WarSclerotic

The joint military branches of terror organization in the Gaza Strip said Wednesday that they are prepared for to retaliate against any Israeli military activities after a to and fro round of violence beset the border that began Tuesday evening and continued into the night.

The terror organizations in the strip took responsibility Wednesday afternoon for a barrage of rockets that were fired at Israeli border communities overnight Tuesday, which they claim was a response to an Israeli attack on a Hamas militant’s vehicle.

“A bombing will be answered with a bombing,” a statement issued from the strip said, adding that they are ready to retaliate immediately to any Israeli military provocation.

On Tuesday night, the IDF bombed a vehicle belonging to one of the commanders of Hamas’ military wing in the Neuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Shortly afterwards, 13 rockets were fired from the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave at adjacent Israeli communities.

The IDF confirmed in a statement issued early Wednesday that the army attacked “a vehicle belonging to a Hamas operative in a cell launching explosive and incendiary balloons” with an aircraft and a tank.

The IDF said it also struck two of the organization’s observation posts in the northern Gaza Strip. “At the same time,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in its statement, “the Hamas terror organization led a high-trajectory fire attack on the State of Israel. Hamas will pay for the terror and instability.”

The first Code Red siren sounded at 1:40 am at a kibbutz in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. The IDF Spokesperson Unit said one rocket had been fired. Residents reported hearing an explosion.

Scene of the strike

At least three of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system. There were no reports of injuries.

Throughout the night, sirens sounded in other communities in the Sha’ar Hanegev, Hof Ashkelon, Eshkol and Sdot Negev regional council. At 4:01 am, a siren sounded in the city of Sderot as well.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said a total of 12 rockets and mortar shells had been fired into Israel.

A Palestinian source told Ynet that the attacked vehicle was completely destroyed, but that there were no injuries in the strike and that the driver escaped unharmed. The strike took place in the western side of the Nuseirat refugee camp. Hamas closed off the area and stopped people from approaching it.

At first, the IDF refused to confirm that Israel was behind the strike, saying: “We won’t address foreign reports.” Hamas, however, rushed to announce that “a bombing will be met with a bombing.”

In another statement issued later on, Hamas said: “The Israeli escalation and the attacks on protestors and on military operatives led to a quick response from the resistance, as part of its complete readiness to carry out its mission to defend the Palestinian people.”

An incendiary balloon dispatched from the Gaza Strip was found Tuesday evening in Kibbutz Dorot in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. There were no injuries. Earlier, an IAF aircraft attacked a vehicle used by a cell of incendiary balloon launchers in the northern strip.

The tensions around Gaza have increased in recent weeks, as Gazans keep sending incendiary balloons and kites into Israel, causing more and more fires. The IDF has fired warning shots near the cells responsible for the kites and balloons and has even bombed Hamas targets, usually without causing any injuries. The terror organization, for its part, has stepped up its responses to the strikes and created the equation that “a bombing will be met with a bombing.”

Britain’s Prince William was greeted by an honor guard in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday before sitting down with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

“I’m very glad our two countries work so closely together and have had success stories with education and relief work in the past, so, long may that continue,” the royal told Abbas.

“My sentiments are the same as yours in hoping that there is a lasting peace in the region,” the prince said.

“The Palestinian side is committed to the peace process with the Israelis, so both states could live peacefully together within the borders of 1967,” Abbas responded.

Britain’s Prince William reviews honour guards before meeting with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on June 27, 2018. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)

UK Ambassador to Israel David Quarrey last week defended describing Jerusalem’s Old City as being part of the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” in the prince’s itinerary.

“All the terminology that was used in the program was consistent with years of practice by British governments. It’s consistent with British government policy,” he told reporters.

“The duke is not a political figure,” Quarrey went on. “He’ll be here to see a little bit of the country and to get to meet some of the people here.”

The Duke of Cambridge, the second in line to the British throne, is expected to later meet with Palestinian young people, and to participate in events celebrating Palestinian culture, music and food.

On Wednesday morning he met with Israeli youth and took a stroll down Tel Aviv’s famed Rothschild Boulevard with Eurovision winner Netta Barzilai.

Britain’s Prince William poses for a group photo with Jewish and Arab children at the Neve Golan Stadium in the Israeli Mediterranean coastal city of Jaffa on June 26, 2018. (AFP/Pool/Heidi Levine)

On Tuesday, President Reuven Rivlin asked William to convey to Abbas “a message of peace.”

Hosting the duke in his official Jerusalem residence, Rivlin said the Palestinians need to accept that Jews have returned to their ancestral homeland and that it was about time Israelis and Palestinians end their conflict.

Prince William — the first member of the British royal family to make an official visit to Israel since the state was founded in 1948 — also expressed hope for peace in the Middle East.

On Tuesday evening, the royal hailed Israel as a vibrant country that “thrives on innovation, diversity, talent and excellence,” and said ties were at an all-time high.

He also promised Britain’s support in the quest for peace between Israel and its neighbors.

“I know I share a desire with all of you, and with your neighbors, for a just and lasting peace. The United Kingdom stands with you, as we work together for a peaceful and prosperous future,” he said at an event at the home of the British ambassador in Ramat Gan.

On Thursday, the duke is to tour Jerusalem’s Old City, where he is expected to visit the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Al-Aqsa Mosque, though these visits have not been officially confirmed. He will also go to the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Mary Magdalene to visit the grave of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice.

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approved in second and third readings the law to withhold terrorist salaries from tax revenues Israel transfers to the PA.

Only MK Robert Ilatov of Yisrael Beiteinu voted against the bill, which will be voted on in the Knesset plenum next Monday.

The bill was approved by the committee without the clause requested by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Liberman, a clause that conditions the withholding on a decision of the political-security cabinet.

Bereaved families attending the meeting asked to transfer the funds allocated to a special fund for terror victims, but the committee’s legal advisor explained the move was legally improper.

Law initiator MK Maj. Gen. (res.) Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) said “the insistence on principles and persistence paid off. The law was approved according to the original wording we submitted. What’s important to me is that no more families join the club of the bereaved and that the Palestinian Authority understand that supporting terror doesn’t pay.”

Knesset Member Avi Dichter (Likud) said, “This is a moral law that sends a clear message to us, to the Palestinian Authority as well as to the entire world: Israel will not be a conduit for transferring money to terrorists.”

Im Tirtzu movement Policy Department head Alon Schwartzer, whose movement is accompanying the bereaved families, welcomed the bill’s approval: “Approval of the bill in second and third readings despite the difficulties is an historic move.

“The State of Israel must do its utmost to stop Arab terror and this law is another step forward in creating a complete deterrence package against terrorism. We’ll continue to accompany the bereaved families who courageously and resolutely lead an uncompromising struggle against terror and for justice,” he added.

MK Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beiteinu) explained his opposition to the law. “Committee members are celebrating and the bereaved families are crying outside the committee hall. The scandalous clause approved today, that I was the only one who opposed it, says that the money will not really be withheld from the Palestinian Authority, but will be kept on the side in a ‘savings fund’ with compound interest.

“Instead of sending populist messages and making videos for Twitter, I’d expect MKs who approved this clause to look the Israeli public in the eye and explain why at the end of the process, which was accompanied by many congratulations and smiles, the terrorist’s salaries will still reach the Palestinian Authority and eventually the terrorists.”