WarSclerotic

Source: Hamas says Gaza cease-fire reached; Israel denies claim – Israel Hayom

Israel on Friday denied claims by Hamas, the ‎terrorist organization ruling the Gaza Strip, that a ‎cease-fire has been reached following aday of near-‎constant fire on Israeli communities near the border ‎and Israeli strikes on Hamas asset in the coastal ‎enclave. ‎

Hamas officials said late Thursday that their truce with Israel came into effect on 11:45 p.m., ending an ‎intense two-‎day burst of violence that had pushed ‎the region ‎closer to war. ‎

Hamas’ Al Aqsa TV reported ‎that the Egyptian-‎brokered deal has taken hold “on ‎the basis of mutual ‎calm.” It said the deal was ‎mediated by Egypt and ‎other unidentified regional ‎players.‎

The Gaza-based Islamic Jihad terrorist group, however, also denied ‎agreeing to a truce with Israel, but nevertheless, the Israel-Gaza Strip border seemed quiet ‎on Friday morning. ‎

During the latest round of violence, the fiercest ‎seen in the sector over the past few weeks, Hamas ‎fired over 180 projectiles at Israeli border-‎adjacent communities and the Israeli Air Force targeted ‎some 150 Hamas positions in Gaza.

Reuters

‎A Thai farm worker in her 20s sustained serious ‎injuries when a rocket struck a packing facility in ‎the Eshkol Regional Council on Thursday morning. ‎Another employee was lightly hurt and at least 20 ‎others were wounded in separate incidents.‎

On Thursday afternoon, a Grad rocket hit an open ‎area in Beersheba, 22 miles from Gaza, triggering ‎sirens in the southern city for the first time since ‎the 2014’s Operation Protective Edge. No injuries or ‎damage were reported in the incident. ‎

Hamas denied firing the rocket at Beersheba, an ‎assertion backed by the IDF. On Thursday evening, ‎Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the ‎incident. ‎

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a special ‎session of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet on ‎Thursday evening to discuss the volatile situation ‎on the border. ‎

The cabinet ordered the military to take unspecified ‎‎”forceful action” ‎against Hamas and the other ‎terrorist groups in Gaza. The IDF has since ‎reinforced ‎the units deployed along the border. with defense officials saying the military was ready for any scenario. ‎

Sources at the Prime Minister’s Office said that ‎Hamas, via Egyptian officials and U.N. Middle East ‎envoy Nickolay Mladenov, had been asking for a cease-fire since Thursday morning, but Israel continued to ‎strike terror targets in Gaza. ‎

Senior Jerusalem officials stressed that Thursday’s ‎operation was not the beginning of a military ‎campaign in Gaza, but rather was meant to deal Hamas ‎a serious blow and generate deterrence. ‎

Israel had Hamas have fought three wars over the ‎past decade, in 2008, 2012 and 2014.‎

Following the rocket fire on Beersheba, the IAF ‎struck a five-story building in northwest Gaza. ‎Gaza’s Health Ministry said 20 people were wounded ‎in the strike on the premises, which housed both a ‎Hamas internal security office and what Palestinian ‎media called “a culture and sciences center.”‎

Hamas denounced the “barbaric” attack as an Israeli ‎attempt to undermine the Egyptian mediation efforts. ‎

Reuters

In a series of tweets, the IDF said, “IAF fighter jets ‎targeted a five-story building in the Rimal ‎neighborhood in northern Gaza. Hamas’ internal ‎security forces used the building for military ‎purposes.‎

‎”Hamas’ internal ‎security unit is responsible for ‎all security operations carried out inside Gaza, and ‎is considered to be an executive branch of Hamas’ ‎political leadership. The building served as the ‎office of active unit members. A significant part of ‎the unit’s members are also Hamas military ‎operatives.”‎

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis told ‎reporters that the military was “determined to ‎restore calm to southern Israel. Hamas is the one ‎pushing for an escalation. We have struck over 150 ‎targets, some highly strategic and important. This ‎policy will intensify until such time as ‎calm is restored.”‎

Manelis stressed that “there is no comparison between ‎the damage we have inflicted on Hamas and the damage ‎it has caused us. The group has sustained hundreds ‎of casualties and it has lost multiple assets, ‎including tunnels. ‎

‎”After four years of preparations, our abilities ‎opposite Gaza are at their peak. If we need to ‎launch a military campaign it will be clear-cut and ‎decisive,” he said. ‎

At the United Nations, Israeli Ambassador Danny ‎‎Danon urged the U.N. Security ‎Council to condemn ‎Hamas militants for what he ‎called “the unprovoked ‎terrorist attack” on southern ‎Israel.‎

The United States State Department issued a ‎‎statement saying it was monitoring the situation in ‎‎Gaza closely. ‎

‎”We’ve been watching this as it has been unfolding, ‎‎and it’s a very concerning situation that has taken ‎‎place in Gaza,” State Department spokeswoman Heather ‎‎Nauert said at a press briefing.‎

‎”Overall, we condemn the launching of missile ‎‎attacks into Israel and call for an end to the ‎‎destructive violence. We’ve seen reports that 180 or ‎‎so rocket attacks have taken place, shot from Gaza ‎‎into Israel, and we fully support Israel’s right to ‎‎defend itself and to take actions to prevent ‎‎provocations of that nature,” she stressed.‎

Pressed by a reporter who insisted that the current ‎‎escalation was not started by Hamas, Nauert replied, ‎‎‎”I’m not going to get into how this thing started. ‎‎Let’s not forget that Hamas bears ultimate ‎‎responsibility for the dire humanitarian situation ‎‎in Gaza. It’s a tremendous concern of ours.”

Leaders of communities beset by Hamas rockets slam government for ceasefire instead of putting a final end to Hamas terror.

Residents who spent two days in bomb shelters want government to secure a permanent end to rocket fire; Sderot leader calls for military operation

By TOI staff Today, 12:44 pm

https://www.timesofisrael.com/southern-mayors-say-gaza-truce-a-mistake-call-for-long-term-solution/

The head of the IDF’s Southern Command Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi, center-left, speaks with Sderot mayor Alon Davidi, center-right, during a visit to the southern town, which was hit repeatedly with rocket fire from the Gaza Strip on August 9, 2018. (Israel Defense Forces)

Another ceasefire after a day of fighting; some are fed up, but there’s little agreement over whether the answer lies with guns or pens

By Joshua Davidovich Today, 11:54 am

https://www.timesofisrael.com/fight-truce-repeat-10-things-to-know-for-august-10/

A picture taken on August 9, 2018, shows people inspecting the rubble of a building targeted by the Israeli Air Force in response to a rocket attack that hit southern Israel earlier in the day on August 9, 2018. (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)

https://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2018/08/09/pollak-if-israel-wants-to-free-palestine-from-hamas-its-now-or-never/

JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty

Terrorist groups in Hamas-controlled Gaza fired 180 rockets into Israel on Wednesday and Thursday, including a long-range rocket that landed near the southern Israeli town of Beersheba.

The Israel Air Force struck back, flattening a Hamas security headquarters.

The international media went into its usual anti-Israel spin mode, describing the violence as “clashes” instead of what it was: an unprovoked attack on civilians by Hamas, which is using the violence to gain diplomatic leverage and convince the world to send money.

Israeli leaders, and the Israeli public, are beyond frustrated — even though the U.S.-funded Iron Dome system has destroyed many of the rockets. Some are calling for Hamas leaders to be targeted. Many want Hamas itself to be crushed once and for all.

If Israel wants to destroy Hamas, and liberate the Gaza Strip from its iron-fisted Islamist rule — now more than a decade old — there will never be a better time. President Donald Trump is the most pro-Israel leader the United States has ever produced, and his team of Middle East negotiators are so frustrated with Palestinian intransigence that they have called for cutting economic aid to Gaza.

If Israel were to undertake a tough ground assault, with Hamas hiding behind civilians in hospitals and in booby-trapped buildings, it would — finally — have a friend in the White House who would withstand international pressure and allow it to fight until victory.

Moreover, Iran, the patron of regional terror, is in the midst of a crippling economic and political crisis. The Iranian regime, tied down in Syria, struggling with a collapsing currency, and facing mass protests in the streets, would hesitate before helping its proxy terror groups in Gaza. It would also be less likely than in the past to open a northern front by using Hezbollah to attack Israel.

The window of opportunity may not last long. Democrats have a good chance of winning back the U.S. House of Representatives in November. If they do, they will bring a new crop of anti-Israel politicians to Washington, along with a new hostility to Israel. Not one Democrat attended the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem earlier this year, and none attended the party at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, to mark the occasion. The party rank-and-file are increasingly drawn to Israel-hating leaders.

One such is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who will likely win New York’s 14th congressional district. She recently complained about the “occupation of Palestine” (despite not being able to explain what it was), and sided with Hamas over Israel in border clashes.

Another is Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American who won the Democratic primary in Michigan’s 13th congressional district on Tuesday. She is close to antisemite Linda Sarsour, and backed Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odea in her bid to avoid deportation.

A House controlled by Nancy Pelosi would make it harder for the Trump administration to support Israel. Republicans could still win, but Israel cannot afford to take that chance. If it wants to “free Palestine” from Hamas, the time may be now — or never.

Source: Israel’s cabinet decides against a new Gaza campaign to halt Hamas rocket aggression – DEBKAfile

Iran, N. Korea continue to share missile tech, capitalizing on Obama-era sanctions loopholes

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho / Getty Image

BY: Adam Kredo Follow @Kredo0
August 9, 2018 3:10 pm

Iran, N. Korea Grow Stockpile of Ballistic Missiles Capable of Striking U.S. Troops, Allies, Israel

Iran and North Korea are growing their stockpile of ballistic missiles, including long-range missiles capable of striking U.S. assets, American allies, and even the continental United States, according to new congressional reports that shine a light on efforts by these rogue nations to advance their military capabilities.

North Korea continues to aid Iran with its advanced ballistic missiles program in defiance of international regulations barring such activity, according to the reports, issued by the Congressional Research Service. This includes an extensive proliferation network and multiple facilities dedicated to constructing short-range, medium-range, and long-range ballistic missiles.

Iran’s missiles, many of which are modeled off North Korean technology, are advanced enough to strike targets throughout the Middle East, including Israel, stoking fears that the next regional war—which many say is imminent—could present Iran an opportunity to show off its newest missile technology.

U.S. officials familiar with the Iranian and North Korean missile programs told the Washington Free Beacon that much of the recent technological progress by these rogue nations is the result of the Obama administration’s efforts to relax international regulations on such activity as part of the landmark nuclear agreement.

In the time since that agreement was reached, Iran has taken significant steps toward building, testing, and improving its ballistic missile technology, including long-range missiles that have been tested under cover of Tehran’s space program.

“The Obama administration gutted the international prohibitions against Iran’s ballistic missile development,” one U.S. official involved in efforts aimed at rolling back Iran told the Free Beacon on background. “Then, when Iran started racing to build a more sophisticated arsenal, they had Samantha Power make some noise at the United Nations before quietly standing aside. That’s how we find ourselves where we are.”

The latest reports on Iranian and North Korean missile technology paint a startling portrait of the sheer power of both countries, which continue to exchange technology on both the missile and nuclear front.

“Iran continues to invest in developing ballistic missiles and in building an extensive network of facilities, although missile inventory information is scarce,” the latest report on Iran states.

“Iran’s short- and medium-range ballistic missile tests indicate that Iran is focused on increasing the accuracy of its missiles,” according to the report, which includes both open source and U.S. intelligence community information.

However, Iran continues to experience delays in its more sophisticated missiles, including its long-range and intercontinental ballistic missile technology, though it continues to test and refine this hardware.

“The majority of Iran’s heavy artillery rockets and ballistic missiles are tactical or short-range (less than 500 kilometers),” according to the report.

The mobile nature of Iran’s shorter-range rockets has allowed it to share this technology with its allies in the region. Shorter-range missiles employed by Iran are more than capable of striking “U.S. and allied bases in the Gulf region if moved from their operating bases, as well as targets throughout Iraq,” the report notes.

After years of testing and refining this technology, “Iran has grown increasingly self-sufficient in producing SRBMs [short-range ballistic missiles], but still probably relies on outside sources, such as North Korea, for some key components and material,” according to the report.

Iran also has developed and produced medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) estimates to reach distances of around 2,000 kilometers or more, “sufficient to strike targets throughout the Middle East.”

“Iran continues to develop, test, and build more capable and increasingly accurate MRBMs,” U.S. intelligence sources have noted. “Iran argues these missiles constitute an important deterrent and retaliatory force against U.S. and other forces in the region in the event of war.”

To support this missile program, Iran has built and underground network of facilities and missile launch sites that are protected by the country’s air defenses and technology such as Russia’s S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, which are currently believed to be operational. This would protect Iran’s missile technology from a preemptive strike.

Support for Iran’s program comes from North Korea and other rogue exporters that have skirted international sanctions and capitalized on the subsequent lifting of these sanctions by the Obama administration.

“Iran relies to some extent on others, particularly North Korea, for certain key missile components and materials in its MRBM program,” the report states. “Export controls and sanctions have made it increasingly difficult, but not impossible, for Iran to acquire the best of such items, causing Iran to try to exploit weaknesses in existing export and nonproliferation regimes, or to try to find foreign sellers willing to circumvent those laws.”

Iran’s Shahbab-3 ballistic missile, for instance, has been imported from North Korea and is based on that country’s own designs.

Tehran’s long-range and intercontinental ballistic missile technology is harder to pin down.

“Some have long believed Iran’s space launch program could mask the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with ranges in excess of 5,500 km that could threaten targets throughout Europe, and even the United States (at least 10,000 km),” according to the report.

However, it remains unclear just how much progress Tehran has made in developing working technology.

Meanwhile, “North Korea has made rapid advancements in its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs,” according to a second congressional report. “North Korea is striving to build a credible regional nuclear war fighting capability that might evade regional ballistic missile defenses.”

As the United States pursues diplomacy with North Korea, there are encouraging signs the country has made moves to dismantle some of this technology, the report notes.

Terror group’s leaders have reportedly turned off their phones, gone underground over fears of targeted killings by Israeli military

By TOI staff Today, 10:08 pm

https://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-said-to-warn-hamas-israel-will-renew-assassinations-if-fire-persists/

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh (L) and Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar attend a rally marking the 30th anniversary of the terror group’s founding in Gaza City, on December 14, 2017. (AFP Photo/Mohammed Abed)

Egypt has warned Hamas that Israel will seek to assassinate the terror group’s leaders if rocket fire from the Gaza Strip does not cease, according to an Israeli television report on Thursday.

Egyptian intelligence cautioned Hamas that Israel could renew targeted killings if the terror group further exacerbates tensions on the Gaza Strip border, Hadashot television news reported.

Previous media reports in recent months have indicated that Israel conveyed similar threats to Gaza rulers Hamas through Egyptian channels during periods of increased violence on the border.

Separately, Israel Radio on Thursday night quoted Hamas officials as saying political and military leaders from the terrorist group have turned off their cellphones over the last day and went into hiding for fear of being assassinated.

Hamas leaders were also signaling they were not responsible for a rocket attack targeting the southern city of Beersheba earlier on Thursday, Hadashot reported, in an apparent attempt to defuse the tensions.

The reported Egyptian warning to Hamas came amid a major flare-up in tensions on the Gaza border, with over 180 rockets and mortar shells fired at southern Israel since Wednesday night.

The projectiles injured at least seven people and caused damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure throughout the region, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

In response, the Israeli Air Force struck over 150 Hamas “terror sites” in the Strip, the army said. Palestinian officials said a pregnant woman and her infant daughter were killed in the Israeli strikes, along with one Hamas fighter, who was reportedly in a car used by a rocket-launching Hamas cell that was targeted by an IDF aircraft.

On Thursday evening, the Israeli Air Force flattened a five-story building in northern Gaza that served as a headquarters for Hamas’ internal security service, the army said.

The IDF said the strike on the building in the northern Gaza Strip, which also served as a cultural center in the coastal enclave, was in response to “rocket fire by the Hamas terror group against the city of Beersheba earlier in the day.”

The military threatened that the attack was “an expression of the IDF’s intelligence and operational capabilities, which will expand and intensify as necessary.”

Eighteen Palestinians were wounded in the Israeli strike, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. The degree of their injuries was not immediately known.

The attack on the building was one of the IDF’s first strikes on a site deep inside a city in Gaza since the 2014 war. Most of the strikes previously conducted by Israel targeted facilities outside major population centers. In addition, the Rimal neighborhood in which the building was located is one of the more upscale areas of Gaza City.

This decision was seen as an attempt by the military to show Hamas that it was prepared to step up its attacks against the terror group if rocket and mortar fire continued to strike southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Minutes after the Israeli strike on the building began, incoming rocket sirens blared in the Eshkol region of southern Israel, sending thousands of residents into bomb shelters, where they had already spent much of the day in light of frequent attacks from the Gaza Strip throughout the previous two days.

A second wave of sirens were triggered shortly after the IDF confirmed that it had conducted the strike at 8:00 p.m. A third round of sirens went off an hour later.

There were no injuries or damage caused by any of those rocket attacks, Israeli officials said.

The renewed rocket attacks came amid a period of heightened tensions along the Gaza border, following months of clashes and exchanges of fire.

Earlier this week, there had been reports of intensive talks between Israel and Hamas for a long-term ceasefire.

Former IDF chief says terror organizations like Hamas will only be deterred by threats to their existence after 180 rockets fired at Israel.