IDF GHQ and injured 27 people. Three are still in serious condition.
More than 75 Palestinian missiles were fired against Israel from Gaza up until 1500 hours, a good proportion  intercepted by Iron Dome. The IAF struck a wide range of Hamas government offices, banks, safe house and rocket positions in the Gaza Strip.

A witness of the bus bombing reported a man placing a package on one of the seats and exiting the bus. Another claimed the package was thrown in to the bus through a window. A large dragnet has been thrown in the area for suspects and abettors. The attack took place as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was closeted in Jerusalem for her second meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to discuss the stalled Gaza ceasefire.  debkafile:  The Tel Aviv bus attack, recalling the 2000 Palestinian suicide bombing offensive plaguing Israel streets, could prompt an early Israeli decision to go forward with the IDF ground operation against Gaza terrorists.
Police have been on alert for terrorist attacks since last week when Hamas and Jihad Islami threatened to revert to their suicide bombing campaign inside Israeli towns.

Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.

Tel Aviv bus hit by bomb; Hamas celebrates | Reuters.

(Reuters) – A bomb exploded on a bus in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday, wounding 15 people in what Israeli officials said was a terrorist attack that could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Celebratory gunfire rang out across Gaza as the news spread and the territory’s Islamist rulers Hamas praised the bombing, but no one claimed immediate responsibility.

The blast shattered windows on the bus as it drove along a tree-lined street next to Israel’s huge defense ministry headquarters. Israel’s ambulance service said four people suffered moderate-to-severe injuries and 11 were lightly hurt.

Police said it was not a suicide attack and suggested that someone might have left the device on the number 142 bus.

The driver, who escaped largely unscathed, told reporters he had not seen anyone suspicious get on board.

“I felt the explosion … Smoke was everywhere, you couldn’t see a thing,” he said. The blue and white vehicle was not torn apart by the blast, indicating it was a relatively small device.

The bombing happened on the eighth day of an Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip and coincided with intensive diplomatic efforts to secure a lasting truce.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri hailed the explosion.

“Hamas blesses the attack in Tel Aviv and sees it as a natural response to the Israeli massacres…in Gaza,” he told Reuters. “Palestinian factions will resort to all means in order to protect our Palestinian civilians in the absence of a world effort to stop the Israeli aggression.”

Sweet cakes were handed out in celebration in Gaza’s main hospital, which has been inundated with wounded from the round-the-clock Israeli bombing and shelling.

“GATES OF HELL”

“You opened the gates of hell on yourselves,” Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam brigades, said on Twitter. “Oh Zionists, you have to drag yourselves out of hell, go back home now, go back to Germany, Poland, Russia, America and anywhere else.”

The last time a bomb blast hit Israel’s commercial capital was in April 2006, when a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 11 people at a sandwich stand near the old central bus station.

Hamas militants have fired at least four rockets at the laid-back Mediterranean metropolis over the past week, but they scored no direct hits and caused no casualties.

Israel launched its air offensive with the stated aim of halting all missile launches out of the Gaza Strip, which lies some 70 km (40 miles) south of Tel Aviv, a cosmopolitan city renowned for its nightlife and vibrant beach culture.

Hamas had warned when the latest conflict flared that it would not confine itself to unleashing rockets.

“This was a terror attack. There is a massive preparedness within the police and security forces. We must keep awareness to a maximum. These are not normal times,” said Israel’s Police Chief Yohanan Danino.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon denounced the attack, saying nothing justified the targeting of civilians.

The United States, Israel’s main ally, also condemned the bus bombing. “These attacks against innocent Israeli civilians are outrageous,” the White House said.

More than 140 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, have died so far in Israel’s Gaza offensive. Five Israelis, including one soldier, have also been killed.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, trying to calm tensions over Gaza, flew from Israel to Cairo to meet Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, who is spearheading ceasefire negotiations.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller, Ari Rabinovitch and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Report: Iran missile technology sent to Gaza

Published: 11.21.12, 16:05 / Israel News

An Iranian news agency says the head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard has disclosed his country has given fighters in Gaza the ability to produce longer-range missiles on their own, without direct shipments.

The comments by Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, quoted by the semiofficial ISNA news agency, offer some of the clearest insights on Iran’s weapons support for Hamas, whose Iranian-engineered Fajr-5 missiles have struck near Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during weeklong battles with Israel. (AP)

via Report: Iran missile technology sent to Gaza – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Clinton in Cairo amid waning Gaza truce bid. 27 injured in Tel Aviv bus bombing.

DEBKAfile  Exclusive Report  November 21, 2012, 3:57 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tel Aviv bus blown up by terrorist

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined world leaders in harshly condemning bombing of a Tel Aviv bus Wednesday, Nov. 21, as a “terrorist attack” when she arrived in Cairo from Jerusalem and Ramallah. She found Egyptian-brokered ceasefire for the Gaza Strip near vanishing point. Police are hunting for the bomber who placed his explosive device under a bus seat and fled before it blew up on Shaul Hamelekh Blvd. opposite the defense ministry and IDF GHQ and injured 27 people. Three are still in serious condition.
More than 75 Palestinian missiles were fired against Israel from Gaza up until 1500 hours, a good proportion  intercepted by Iron Dome. The IAF struck a wide range of Hamas government offices, banks, safe house and rocket positions in the Gaza Strip.

A witness of the bus bombing reported a man placing a package on one of the seats and exiting the bus. Another claimed the package was thrown in to the bus through a window. A large dragnet has been thrown in the area for suspects and abettors. The attack took place as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was closeted in Jerusalem for her second meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to discuss the stalled Gaza ceasefire.  debkafile:  The Tel Aviv bus attack, recalling the 2000 Palestinian suicide bombing offensive plaguing Israel streets, could prompt an early Israeli decision to go forward with the IDF ground operation against Gaza terrorists.
Police have been on alert for terrorist attacks since last week when Hamas and Jihad Islami threatened to revert to their suicide bombing campaign inside Israeli towns.

1,408 Missiles in 8 Days Fired by Gaza at Israel – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

IAF photo of Fajr site

IDF Spokesman’s Unit

As the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah approaches, Israel marks the eighth day of Operation Pillar of Defense by counting the missiles fired.

Hanukkah is a holiday especially precious to children, but this year as the festival approaches, Israeli families are focused more on the safety of their children than on shopping for their gifts.

Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorists and affiliated terrorist groups have fired 1,408 missiles and rockets at Israel since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense, eight days ago.

Of those fired, 56 missiles have struck populated areas in Israel, and 412 have been intercepted and shot down by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system.

They have varied in ranges from the short-range “homemade” Kassam rockets that reach close to 20-25 kilometers (12.5-15 miles), to medium-range Grad Katyusha missiles that reach up to 40 kilometers (25 miles), and now also include the Iranian Fajr-5 missiles, with a range of 75-80 kilometers (45-48 miles).

On Wednesday, Iranian radio station “al-Alam” broadcast in Arabic a confirmation that the Islamic Republic had supplied the Fajr-5 missiles to Hamas.

The IDF has attacked more than 1,500 terror targets in Gaza during the same eight day period.

Targets struck by IDF fighter pilots have included Hamas commanders, weapons smuggling tunnels, and dozens of terrorist cells who were in the process of firing rockets as they were hit.

More than 100 confirmed terrorists have been killed thus far.

Israel braced for Iranian efforts to arm Gaza – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza don’t hide Iran’s role in arming them with missiles, and will clearly try to smuggle more into Gaza once a cease-fire is reached.

By Amos Harel | Nov.21, 2012 | 12:52 PM | 2

An Iranian Fajr-3 missile. Photo by AP

By Reuters | Nov.21,2012 | 12:52 PM

As Operation Pillar of Defense enters its eight day, there is concern in Israel that Iran will try to re-arm terrorist groups in Gaza – particularly with medium-range rockets – once the current hostilities end. The Israeli intelligence community, with the assistance of Western intelligence agencies, has been investing great effort in keeping tabs on Iran’s smuggling network in order to thwart it.

In the two years leading up to Israel’s current Gaza offensive, the Iranians smuggled Fajr-5 rockets with a firing range of up to 75 kilometers into the Gaza Strip by way of Sudan, Egypt and Gaza’s smuggling tunnels. At the same time, Hamas and Islamic Jihad manufactured 200mm diameter rockets – whose range is close to 80 kilometers – in the Strip, using know-how provided by Iran.

During the first phase of Pillar of Defense, immediately following the assassination of Ahmed Jabari on November 14, the Israel Air Force destroyed most of the arsenal of Fajr rockets and some of the production lines and caches of other rockets that belong to Gaza’s militant groups. Until now, roughly 10 medium-range rockets have been fired toward the Tel Aviv area and the Jerusalem region. Most of these have been the improvised 200mm rockets produced locally in Gaza. Israeli intelligence believes that only a small number of these medium-range rockets remain.

Militant organizations, like the Iranians, see the medium-range rockets as a key means toward deterring Israeli attacks. Consequently, they attribute great importance to renewing the weapons smuggling activity into Gaza, with the goal of broadening the rocket arsenal at these groups’ disposal. Senior Iranian officials have declared several times of late that they will aid efforts to improve the capabilities of Palestinian terror groups in Gaza.

“It’s no secret that the military support provided to the Palestinian resistance from A to B, from bullets to rockets, comes from Iran,” a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, Daoud Shihab, said this week in an interview with the Lebanese TV channel al-Mayadeen.

In Israel, it is still difficult to assess what role Iran played in the recent escalation of Palestinian terrorist group activities in Gaza. Most Israeli intelligence officials believe that the escalation erupted due to local considerations of the Gaza groups, but it appears that the tension in Israel’s south also serves Iranian interests – because Israelis have been wounded in the exchange of fire and because the world’s attention has shifted from the progress Iran is making with its nuclear program to Gaza.

Terrorist Attack on Tel Aviv Bus; Hamas Celebrates – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

Scene of bus attack in Tel Aviv

Israel news photo: Tazpit

A terrorist blew blown up a Dan local bus on Shaul HaMelech street in central Tel Aviv aroun noon. Five people suffered serious injuries, and two are in serious condition while three people are in moderate conditon. No one was killed.

Twenty-one people have been evacuated to Icholov Hospital, most of them with lesser injuries. Others are being treated for emotional shock.

Eyewitnesses said that that the terrorist boarded the bus, placed a suspicious package there and then fled. Police arrested one suspect but later released him when it became clear he had no connection with the attack.

Authorities said there was no advanced warning of a terrorist attack. No terrorist group has yet taken responsibility for the attack, but Islamic Jihad and Hamas have threatened to strike anywhere in Israel.

TV images showed the bus with its windows blown out and its metal frame contorted from the force of the blast, in images reminiscent of scenes from previous terrorist bombings in the Second Intifada, also known as the Oslo War.

The front window was completely shattered and glass littered the floor as the wounded were loaded into ambulances by an army of medics, AFP reported.

The blast took place as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on ways to end a deadly spike in bloodshed in and around Gaza over the past week.

Netanyahu’s spokesman said it was “a terrorist attack.”

Gaza Arabs celebrated the attack, and Hamas officials said it was carried out in revenge for Israeli aerial bombings in Gaza that killed several members of one family.

At least 25 injured, 5 seriously, in Tel Aviv bus bombing. Alert for more attacks.

DEBKAfile  Exclusive Report  November 21, 2012, 12:16 PM (GMT+02:00)

Magen David declared a multi-casualty episode following a bombing attack on a bus in the Tel Aviv main street of Shaul Hamelekh Blvd. Wednesday, Nov. 21, in which at least 25 people were injured, five seriously.  An emergency has been declared in the area around the blast, focusing on the nearby Defense Ministry and ID General Staff headquarters and Ichilov hospital, where the staff were sent to bomb shelters. Tel Aviv’s huge Mercaz Azrieli mall, office and apartment building has just been closed and evacuated.
A witness of the bus bombing reported a man placing a package on one of the seats and exiting the bus. Another claimed the package was thrown into the bus through a window. A large dragnet, backed by helicopters, has been thrown around the area for suspects and abettors. The attack took place as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was closeted in Jerusalem for her second meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to discuss the stalled Gaza ceasefire talks in cairo.   debkafile: The Tel Aviv bus attack, recalling the 2000 Palestinian suicide bombing offensive plaguing Israel streets, could prompt an early Israeli decision to go forward with the IDF ground operation against Gaza terrorists.

Police have been on alert for terrorist attacks since last week when Hamas and Jihad Islami threatened to revert to their suicide bombing campaign inside Israeli towns.

Terrorist blows up bus in central Tel Av… JPost – National News.