WarSclerotic

15 rockets land in Israel Friday, IDF remains silent – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Rocket lightly damages structures in southern Kibbutz, mortars fired at Keren Shalom despite reports of possible cease fire; no injuries reported.

Ynetnews

A rocket from Gaza landed in a Kibbutz in southern Israel Friday afternoon causing minor damage to several buildings while no injuries were reported as a result of the attack. The attack marked the 15th rocket to be fired on Israel since midnight.

Earlier, the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system shot down two incoming rockets over the southern town of Ofakim Friday afternoon, while another fell in an open area. Several mortar rounds were also fired toward Keren Shalom, but only one fell in Israeli territory.

Code red sirens were also heard in the Eshkol Regional Council where two more rockets fell in open areas. Another rocket landed in Eshkol near the border fence. No injuries were reported after any of the fire of the Gaza.

The afternoon rockets were the first to strike Israel since attacks earlier Friday morning. A BBC report surfaced in the early afternoon that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire agreement that would put an end to the recent escalation in southern Israel, citing an unnamed source in Hamas.

A civilian living in the kibbutz where a rocket caused damage recounted his experience saying, “We were sitting in the living room. Even our adult children came to visit us and we were watching tennis on the television.”

“The house was closed because we had the air conditioning on and we didn’t hear the code red siren,” he continued. “Then all of a sudden there was a crazy explosion and the entire house shook. We immediately understood that the rocket had fallen nearby.”

“We went out and saw the damage caused to vehicles and the holes that the Shrapnel has caused. They’re talking about a cease fire or relaxation but in the meantime that’s not what it looks like.”

The current rocket fire on southern Israel could threaten any cease fire agreement however, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently contacted Hamas through back-channels and said that calm would be met with calm, but also warned that if the situation in Gaza escalates, the IDF will severely hit Hamas and launch a significant operation in the Strip.

The sentiments appeared to be in action in the field Friday and no IDF retaliation to rocket fire was reported.

Howver, there was significant troop movement toward the Gaza border Thursday night which including extra rockets for Iron Dome that would be needed to protect Israeli cities in the case of a military operation in Gaza.

The Director of the Eshkol Regional Council, Chaim Yelin responded to the rocket fire saying, “Since the talk of a cease fire began, six rockets have exploded in the Eshkol Region. I call on the Security Cabinet to stop the rocket fire, no with words, but with action. The residents of the Eshkol region also deserve a peaceful Shabbat.”

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman slammed the reports of a looming ceasefire as he visited the rocket-battered town of Sderot. Lieberman said that “I object to this move, we are making a serious mistake. The message that ‘calm will be met with calm’ is misleading.

“We need to put our hands on those supporting and encouraging terror, this includes (Hamas leaders) Khaled Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh. They need to know they are a target.”

Lieberman explained his position by decrying Hamas, saying “while we talk about a ceasefire, Hamas continues to develop missiles that can reach Tel Aviv. All we are doing is postponing the problem and not finding a solution. This is not the answer we need to be giving Hamas.”

Gaza rockets hit deeper, but Israel still limiting its response | The Times of Israel.

17:46 – Gaza rocket strikes Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak damaging buildings

17:22 – 2 more rocket volleys

Despite talk of ceasefire, Iron Dome intercepts Kassams aimed at Ofakim and Netivot Friday afternoon, the farthest-reaching attacks in recent days

Hamas wins this round | Daniel Nisman | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

At the time of writing, a destabilizing conflagration in the Gaza Strip appears to have been narrowly diverted. Unless Israel is readying a surprise attack (as it has done in the past), Hamas is set to accept Jerusalem’s offer to cease rocket fire within 48 hours. As P.M. Netanyahu stated yesterday in an all-too-familiar fashion: “Calm will be met with calm, fire will be met with fire.”

The scales have tipped dramatically in Hamas’s favor this week, and there may be very little that its rivals in Israel or the Palestinian Authority can do about it. Just four days ago, international sympathy for Israel was at its highest level in years after the bodies of three kidnapped teens were uncovered in a Hebron-area field. These gruesome murders, likely carried out by a rogue Hamas cell, drew fierce condemnation from nearly every western leader. In the media, the human aspect of an Israeli society struggling to survive in a tough neighborhood has never received so much attention.

Had it not been for an equally-gruesome (yet unsolved) murder of a Jerusalem-area Palestinian boy hours after the three Israeli teens were buried, Israel would have been free to respond to Hamas in a time, place, and manner of its choosing. At the time, the majority of the Israeli cabinet was against launching a broad operation in Hamas-controlled Gaza. Instead, they were keen on settling for a campaign to clean up Hamas’s remaining infrastructure in the West Bank, and then sitting back and watching as the Palestinian unity agreement disintegrated over Fatah’s continued cooperation with Israel. The night after the bodies of the three teens were recovered witnessed a notable reduction in rocket fire, in line with statements of a fearful Hamas leadership claiming that they did not seek an escalation.

Hamas has since become emboldened, exploiting the outrage over the Jerusalem murder to present itself as the only entity sticking up for the Palestinians against the occupation, while a suddenly-silent Fatah reels from criticism from its internationally-lauded security cooperation with Israel. Rocket fire has increased to levels not seen since Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, albeit to limited ranges as to not hand international legitimacy back over to Israel.  With East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and parts of Israel’s Arab sector on the cusp of a third intifada, Israel’s room to maneuver against Hamas is shrinking rapidly.

At this critical juncture, there are now two scenarios which could play out, each arguably in Hamas’s favor.

Ceasefire in Gaza goes into effect

If the said Egyptian-mediated ceasefire goes into effect, the political benefits for Hamas will be numerous. The group will be able to claim that its threats held back an Israeli operation in Gaza, while maintaining its street credibility amongst an increasingly angry West Bank population, particularly among the youth. Israel, meanwhile, would be left to its own devices to calm the situation in the West Bank. The IDF would be unable to touch the Hamas leadership in Gaza, which is sure to continue efforts to foment unrest in the West Bank and drive a wedge into cooperation between the President Abbas’s security forces and Israel.

Meanwhile, Hamas will have had succeeded in easing its crippling isolation in the Arab World by forcing Egypt back to the negotiating table for the first time in nearly a year. As part of Egypt’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, it severed all relations with Hamas, while cutting off its economic lifeline by closing the Rafah border crossing and demolishing the tunnels below it. As part of this ceasefire, it is reasonable to assume that Hamas was able to reclaim its status in Cairo as the sole negotiating partner in Gaza, which enables it to secure other concessions, including an easing of restrictions at the Rafah crossing.

Ceasefire in Gaza fails to materialize

If the speculated ceasefire either fails to materialize or collapses shortly after (and there are plenty of reasons why it will), Israel will be faced with the choice of continuing with its measured nightly responses or launching an operation on the scale of Operation Pillar of Defense or bigger. Jerusalem knows full well that popular discontent will rise rapidly if residents in the south are forced to spend their summer in bomb shelters, making a major operation to reset Israel’s deterrence inevitable as long as rocket fire persists.  A major operation in Gaza will further enflame the West Bank and areas in northern Israel, making it even more difficult for President Abbas to justify cooperation with Israel domestically. Even though Hamas will suffer major losses, it will still able to boost its military image by launching what will likely be an even greater number of rockets at into central Israeli cities, than in previous rounds. The “surprises” threatened by Hamas on July 3 may also include incursions into southern Israeli communities through tunnels, also scoring the group even more street credibility.

Israel’s dilemma

The IDF’s top brass and numerous other security officials have warned about a major operation in Gaza given the tension in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, but current regional realities add further consequences to attacking Gaza. Despite the danger faced by residents in the south, P.M. Netanyahu and the IDF view Gaza as a nuisance, detracting from efforts to quell larger regional threats, particularly Iran’s nuclear program. To make matters worse, the leaderships of Egypt and Jordan, whose cooperation with Israel is at a high-point, would be faced with fierce domestic criticism which could lead to a strain in relations at the worst possible time, given shared security threats posed by jihadists in the region.

But while Hamas may gain from the current instability in the short-term, it still faces existential political threats which are unlikely to be solved through violence. The group’s real beef with Fatah lies in the latter’s refusal to pay salaries to 40,000 Hamas government employees in Gaza, along with numerous other accusations of violations of the reconciliation agreement. Hamas’ only real option is to keep using violence in both Gaza and the West Bank as leverage against President Abbas,  Israel, and Egypt to deter them from further marginalizing the Islamist group through military or political means.

Into the Fray: ‘Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war’ | JPost | Israel News.

By MARTIN SHERMAN

07/03/2014 22:44

By adhering to a policy of avoiding confrontations which Israel can win, the government risks leading it into one in which it might lose. It is time for a bold new offensive – before we are overtaken by events.

The triple murder of the abducted teenagers, together with the shower of rockets on the South, should have driven that point home, even for the most obdurate devotee of what, perversely, has become known as the “peace process.”

Cavalcade of counterproductive concessions

Over the last half decade, the Netanyahu government has made a series of humiliating and hazardous concessions in an ill-advised and ill-fated attempt to sustain an unworkable process and an egregious endeavor to curry favor with an innately inimical US administration.

Predictably, this has produced nothing but further demands for even more hazardous and humiliating concessions.

The cavalcade of counter-productive climb-downs began shortly after Binyamin Netanyahu’s return to power in 2009, when he reneged on his election pledges and accepted the idea of a Palestinian state.

This ideological capitulation dramatically transformed the debate on Palestinian statehood from whether there should be a Palestinian state, to what the characteristics of that state should be. It was followed in November 2009 by acquiescence to an unprecedented 10-month construction freeze in the hope of coaxing the Palestinians into negotiations. The only response this elicited – and only as it was just about to expire – was a demand for it to be extended.

Then, in 2012, in stark contradiction to Netanyahu’s publicly professed principle of resolute refusal to bow to demands from terrorists (which in large measure brought him much of his initial public prominence), he bowed to the Hamas conditions, releasing over 1,000 convicted terrorists in exchange for a single IDF soldier, Gilad Schalit. This was something so abjectly compliant that even his predecessor, the wildly accommodative Ehud Olmert, had resisted such an exchange.

By so doing, in a stroke Netanyahu made a mockery of his own defiant doctrine which had deemed concessions to terrorists counterproductive.

Counterproductive cavalcade (cont.)

Israel was soon to reap the bitter fruits of its misplaced “largesse” with the brutal murder this April of Baruch Mizrahi, a father of five, at the hands of a terrorist freed in the Schalit deal.

Then in 2013 came the demeaning apology to the vehemently anti-Israeli Turkish premier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for the action of Israeli commandos, who were defending themselves against a frenzied lynch mob aboard a Turkish vessel trying to violate a lawful maritime quarantine of the terrorist enclave of Gaza. Again, the apology was made despite strident assurances that they would not be given. Worse, Israel conceded to the payment of compensation to families of the assailants, killed or maimed during their attempts to disembowel the IDF combatants. The only tangible result of this undignified expression of contrition has been continued anti-Israel invective from Erdogan and undignified wrangling over the level of compensation.

Perhaps the most egregious act of all came later that year – wholesale scores of convicted terrorists were released to coax the Palestinians into agreeing to reenter negotiations, which they should have had a greater interest in conducting than Israel did. This gesture once again proved futile, with Israel being blamed for the failure of the talks and Mahmoud Abbas setting up a unity government with Hamas.

The fatal futility of Palestinian-peace paradigm

The fundamental reason for this depressing chain of futility is desperate adherence to a notion that some form of consensual peace deal can be struck between Israel, as the nation-state of the Jews, and the Palestinian Arabs, who seek to become self-governing.

The procession of one failed Israeli gesture after the other is a consequence of our refusal to discard the disproved paradigm of land-for-peace and the two-state principle that derives from it.

We were only able to keep the “process” from collapsing and maintain false hope that one day it might bear fruit by consenting to increasingly far-reaching concessions.

Just how far Israeli positions have been eroded can be judged from the content of Yitzhak Rabin’s last address to the Knesset in 1995, when he sought ratification for the Oslo II Accords. The Palestinian demands, which were then considered by many in Israel as excessive to an almost treasonous degree, would today evoke right-wing opposition that others would characterize as unreasonable and unrealistic “rejectionism.”

The refusal to acknowledge the futility of such efforts to reach a durable peace accord has had a calamitous effect on both Israeli and Palestinian perspectives on policy options/imperatives that Israel can/must undertake.

Degrading deterrence

This policy has, in effect, precluded any prospect of inflicting strategic defeat on the Palestinians – (see my “Redefining (failure as) victory,” January 3, 2013) – since it would, in all likelihood, terminate any chance of sustaining the “peace process,” and subject Israel to international censure .

However, as Palestinians sense Israeli reticence, it stiffens their political demands and emboldens them to persist in operations of armed attrition, secure in the knowledge that they will not be subjected to unacceptable losses.

Accordingly in 2012, despite the impressive display of the IDF’s military prowess, Operation Pillar of Defense was terminated prematurely – leaving Hamas with what could be portrayed – not unconvincingly – as a strategic victory, gaining them enhanced international standing, and winning important concessions for its farmers and fisherman. (The subsequent degradation of Hamas’s strength had little to do with Israeli policy and much to do with that of Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.) The continued bombardment of the South from Gaza makes a mockery of any claim that Hamas and/or its radical spin-offs have been deterred by previous Israeli military operations. Yes, like Hezbollah in the North, it has been perhaps forced to regroup, redeploy and rearm – but clearly its will to engage remains undiminished and its operational capabilities has been greatly enhanced.

Tactical containment vs strategic victory

After all, the capabilities of the weaponry at its disposal have increased dramatically. Thus, while earlier the range of the Palestinian rockets was barely 5 km., and the explosive charge they carried weighed about 5 kg., today their missiles have a range of 75 km. and warheads of 90 kg.

Not too long ago, if anyone dared to predict that greater Tel Aviv and Jerusalem would be in danger from missiles launched from Gaza, he would have been dismissed with disdain. However, now that the unthinkable has occurred, it is time for a radical reassessment of the policy paradigms Israel has tethered itself to for far too long.

The nation has bound its military to a doctrine of tactical containment rather than of strategic victory. This is no longer a viable approach – neither operationally, nor intellectually.

Indeed, the continued shelling in the South underscores the Palestinians’ undiminished determination to harm Israelis, which remains largely unimpaired. There is also the recently revealed information that they initiated dozens of abduction attempts, all of which were foiled – until inevitably one was not.

Clearly, then, if Israel cannot effectively impact the Palestinians’ motivation and dissuade them from hostile activities that endanger the lives and limbs of Israelis, the government is duty bound to protect its citizens by curtailing the enemy’s ability to achieve their goals.

In other words, we must inflict strategic defeat, and impose strategic surrender, on the Palestinians – which implies taking control of the territories where the attacks are planned, prepared and perpetrated.

The perilous path of ‘conflict management’

To achieve this, we must forsake the vain hope of ever reaching an agreed and lasting peace with some Palestinian partner in exchange for any configuration of territorial concessions.

This clearly requires a sharp discontinuity in the mindset of the Israeli leadership, for even those skeptical about the land-for-peace principle and Palestinian sincerity/ability to conclude a durable peace agreement subscribe to the concept of “conflict management” instead of “conflict resolution.”

This is a perilous path to tread as the dramatic erosion of Israeli positions and the equally dramatic enhancement of Palestinian capabilities, discussed previously, vividly illustrate.

Indeed, with tumultuous convulsions engulfing the Mideast and pushing ever closer to Israel’s borders, old assumptions as to alleged allies and alliances are no longer relevant. These developments make any agreement concluded with any Palestinian totally meaningless.

For as I pointed out last week, even under wildly optimistic assumptions that some Palestinian partner were found who could conclude an acceptable accord with Israel, and even if he had the requisite authority to implement its terms, and the requisite sincerity not to renege on them, and even if he were not replaced by some more radical successor who would repudiate the accord, external forces in the region could render it worthless.

A micro-mini demilitarized Palestinian state will be a flimsy foil indeed between Israel and an Islamic State-controlled regime in Jordan.

Will abduction prove a transformative event?

By adhering to a policy of avoiding confrontations which Israel can win, the government risks leading it into one which it might lose.

This cannot and must not continue. What is needed is a proactive initiative to preempt the emerging perils before they descend upon us. In this regard, the government must resign itself to the unpalatable fact that Israel is unlikely to win international affection. The most we can realistically hope for is to be grudgingly respected; the least it must unequivocally ensure is to be greatly feared.

Undoubtedly, for such a drastic metamorphosis in the perceptions and policy preferences of Israeli leadership, some sort of dramatic transformative event is required.

It is still too early to assess whether the abduction and murder of the three Israeli teens will become such an event. There are, however, increasing signs that it has ignited considerable public outrage and anger, and is precipitating a perceptible stiffening of public attitudes toward the Palestinians, and impatience toward the government – and what is increasingly seen as its ineffectual impotence.

It is time for a bold new offensive – before we are overtaken by events. If the tragic deaths of Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-Ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah act as a catalyst to galvanize the public into compelling the government into effective action, their murders may well come to symbolize a turning point in the salvation of the nation.

‘Cry “havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war…’

The government must seize the moment and act in the spirit of the call by Mark Anthony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. With much of the Arab world in disarray and enmeshed in internal turmoil, Israel must:

1. Disavow the “peace process,” disengage from contacts with the Palestinians as a national collective, and declare them to be what they themselves declare themselves to be: An implacable enemy of the Zionist entity.

2. Launch a $1 billion strategic public diplomacy offensive (1 percent of the state budget), focusing on delegitimizing the Palestinian narrative and highlighting the depravities of the Arab world, in general, and of Palestinian society, in particular, while contrasting them with the moral merits and scientific, technological and other accomplishments of Israel.

3. Coercively dismantle and disarm the Palestinian security forces.

4. Refrain from any support for the unsustainable Palestinian economy, withhold any services hitherto rendered to it and allow it to collapse, as it inevitably will.

5. Offer generous relocation grants to any individual Palestinians wishing to extricate themselves from the hardships that will inevitably result from the forgoing measures and build a better life for himself/his family in a third party country of their choice.

In weighing the implementation of this program, Israelis should bear in mind: If you will it, it is no fantasy.

Martin Sherman (www.martinsherman.org) is the founder and executive director of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies. (www.strategic-israel.org)

5 more rockets, 2 mortar shells, fired from Gaza on Friday | The Times of Israel.

Iron Dome intercepts one rocket; Israel issues 48-hour ultimatum to Hamas to halt attacks or face massive strike

By Marissa Newman and Times of Israel staff July 4, 2014, 6:01 am Updated: July 4, 2014, 1:30 pm

Rockets launched out of Gaza at a southern Israeli town. (photo credit: Yossi Zamir/Flash90/File)

Despite talk of an imminent ceasefire, rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza into Israel Friday morning.

Sirens wailed in Israel’s southern city of Sderot, the Eshkol Region, Sdot Negev and the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council warning of incoming rocket fire from Gaza early in the morning. Five rockets were launched at Israel, with one landing in Palestinian territory. The Iron Dome intercepted another. No injuries or damage were reported as the projectiles struck open areas.

In addition, two mortar shells from Gaza exploded near the Eshkol regional council buildings. No injuries or damage were reported.

IDF forces fired on suspected launch sites in response.

The new salvo Friday comes after over 15 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip Thursday evening, leaving one soldier lightly injured. As the southern border continued to heat up Thursday, with intermittent rocket fire striking southern Israel, residents were advised to stay within 15 seconds of bomb shelters.

Israel on Thursday reportedly issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Hamas in Gaza to halt the incessant fire or face a massive Israeli strike. The ultimatum was conveyed to Hamas leaders via Egyptian intelligence, they said.

An hour before the evening rocket barrage, Hamas said that in the event of an escalation, Israel would “be surprised” by its rocket arsenal and range.

“We promise that one stupid move your leaders make will constitute sufficient ground to turn all of your towns, even those you wouldn’t expect, into targets and burning cinders,” said Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing. Israel may initiate the escalation, “but it doesn’t know how it will continue and how it will end,” he said.

“The threats the occupiers issue, and the allusions to war against Gaza, are threats that have no meaning in our dictionaries, other than drawing the hour of vengeance and difficult lesson-learning closer,” Ubaida added.

He said that Israel’s move to rearrest — during an 18-day operation to find three kidnapped Israeli teens (their bodies were found in the West Bank earlier this week) — prisoners released during the 2011 swap for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit “crossed a line and we won’t be silent about it.”

The IDF beefed up its ground forces around the Gaza Strip on Thursday, as tensions continued to rise along the southern border region; and in East Jerusalem, where the recent killing of a Muslim teenager, in an alleged revenge attack over the killings of the Israeli teens, triggered widespread riots on Wednesday.

But the move came in conjunction with unusually soothing messages from the army. “We want to deescalate the situation and restore calm,” said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, who described the deployment as defensive in nature.

The region has been increasingly tense since the June 12 kidnapping of the three Israeli teens and the onset of the holy month of Ramadan.

Hamas, which has apparently taken part in the rocket fire recently for the first time since 2012, failed in its attempt to kidnap and trade the Israeli youths for Palestinian prisoners, Lerner said, and therefore has been “pushed into a corner.”

In the West Bank, he added, the army’s current strategy comprises three main components: finding those responsible for the killing of Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Shaar, and Naftali Fraenkel; finding those who killed Muhammed Abu Khdeir, the 16-year-old youth who was abducted from his hometown of Beit Hanina on Wednesday; and avoiding violence on the first Friday of Ramadan.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, in advance of Friday’s mass prayer gatherings, has instructed all Central Command troops to “limit points of friction,” Lerner said.

Israel’s cabinet, meanwhile, has remained mum on possible anti-Hamas operations in the wake of the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teens by Hebron-based Hamas members.

Whether or not a larger IDF operation is imminent, the build-up is a message to Hamas — under pressure from the shuttering of its border with Egypt, a multi-year siege on its Israeli border and a collapsing economy in the Strip — that escalation could spell significant damage for Gaza and its rulers.

Rocket fire from Gaza damaged two buildings in Sderot on Thursday morning. No injuries were reported. One of the rockets hit the side of a building that houses a preschool, but did not explode. The area was closed off to passersby, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld tweeted on Thursday morning, as police sappers removed the unexploded warhead.

Israel’s Iron Dome system shot down two rockets fired from Gaza in the direction of the southern town of Netivot early Thursday morning.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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Lieberman: Ceasefire with Hamas is a mistake – Israel News, Ynetnews.

( I’m at a loss to explain how the government can ignore the unanswerable logic here. – JW )

‘While we talk about a ceasefire, Hamas continues to develop missiles that can reach Tel Aviv. All we are doing is postponing the problem and not finding a solution,’ foreign minister says of reported ceasefire deal.

Matan Tzuri

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman slammed reports of a looming ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Visiting the rocket-battered town of Sderot, Lieberman said that “I object to this move, we are making a serious mistake. The message that ‘calm will be met with calm’ is a misled.

“We need to put our hands on those supporting and encouraging terror, this includes (Hamas leaders) Khaled Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh. They need to know they are a target.”

Lieberman explained his position by decrying Hamas, saying “while we talk about a ceasefire, Hamas continues to develop missiles that can reach Tel Aviv. All we are doing is postponing the problem and not finding a solution. This is not the answer we need to be giving Hamas. “

Earlier Friday, the BBC reported that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire agreement that would put an end to the recent escalation in southern Israel, citing an unnamed source in Hamas.

The news came after tense days that saw over 40 rockets hit Israel, with some hitting residential homes in Sderot and the military returning fire at Gaza.

However, late Wednesday Israel reportedly reached out to Hamas through informal channels, passing on a message according to which calm will be met with calm. Breaking with policy, the IDF has refrained from responding to two additional rockets fired Thrusday morning.

According to the BBC, a source within Hamas claimed a truce had been reached and said it was brokered by Egyptian intelligence officials.

The source told the BBC that “intensive contacts” between Egyptian officials and Hamas the group and Egyptian officials have “succeeded in reaching a new truce between Hamas and Israel, and that the ceasefire agreement was to be announced within hours.”

According to the report, Hamas would halt rocket fire in return for a commitment from Israel it would halt IDF raids.

A senior political official told Ynet that if it wasn’t for Ramadan, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could have taken place sooner, he added that the current round of violence would end shortly.

A security official told Ynet that “the ball is now in Hamas’ court; we informed Hamas that calm will be met with calm and if there would be no calm, they will pay a heavy price.

“The message is very clear and it was delivered unequivocally. If Hamas have decided on a one-sided ceasefire, than all the better.”

IAF attacks in Gaza (Photo: AP)

 Egypt has at many times served as an intermediary in the region, both between Israel and Hamas, and between Hamas and Fatah. Egypt was instrumental in securing the ceasefire which put an end to Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012, as well as working to transfer Sgt. Gilad Shalit from Hamas’ captivity in Gaza to Israel as part of a prisoner exchange deal.

It also aided in the original formulation of the Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah which eventually led to the formation of a unity government.

IDF fires into Gaza following continued rocket barrage | JPost | Israel News.

16:01  Code red siren blares in Eshkol; rocket fired at IDF forces hits open area

By JPOST.COM STAFF

LAST UPDATED: 07/04/2014 13:00

Despite reports from Hamas that a ceasefire will be announced soon, rockets continue to fall in southern Israel; Netanyahu threatens IDF will act “if quiet in the region was not restored.”

IDF artillery fired into the Gaza Strip on Friday following a continued barrage of rocket-fire despite media reports that Hamas officials have claimed they support a ceasefire with Israel which Egyptian intelligence officials were attempting to broker.will act with power

Four rockets have exploded in southern Israel since Friday morning while another was intercepted by Iron Dome batteries. Two more mortar shells reportedly exploded in open fields according to media reports.

Following days of rocket fire and retaliatory strikes by the iDF, the BBC quoted a Hamas sources as saying a truce had been brokered, a claim that Israel has not confirmed.

The IDF deployed troops on the Gaza border amid the escalation, as some 40 rockets hit Israel on Thursday and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had warned earlier on Thursday evening that if quiet in the region was not restored, the beefed-up IDF units amassed there will act “with power.”

IDF officials have maintained that the forces were in place to defend residents of the South and that there stance is, “quiet will be answered with quiet.”

Over 40 rockets and mortar shells have landed in southern Israel since early Thursday, including two direct hits on residential buildings in Sderot.

On Friday three more rockets landed in open fields near Sderot and Eshkol while a third was shot down by Iron Dome batteries. The Code Red siren was heard again on Friday afternoon.

On Thursday demonstrators gathered on the edge of Sderot and called for strong military action against Gaza.

Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.

US declines to meet Iran ‘half way’ in final diplomatic push over nuclear crisis | JPost | Israel News.

By MICHAEL WILNER

07/04/2014 01:24

World powers offered Iran “multiple pathways” to end nuclear impasse, US says; deadline for comprehensive deal is July 20.

WASHINGTON – Fewer than three weeks remain for the world’s most weathered diplomats to forge a comprehensive deal with Tehran over its nuclear program, a fact on the minds of all present in Vienna on Thursday, as high-level negotiations resumed.

Delegations from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany – formally known as the P5+1 powers – arrived in Vienna at the beginning of July and will effectively set up camp in the Austrian capital until July 20, a self-imposed deadline for the parties to reach a deal, extend the talks, or go home.

US officials say they are focused solely on the July 20 deadline, though an extension of the talks would likely require a separate negotiation.

An extension, too, would introduce new politics and personalities: two delegates at the table, US Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton are set to leave office in the autumn. And the congressional midterm elections in the US, with control of the Senate at stake, could complicate Washington’s ability to compromise.

Speaking to reporters by phone from the summit, a senior US administration official said that negotiators had agreed an extension of only a few days might be necessary, but that “all eyes” are on the deadline.

Western powers offered “multiple pathways” to Iran to end the nuclear impasse, the official said, adding that the time has come for Iran to choose one of them.

“One can put together different packages” of elements that will prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring a nuclear weapon, the official said. “The facts are that we are putting down very reasonable positions.”

Nevertheless, the P5+1 powers remain unsatisfied with the degree to which Tehran appears ready to compromise, on virtually every issue before them, ranging from an acceptable cap on uranium enrichment to oversight of research and development, to the degree and pace with which the West should lift sanctions on Iran, and just how long a deal should last.

“Iran has reduced the number of centrifuges it wants but the number is still unacceptably high,” one Western diplomat said on Wednesday, without further detail.

Foreign policy leaders on Capitol Hill, both Democrat and Republican, have suggested a comprehensive plan of action last for 20 years or more. And the Israeli government, preparing a response to the possible announcement of a deal this month, is still calling for the complete dismantling and removal of all materials concerned within Iran’s vast nuclear infrastructure.

“We’re certainly familiar with Israel’s concerns,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday. “We remain in touch with them and have done a range of briefings.”

“No deal is better than a bad deal,” Psaki reiterated. “That’s something that remains the case and remains the bar. But we also believe that this is a process that could lead to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, which we feel is in the interests of all countries, including Israel.”

But pushing back against Western demands – and rhetoric – entering the final stage, Iran’s chief negotiator and foreign minister, Javad Zarif, warned the United States against engaging in brinkmanship at the negotiating table.

“As we approach July 20, I feel compelled to warn again that pursuing a game of chicken in an attempt to extract last-minute concessions cannot achieve anything,” Zarif said in a You-Tube message, released shortly after US Secretary of State John Kerry published an op-ed on the negotiations in The Washington Post.

“We are trying to reach a deal: not a good deal, or a bad deal, but a doable and lasting deal,” Zarif continued. “And any deal by definition is the outcome of mutual understanding, not imposition by one side or another.”

On the call with journalists, the senior official rejected Zarif’s characterization of the fundamental nature of the talks: the United States would not meet Iran “half way,” she said, as it is the Islamic Republic that is out of step with longstanding international obligations.

“All we are asking is that Iran come in line with its responsibilities after years of not doing so,” the official said. “This is not a mediation.”

In his op-ed, Kerry – who may fly to Vienna should the talks intensify – said time was running out for Iran to demonstrate its stated intent to deal.

“Their public optimism about the potential outcome of these negotiations has not been matched, to date, by the positions they have articulated behind closed doors,” Kerry wrote.

In his video message, Zarif also accused a US-led financial sanctions regime of literally killing his country’s cancer patients, prohibiting the transfer of medical equipment into Iran. The “unnecessary crisis” over the nuclear program, he added, “has distracted us from addressing together our common challenges, such as the horrifying events in the last few weeks in Iraq.”

Reflecting the conflation of the crises from a Washington perspective, Psaki suggested on Wednesday that the transfer or sale of aircraft and arms to Baghdad from Tehran, if confirmed, would constitute a violation of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran. The transfer, however, has not been independently confirmed.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Minister Says Gaza Operation is ‘Inevitable’ – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva.

Yuval Steinitz

The IDF is continuing preparations for a possible extensive operation in Gaza, Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz stated Friday – remarking that such an operation is inevitable.

“Gaza is, indeed, growing an army with artillery,” Steinitz stated on IDF Radio‘s “Good Morning Israel” show.

“We should try to choose the timing [of an operation] and not have our enemies choose the timing,” added Steinitz.

Roughly 40 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel over the past few days, pummeling Israelis in the Eshkol and Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council areas.

Israel delivered an ultimatum to Hamas on Thursday to stop the rocket fire from Gaza within 48 hours, or deal with an Israeli attack on Gaza.

However, Hamas declared late Thursday that they are “not afraid” of retaliation, even as a Hamas source reportedly told the BBC on Friday that a cease-fire would be declared “within hours” following negotiations with Egyptian mediators.

That report aired roughly the same time that another five rockets peppered southern Israel, despite the IDF ultimatum.

Over 15 rockets and roughly as many mortar shells rained in on Israel Thursday afternoon, causing two fires – one in the Sderot industrial area – and damaging several homes. The mortars inflicted mild wounds on an IDF soldier, who took shrapnel to the leg.

Earlier on Thursday, Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon and Finance Minister Yair Lapid visited the rocket-battered city of Sderot, where Lapid said “no sane country” would accept such a situation, and Danon called on the government to “do whatever it takes to destroy the Hamas organization.”

Through Egypt, Hamas and Israel come close to cease-fire | The Times of Israel.

( So they murder our kids and fire 100 rockets which destroy a  factory, damage homes, and injure a soldier.  This is the “quiet” upon which Israel decides not to respond – Leaving Hamas and its arsenal of rockets free to continue to threaten our people.  What a VICTORY ! – JW )

Agreement that ‘quiet will be met with quiet’ near approval by both sides

By Avi Issacharoff and Lazar Berman July 4, 2014, 9:17 am

Abu Ubeida (right), the official spokesperson of the Palestinian militant group Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade, the armed wing of Hamas, at a press conference on July 3, 2014, in Gaza City (photo credit: AFP/Mohammed Abed)

A ceasefire is set to be declared between Israel and Hamas, Egyptian and Palestinian sources confirmed to the Times of Israel, but the exact timing has yet to be set.

The truce was mediated by Egyptian intelligence officials, as has been the norm in similar negotiations in the past.

According to the sources, the understanding that the Egyptians reached with Israel and Hamas is that “quiet will met with quiet.”

“Neither side is interested in an escalation,” the sources told the Times of Israel.

The sources also reported that the Egyptians passed messages from Israel to the deputy head of Hamas’s political desk, Mousa Abu Marzouk, based in Cairo.

Commentators in Gaza attributed the escalation in rocket fire over the past 48 hours to the feeling in Hamas that Israel is looking to avoid a fight, and that a cease-fire is impending.

According to the commentators, Hamas is trying to achieve a public relations victory in the eyes of the Gaza public, to be seen as unafraid of an escalation. But, they said, Hamas is itself uninterested in a deterioration into a larger conflict.

The report comes as five more rockets from Gaza were fired at Israel early Friday morning. One landed in Palestinian territory. The Iron Dome intercepted another.

No injuries or damage were reported as the projectiles struck open areas.

The new salvo Friday comes after over 15 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip Thursday evening, leaving one soldier lightly injured. As the southern border continued to heat up Thursday, with intermittent rocket fire striking southern Israel, residents were advised to stay within 15 seconds of bomb shelters.

Israel on Thursday reportedly issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Hamas in Gaza  to halt the incessant fire or face a massive Israeli strike. The ultimatum was conveyed to Hamas leaders via Egyptian intelligence, they said.

An hour before the evening rocket barrage, Hamas said that in the event of an escalation, Israel would “be surprised” by its rocket arsenal and range.

“We promise that one stupid move your leaders make will constitute sufficient ground to turn all of your towns, even those you wouldn’t expect, into targets and burning cinders,” said Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing. Israel may initiate the escalation, “but it doesn’t know how it will continue and how it will end,” he said.

“The threats the occupiers issue, and the allusions to war against Gaza, are threats that have no meaning in our dictionaries, other than drawing the hour of vengeance and difficult lesson-learning closer,” Ubaida added.

He said that Israel’s move to rearrest — during an 18-day operation to find three kidnapped Israeli teens (their bodies were found in the West Bank earlier this week) — prisoners released during the 2011 swap for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit “crossed a line and we won’t be silent about it.”

The IDF beefed up its ground forces around the Gaza Strip on Thursday, as tensions continued to rise along the southern border region; and in East Jerusalem, where the recent killing of a Muslim teenager, in an alleged revenge attack over the killings of the Israeli teens, triggered widespread riots on Wednesday.

But the move came in conjunction with unusually soothing messages from the army. “We want to deescalate the situation and restore calm,” said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, who described the deployment as defensive in nature.

The region has been increasingly tense since the June 12 kidnapping of the three Israeli teens and the onset of the holy month of Ramadan.

Hamas, which has apparently taken part in the rocket fire recently for the first time since 2012, failed in its attempt to kidnap and trade the Israeli teens for Palestinian prisoners, Lerner said, and therefore has been “pushed into a corner.”

In the West Bank, he added, the army’s current strategy comprises three main components: finding those responsible for the killing of Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Shaar, and Naftali Fraenkel; finding those who killed Muhammed Abu Khdeir, the 16-year-old boy who was abducted from his hometown of Beit Hanina on Wednesday; and avoiding violence on the first Friday of Ramadan.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, in advance of Friday’s mass prayer gatherings, has instructed all Central Command troops to “limit points of friction,” Lerner said.

Israel’s cabinet, meanwhile, has remained mum on possible anti-Hamas operations in the wake of the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teens by Hebron-based Hamas members.

Marissa Newman and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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