Israel Strikes Gaza by Air, Sea in Operation to Halt Rockets (Updates with details of rocket fire in sixth paragraph, camps canceled in 11th.) July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Israel struck 50 targets in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip by air and sea overnight and is calling up reservists for a possible ground operation to stop a barrage of Palestinian rocket fire into its territory, a military spokesman said. Among the targets hit in the opening salvo of “Operation Protective Edge” were rocket launchers, training bases and at least four homes of Palestinian militants, army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said in a phone briefing. Forty- seven of the strikes were carried out by aircraft, he said. The military has also been given “the green light” to call up more reservists for a possible ground operation into Gaza, Lerner said. Israel has already called up 1,500 reservists to boost the regular infantry and paratroop forces stationed along the Gaza border. “There will be a gradual increase of the pressure on Hamas in order to achieve our goals,” Lerner said. Gaza militants began bombarding southern Israel after the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers last month led to an Israeli roundup of Hamas operatives in the West Bank. The attacks increased after the suspected revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem last week. Rockets Reach About 240 have hit Israel since the June 12 abduction, including 85 since yesterday, according to the militarys count. Some of the rockets reached 25 miles (40 kilometers) deep into Israeli territory, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed the killings of the three Israel teenagers on Hamas, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. Israel, like the U.S. and European Union, considers Hamas a terrorist organization. A dozen Palestinians have been killed in Gaza air strikes and seven in the West Bank arrest raids over the past month. At least 12 Palestinians were injured overnight, and the homes of three militants were destroyed in the Israeli strikes, according to Ashraf al-Qedra, chief of the Gaza emergency medical services. Family members of the militants said they received warning calls to evacuate their homes before they were fired on. Israel evacuated Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation. It has carried out two large offensives against Gaza militants in the past six years, including a ground incursion in January 2009. Camps Canceled Residents of Israeli communities within a 25-mile radius of Gaza have been instructed not to congregate in large groups, and kindergartens and summer camps in that area have been told to cancel sessions, Lerner said. For the first time yesterday, Hamas took responsibility for rockets fired during the latest round of violence. The statement to reporters may have implications for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbass formation last month of a unity government backed by Hamas. Abbas has said the new government, which ended a seven-year rift between the West Bank and Gaza, would abide by principles of non-violence. About 10 Palestinian officials contacted by phone declined to comment. “This puts Abu Mazen in a very bad position,” said Moshe Maoz, professor emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Maoz said, using a name Abbas goes by. “He wont be able to work any longer with Hamas.” Obama Urges Restraint Israel is shunning the new Palestinian government, established after the collapse of U.S.-sponsored peace talks in April, because of its Hamas backing. In a statement carried on the official Palestinian Wafa news agency yesterday, Abbas demanded that Israel halt its air strikes and refrain from a “dangerous escalation” that could embroil the entire Middle East. U.S. President Barack Obama, in an article under his byline in Israels Haaretz newspaper today, urged both sides to pull back from the violence. “All parties must protect the innocent and act with reasonableness and restraint, not vengeance and retribution,” he wrote. --With assistance from Saud Abu Ramadan in Jerusalem. To contact the reporter on this story: Calev Ben-David in Jerusalem at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at [email protected] Caroline Alexander, Amy Teibel
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 06:39:45 +0000
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