Archive for March 2019

Israeli air force bombs three symbols of Hamas rule in Gaza. Sderot home hit. Hamas offers truce – DEBKAfile

March 26, 2019

Source: Israeli air force bombs three symbols of Hamas rule in Gaza. Sderot home hit. Hamas offers truce – DEBKAfile

Israel’s major counter-terror operation in the Gaza Strip was confined in its early stage to air strikes against empty Hamas government buildings. DEBKAfile’s military sources note six features of the operation:

1. The air force alone is conducting this stage of the Israeli offensive with fighter jets, helicopters and drones. The boosted ground forces massed outside the Gaza border fence are being held back for a later stage depending on how the operation unfolds.

2.  Three Hamas internal security and intelligence command centers were struck in Gaza City as week as the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s bureau. They had all be evacuated in good time after the iDF sent warning rockets as part of its ”knock on roof” policy for minimizing civilian casualties.

3. No Hamas casualties are so far reported, indicating the IDF is still keeping its counter-terror offensive law key.

4. Haniyeh’s bureau was struck as a message from the IDF that if the conflict is drawn out, Haniyeh and other high-ranking Hamas officials or commanders may be targeted in person.

5. Within short hours, Hamas and Islamic Jihad retaliated with a massive rocket barrage against Sderot, which knocked over a home. Their payback could extend to other parts of Israel during the night.

6. Following this attack, Hamas claimed a truce had been agreed, which Israel has not confirmed.

 

Likud minister: There’s no perfect solution for Gaza

March 26, 2019

Minister Yuval Steinitz says ‘nearly impossible’ to fix Oslo, but past decade has been ‘best ever’ for Israel from a security standpoint.

Yehonatan Gottlieb, 26/03/19 10:34
Yonatan Sindel/Flash 90

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) on Tuesday morning told Channel 13 that from a security standpoint, the past decade has been the best since Israel’s founding.

During the interview, Steinitz said that there is “deep strategical thinking” with regards to the issues of Gaza and Iran, but that “there is no perfect solution for the Gaza problem.”

“What was created by Oslo and the Disengagement, and first and foremost by the historical mistake that I also supported at the time, as a leftist – Oslo, is difficult and nearly impossible to fix. But we are doing our best, and the fact is that even though we’re not able to rest, the past decade has been Israel’s best from a security perspective.”

Regarding Hamas’ claim of a ceasefire, Steinitz said, “From our perspective, all options are open. We reserve the right to choose any option, and we’ll see where this leads. We respond with a heavy hand – Gaza shook last night.”

He also noted that despite the rocket attacks and the damage to two family homes, “when you look at the big picture, the past decade has been Israel’s best ever from a security standpoint, with the fewest number of people killed and injured.”

Mideast Daily News Poll: American Jews Most Anti-Trump, Least Likely to be Republican

March 26, 2019
By Michael Friedson | The Media Line

March 17, 2019

Poll: American Jews Most Anti-Trump, Least Likely to be Republican

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, alongside Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, place stones and flowers on a memorial as they pay their respects at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 30, 2018 (Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

American Jews are more anti-Trump than Catholics, Protestants, Agnostics or Atheists; and are the least likely of all the groups to enroll as Republicans. In a Gallup poll conducted last week, only 28 percent of Jewish respondents were favorable to President Trump against 71 percent of Jewish voters oppose him. When compared to the groups listed above, American Jews are most negative toward President Trump. Polls conduced following the 2018 midterm elections returned similar results, showing 78 percent saying they voted for Democrats and only 17 percent supporting Republicans. The president is known to have expressed his confusion over his rejection by Jewish voters in light of his declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish state and his moving of the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Although he clearly wants to convince Jewish voters to vote Republican, there is no indication so far that he has discovered the key to making that happen.

Air Force hits enemy targets after 30 rockets pound Israel 

March 26, 2019

Source: Air Force hits enemy targets after 30 rockets pound Israel – Israel News – Jerusalem Post

Despite talks of a cease-fire late Monday night rockets continued to be shot into Israel from Gaza.

BY BEN BRESKY, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
 MARCH 26, 2019 04:01

An Israeli air force F-15 fighter jet flies during an exhibition as part of a graduation ceremony

Israel Defense Force fighter jets attacked 15 enemy targets early Tuesday morning, the IDF spokesperson announced as the rocket attacks on Israel’s southern communities continued into a second day.
The targets include a military compound belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in Beit Hanun and a military compound belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in Beit Lahiya.

Over 30 rockets were shot into Israeli airspace, some being taken out mid-air by the Iron Dome defense system and others hitting open areas. The red alert siren sounded throughout the night Tuesday in Sderot, the Eshkol Regional Council, the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council and the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, where a spokeswoman for the cluster of communities said power was cut due to the attacks.

Many residents reportedly slept in bomb shelters, as communities in the Gaza belt region have 15 seconds from the time the “tzeva adom” or “code red” warning siren is sounded until rocket impact.
The latest wave of rockets caused no injuries or property damage, said Adi Meiri, spokeswoman for Shaar Hanegev Regional Council but some residents were treated for shock.

School has been cancelled for Tuesday in the city of Ashkelon and the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, areas that have been hit by rockets in past flare-ups, the Ministry of Education announced following recommendations from the Home Front Command.

The escalation started early Monday morning when Hamas launched a rocket that flew toward the center of the country, slamming into a private home in Kfar Saba. Seven people were injured and four dogs were killed. Located in the Sharon region, Kfar Saba, unlike the southern region, does not border on Gaza attesting to the range of the Gaza rockets.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled his scheduled speech at the AIPAC policy conference in Washington and boarded a plane home to Israel Tuesday. “We gave a very strong, very powerful response,” he stated of the retaliatory attacks on Gaza following the destruction of the home on Monday. “Hamas needs to know that we will not hesitate to enter and take the necessary steps,” he added.
Elected officials across the spectrum have weighed in on the current security situation, including MK Moti Yogev, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, who warned that a ceasefire with Hamas would not be enough of a deterrent.

“The destruction of terrorist homes is good,” said Yogev in a tweet late Monday night, referring to the actions the IDF has taken against terrorists in the West Bank, “but in the Gaza Strip it is not enough.”

He said that a ceasefire in the face of continued rocket attacks, “violates Israel’s commitment to its citizens. Deterrence resides only when the leaders of terror are given a price that they will not be able to withstand.”

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, chairman of the New Right  stated, “a ceasefire at these moments will be a tailwind for terrorism. There is no country in the world that would not charge a price for missiles shot at its citizens, and there is no country in the world whose blood is as empty as we have been in recent days. Bombing empty buildings endangers Israel’s deterrence and brings the next missiles at us.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Otzma Yehudit faction of the Union of Right-Wing Parties called for Israel to return to Gush Katif, the bloc of Gaza Jewish communities evicted in 2005.

Gaza was a territory of Israel from 1967 until the 2005 Disengagement, a unilateral move by the Israeli government, which removed all Israeli settlements, seen as obstacles to peace, and IDF forces from Gaza. The Palestinian population centers in Gaza had been under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction since the Oslo Accords of the mid 1990s.

A year after the Disengagement, Hamas usurped control from the Palestinian Authority. Since then, three major conflicts have occurred between Hamas and Israel: Operation Cast Lead in 2008–09, Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012 and Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

 

Historical !

March 25, 2019

Trump signs declaration recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over disputed Golan Heights

IDF strikes Gaza Strip after Hamas rocket destroys family home 

March 25, 2019

Source: IDF strikes Gaza Strip after Hamas rocket destroys family home – Arab-Israeli Conflict – Jerusalem Post

Retaliatory strikes expected to last hours.

BY ANNA AHRONHEIM
 MARCH 25, 2019 18:07
IDF begins striking Hamas targets in response to earlier rocket fire

The Israeli airstrike began striking targets across the Gaza Strip Monday evening in response to a long-range rocket struck a civilian home in central Israel in the morning.

“The IDF has began attacking terrorist targets belonging to the Hamas terror organization across the Gaza Strip. More details to come,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.

The IDF retaliation is expected to be strong and could last for several hours.

One position hit was a Hamas naval position west of Gaza City, and a another was a large Hamas training camp in northern Gaza, Palestinian security officials and Hamas media outlets said.

Both positions were likely to have been evacuated, as Hamas had hours of notice that Israeli strikes were coming.

Witnesses said three missiles hit the northern target.

As a precaution, the IDF instructed residents in Gaza border communities to remain close to bomb shelters or safe rooms, closed the Zikim beach and restricted gatherings of more than 100 people in open spaces and more than 300 people in closed spaces across the Gaza border communities.

Israel’s military has also deployed two infantry and armored brigades to southern Israel and has begun a limited call up for reservists in the intelligence and air defense corps. The two additional brigades sent to bolster the IDF’s Gaza Division with some 1,000 soldiers, had been conducting training exercises but were cut short due to the heightened tensions.

According to IDF Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis, the locally produced rocket was fired by Hamas operatives from a Hamas military post in Rafiah in the southern part of the Strip and had a range of 120 kilometers.

Manelis, who refused to answer if the rocket was fired accidentally or deliberately, said that it was serious incident and that Israel is holding Hamas responsible.

“The launch was carried out by Hamas from one of the group’s launchpads. We see Hamas as responsible for everything that happens in Gaza,” Manelis said on a call with reporters.

Following the incident, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi held a situational assessment with the the head of Military Intelligence Commander Maj.Gen. Tamir Hyman, Commander of the Israeli Air Force Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin, the Head of the Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Herzi Halevi and other senior officers.

“The IDF is improving its readiness for a variety of scenarios,” Manelis said. “This is a serious incident of a direct hit on a house in central Israel and follows a series of incidents. The deployment is also offensive, not just reactive.”

Reuters contributed to this article. 

 

CH 2 Air attacks on gaza have begun.

March 25, 2019

 

https://twitter.com/ShehabAgencyEn/status/1110194984194461696

Warnings in the Bordr region: “Soon the IDF Will Attack”

March 25, 2019

Source: News – Warnings in the Envelope: “Soon the IDF Will Attack”

residents: “In the near future, the IDF will begin to attack in Gaza, explosions will be heard.” Shelters will be opened in several locations in the south,

Nir vernacular, military correspondent | Tamir Steinman | Roni Daniel | News | Published 25/03/19 16:48 | Updated 25/03/19 17:18

17:41:29

IDF braces for confrontation with Hamas following direct hit on home 

March 25, 2019

Source: IDF braces for confrontation with Hamas following direct hit on home – Arab-Israeli Conflict – Jerusalem Post

Two additional brigades deployed to the south, limited call-up of reservists after seven civilians wounded by rocket strike early Monday morning.

BY ANNA AHRONHEIM, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
 MARCH 25, 2019 17:01
Head of IDF Southern Command, Maj.-Gen. Hertzi Halevy, meets an officer shot in the helmet by sniper

Israel has deployed two infantry and armored brigades to southern Israel and has begun a limited call up for reservists in the intelligence and air defense corps following rocket fire on central Israel Monday morning, the IDF said.

According to IDF Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis, the locally produced rocket was fired from Hamas operatives from a Hamas military post in Rafiah in the southern part of the Strip and had a range of 120 kilometers.

Manelis, who refused to answer if the rocket was fired accidentally or deliberately, said that it was serious incident and that Israel is holding Hamas responsible.

“The launch was carried out by Hamas from one of the group’s launchpads. We see Hamas as responsible for everything that happens in Gaza,” Manelis said on a call with reporters.

Following the incident, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi held a situational assessment with the the head of Military Intelligence Commander Maj.-Gen. Tamir Hyman, Commander of the Israeli Air Force Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin, the Head of the Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Herzi Halevi and other senior officers.

While there has been no changes in guidelines to Israel’s homefront, “the IDF is improving its readiness for a variety of scenarios,” Manelis said. “This is a serious incident of a direct hit on a house in central Israel and follows a series of incidents. The deployment is also offensive, not just reactive.”

The two additional brigades sent to bolster the IDF’s Gaza Division with some 1,000 soldiers, had been conducting training exercises but were cut short due to the heightened tensions.

Hamas officials have said that the rocket which struck a home in central Israel injuring seven civilians was fired from the Gaza Strip by mistake, Israeli media reported. Nevertheless Hamas leaders went underground and Hamas personnel were evacuated from positions across the coastal enclave in anticipation of a strong Israeli response.

Meanwhile Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Nahaleh warned Israel against any retaliatory strikes, saying “we warn the enemy against any aggression on the Gaza Strip. Its leaders must understand that we will respond strongly to any aggression.”

Seven people were injured Monday morning the rocket launched from the Gaza Strip struck a private home in central Israel, the third long-range rocket fired from the Hamas-run enclave in two weeks.

The attack triggered Code Red incoming rocket sirens at around 5:20 a.m. throughout the Sharon and Emek Hefer regions and a loud explosion was heard after the rocket struck the home in the community of Mishmeret north of Kfar Saba.

The strike set off a fire in the home, destroying it completely. Another 30 homes were said to be damaged by the attack.

Magen David Adom rescue services said that seven people, including two children and an infant, were treated for wounds and evacuated to Meir Hospital.

Of those injured, a woman in her 60s was in moderate condition suffering from blast injuries, minor burns and shrapnel wounds and a woman in her 30s was in moderate condition with shrapnel injuries. Two men aged 60 and 30 as well as a girl aged 12, a 3 year-old boy and a 18 month-old infant, were lightly injured.

Several neighbors are being treated for shock and four dogs were found dead on site.

The Israeli military said that it had identified the launch of one rocket from the Gaza Strip, some 100 kilometers away from where it struck. The Iron Dome missile defense system had not been activated.

Following the attack Israel decided to close the Erez and Kerem Shalom border crossings as well as well reduce the permitted fishing area off the coast of the Gaza Strip until further notice.

The IDF has also closed a number of roads and areas including the Black Arrow site close to the Gaza border following a security assessment. The military has also halted any agricultural work in fields near the border fence and all schools in the Eshkol regional council ended early.

All public events scheduled to take place on Monday in the southern city of Ashkelon were also canceled,including a soccer game between local team Hapoel Ashkelon and Hapoel Ramat Hasharon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in Washington, held a telephone consultation with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi,the head of the Shin Bet (Israel security agency) Nadav Argaman, National Security Council Director Meir Ben-Shabbat and other senior security officials

“I spoke to the IDF Chief of Staff, head of the Shin Bet and head of Intelligence and that he sees this as a criminal act against the State of Israel,” he said, adding that he has cut his trip to the US short and return to “manage our operations up close.”

Netanyahu is set to meet with US President Donald Trump and will return to Israel after his meeting. He has cancelled his speech at the AIPAC Policy Conference.

Benny Gantz, the Head of the Blue and White Party and Netanyahu’s main opponent, called on Netanyahu to deal with the crisis and not his personal issues.

He tweeted that “those who do not respond with force and instead [pay] Hamas, dismiss attacks on the citizens of the south, and scorn the attack on Tel Aviv, now get rockets in the Hasharon region.”

“Will he now, as well, be satisfied with Hamas’s claim of an error or will he finally focus on the security of the citizens of the state and not on his legal issues?” Gantz continued. “I wish the wounded a speedy recovery.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon tweeted, “This is a deliberate and dangerous act of aggression by Palestinian terrorists, encouraged no doubt by the complacency of @UNHumanRights . We will not allow this!”

MK Avi Dichter, the chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee said that Israel wouldn’t hesitate to go to war with Gaza following the attack, even if it would delay the upcoming elections.

“The political echelon won’t hesitate to order an operation in Gaza, even at the cost of delaying elections,” Dichter said in an interview with Army Radio.

The rocket attack came 10 days after two rockets were fired at Tel Aviv by Hamas, the first time since the 2014 war. One of the rockets struck an open area in the city of Holon just south of Israel’s financial capital.  The Israeli army retaliated by striking some 100 targets across the Hamas-run coastal enclave.

The army said that the rockets were likely fired towards Tel Aviv by mistake.

 

IDF: Reserves and brigades mobilized

March 25, 2019

Source: News – IDF: Reserves and brigades mobilized

( Translated from the Hebrew. – JW )

At the end of an assessment of the situation, the IDF decided to jump two infantry and armored brigades into the Gaza Strip and recruit reservists for the Iron Dome and Home Front Command systems. IDF: The attack was carried out by the Hamas leadership and is responsible for it – “preparing for a variety of scenarios”

Nir vernacular, military correspondent | News | Posted 25/03/19 10:31 | Updated 25/03/19 12:19

Tanks of the IDF

IDF tanks. Archive | photo : Flash 90 / Yossi Zamir