WarSclerotic

Some 9,000 Palestinians rioted near the Israel-Gaza ‎Strip border on Friday, setting tires on fire and ‎throwing firebombs and explosives at Israeli troops, ‎which responded with crowd control measures and ‎sporadic live fire. ‎

Gaza’s Health Ministry said two people, including ‎‎a paramedic, were killed by Israeli fire ‎‎near the border. According to Palestinian media ‎‎reports 70 people were wounded in border clashes ‎‎Friday.‎

The clash came as Hamas and Israel appeared to be ‎honoring a truce that ended two days of intense ‎violence last week, amid efforts by neighboring ‎Egypt to negotiate a long-term cease-fire between ‎the two parties. ‎

Incendiary kites and balloons sent over the Gaza ‎border into Israel as part of the Palestinians’ ‎arson campaign sparked 14 fires over the weekend. ‎One balloon hit a power line in Kibbutz Sufa, about ‎‎1.5 miles for Gaza, causing a power outage in the ‎area for several hours.‎

So far, some 10,000 acres of forest and farmland have been reduced to ash by the Palestinians’ three-month arson terrorism campaign. Environmental experts say it would take some 15 years to rehabilitate the damage caused to the area.

The Israeli Air Force struck a terrorist cell ‎gearing up to send incendiary balloons over the ‎border and IDF tanks shelled several Hamas positions ‎in response to the weekend’s violence. ‎

Yehoshua Yosef

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted in closed-‎doors meeting last week that he had no intention of ‎going to war over incendiary kites. He explained ‎that while Israel will mount the proper response to ‎any escalation on the Gaza border, its main focus ‎must remain the Iranian threat, especially the ‎Islamic republic’s attempts to entrench itself ‎military in Syria.‎

Several Diplomatic-Security Cabinet members, ‎however, said ‎over the weekend that another conflict ‎between ‎Israel and Hamas was just a matter of time.‎

They noted that the restraint ‎the IDF has shown in ‎dealing with the flare-ups in ‎violence over the past ‎few weeks has eroded Israeli deterrence opposite ‎‎Hamas, leading the Islamist terrorist group to ‎believe Israel was willing to tolerate rocket fire ‎on its south. ‎

A wide-scale military campaign in Gaza may prove ‎necessary to regenerate deterrence vis-à-vis Hamas ‎and the other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, ‎they said. ‎

On Saturday evening, hundreds of Gaza-vicinity ‎communities’ residents demonstrated in Tel Aviv ‎against what they called the government’s failure to ‎deal with the security situation on the border. ‎

Protested waved signs reading, “Security is a basic ‎right,” “I have no other country,” “We’re not cannon ‎fodder,” and “No truce when the south is on fire.”‎

At some point, demonstrators released a few kites to ‎which fireworks were attached. Later, they played a ‎recording of the Color Red rocket warning alert and ‎laid face down on the road, temporarily blocking ‎traffic in one of the city’s major intersections.‎

‎”We’re tired of feeling like third-class citizens,” ‎said Odelia Ben-Yakir of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, 1 mile ‎from the Gaza Strip. ‎

‎”We’re tired of the government not managing this ‎situation and being dragged along by Hamas. It’s ‎unthinkable that we’re letting a terrorist group run ‎things,” she said.