by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Kislev 19, 5769 / December 16, '08 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128897
(IsraelNN.com) Gaza terrorists escalated attacks on the western Negev Tuesday, pushing to 10,046 the number of mortar and rocket attacks the past eight years. The IDF spotted and hit one rocket-launching cell.
One Israeli suffered shock in the latest barrage, which included five Kassam rockets and a mortar shell. One rocket exploded in a soccer field next to the Sapir College, located adjacent to Sderot, and the other rockets landed in open areas outside the city.
The IDF identified and hit a Kassam launcher in northern Gaza, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that he would continue diplomatic non-military retaliation by keeping Gaza crossings closed and preventing trucks from bringing goods into the region.
The Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the latest barrage, which it said was a response to the IDF's eliminating one of its leaders near Jenin, in Samaria, early Tuesday morning.
Media outlets have been emphasizing December 19 as the end of six months since outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to the June 19 ceasefire, although no expiry date was set in the unsigned agreement.
Hamas has adopted the date as the end of the pact and has threatened to consider the agreement void even thought it already does not exist in practice. Terrorists from Hamas and allied organizations attached the western Negev and as far north as Ashkelon with more than 50 rockets and mortars between June 19 and November 4, when the IDF carried out a counterterrorist operation against a cell planning to kidnap IDF soldiers.
More than 225 attacks were registered in the past six weeks, and the Sderot Media Center reported that 7,000 mortars and rockets have been fired since Israel executed the "Disengagement" program in the summer of 2005. The government expelled more than 7,000 Jewish residents of Gush Katif and northern Gaza, withdrew all military personnel and surrendered control of the Philadelphi Route, which includes the Rafiah area used to smuggle explosives and weapons into Gaza.
Israel political leaders Tuesday continued to threaten military retaliation "at the proper time." Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is campaigning in the Knesset elections as chairman of the Labor party, told visiting Austrian President Heinz Fischer, "If the lull is violated and the situation requires it, we will act in the proper manner."
by Hana Levi Julian Kislev 20, 5769 / December 17, '08 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128906
(IsraelNN.com) Gaza terrorists escalated their attacks on the western Negev Wednesday, launching a barrage of Kassam rockets at the coastal city of Ashkelon shortly before 11:00 a.m. A number of strategic installations are located in the area, including an electric power plant. The attacks continued throughout the day, with another barrage hitting the western Negev just before 4:00 p.m.
At least two of the more advanced types of the homemade missiles struck the southern section of the city during the morning, sending several people into severe emotional shock. Three workers at a factory in the city's industrial zone were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital after they complained of ringing in their ears following the attack.
A third Kassam rocket slammed into an area near Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, an agricultural community south of Ashkelon that is world famous for its honey, jams, oils and other condiments. No one was injured in the kibbutz and there were no reports of damage.
Later in the day, four Kassam rockets struck several open fields in the western Negev as well, but there were no reports of injuries or damage.
The attacks bring the number of missiles fired at Israel since the beginning of the day to 14 rockets and one mortar shell. The first barrage by Gaza terrorists began just as children were leaving their homes to go to school Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday, the number of rockets that have struck the western Negev in the past eight years topped the 10,000 mark.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the Gaza Crossings to remain closed for a second day in response to the attacks. Barak decided to close the crossings on Tuesday in retaliation for the rocket fire, cancelling a delivery of foodstuffs and other humanitarian aid to the region as a result.
by Hana Levi Julian Kislev 20, 5769 / December 17, '08 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128902
(IsraelNN.com) Gaza terrorists issued an early-morning wake-up call to Jews in southern Israel on Wednesday with an attack on communities in the western Negev just two days before the unscheduled end of the June 19 truce agreement.
A barrage of six to eight Kassam rockets exploded in a variety of different sites in the Eshkol Regional Council district. At least one mortar shell was fired at the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council area as well.
No one was injured and no damage was reported in any of the attacks, although not all of the missiles had yet been located.
Residents of the area are fed up with the situation, complaining that once again, it is impossible to know what is going on with their children from one minute to the next after they have left for school.
On Tuesday, nine of the homemade Kassam rockets launched from Gaza reached communities in southern Israel, marking a turning point at which more than 10,000 of the missiles have exploded in the region since the turn of the century, when the Oslo War broke out. In one of Tuesday's attacks, a young boy suffered severe traumatic shock and a factory was damaged in the western Negev city of Sderot.
Less than a kilometer away, two terrorist cells on the outskirts of nearby Beit Hanoun were hit in a targeted strike by Israel Air Force pilots as they were preparing to carry out more attacks from ready-to-fire rocket launchers.
Posts
