Hamas terrorists could be attempting to create a second front in their battle to kill Israel’s citizens.
A spokesman for Lebanon’s military says they found a group of terrorists working at a rocket launching location in their territory and there were at least two working rockets ready for launch into Israel at the time of the discovery. A man was arrested after soldiers followed a blood trail from the site.
Friday morning, rockets from that area were fired into Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces responded by firing heavy artillery into the area. At least 25 shells struck the site near the Lebanese city of Kfar Shuba.
A spokesman for the IDF said at this point they are not going to say if the attack was symbolic or an attempt to open up battle on a second front. They have referred the situation to the United Nations force in Lebanon for investigation into the incident.
A Hamas rocket that made it through the Iron Dome defense system struck a home in Beersheba today, injuring two people including an 80-year-old grandmother who had to be rushed to a local hospital.
The rocket came an hour after Iron Dome has intercepted two rockets over Tel Aviv and at least two over Herzliya. The Israeli Defense Force says that the percentage of rockets shot down by Iron Dome is around 70 percent.
The IDF says that more Iron Dome batteries will be deployed throughout the country to try and increase the interception percentage of the system.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon spoke with the people who manufacture the system to encourage them as they increase their output to meet the current battle situation.
“Your efforts, and those of your people in this operation is very impressive, and inspirational,” Ya’alon added. “In recent days, you and your people are working with dedication, day and night, to instantly set up more Iron Dome batteries, which will go into operation during [the current] Operation Protective Edge, and will defend the Israeli people.”
At least 90 rockets from Hamas have been fired into Israel in the last 24 hours.
Under attack from Hamas rockets? There’s an app for that.
A new app has been made available for smartphones that allow Israelis to track the incoming rockets from Hamas and give themselves time to get to shelter. Half a million people have already downloaded the app in just three days.
Many Israelis are seeing the app as vital because the traditional ways to inform citizens about incoming rockets was radio stations and television interrupting programming. However, with the increased use of satellite radio, iPod and other electronic devices, many Israelis do not have a television or radio on 24 hours a day.
“It gives us a sense of control in a situation where there is no control,” writer and journalist Debra Kamim, who lives in Tel Aviv, told the Washington Post. “It’s especially useful at night because people are worried they won’t hear the sirens while they sleep, and this way they can have the phone next to their beds.”
The app includes a social element where users can post comments about attacks in their area, damage from any rockets that land and requests for help if necessary.
The app is available in English for users in the West to keep track of the rockets if they wish to pray for Israelis when a rocket is approaching them. The app is available for iPhones, iPad and Android.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Friday that the current conflict in the Gaza Strip shows the importance of keeping control of the West Bank.
In a strongly worded statement, Netanyahu took several world leaders to task including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for their insistence that Israel give up control of the West Bank for a Palestinian State.
Netanyahu said that the fact Hamas has turned the Gaza Strip into a “terrorist bunker” shows that any land given up by Israel will just be used by Islamic terrorist groups to launch attacks upon Israel.
“I think the Israeli people understand now what I always say: that there cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan,” he said. “I told John Kerry and General Allen, the Americans’ expert: We live here, I live here, I know what we need to ensure the security of Israel’s people.”
Netanyahu noted that the West Bank is 20 times the size of Gaza and said the last thing Israel needs is “to create another 20 Gazas.”
Netanyahu also noted the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt that the Egyptians have sealed up to keep the terrorists from moving through their country.
“If we were to pull out of Judea and Samaria, like they tell us to, there’d be a possibility of thousands of tunnels,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli ambassador to the United States says that his country cannot sit by and be passive while Hamas rains down rockets upon its citizens.
Ambassador Ido Aharoni told Fox News that his country will remain on high alert and that air strikes will continue because of the increased hostility toward Israel from the terrorist group Hamas.
“Hamas’ decision to escalate the situation puts us in a very difficult and unpleasant position,” said Aharoni. “We have to respond in a swift and comprehensive fashion because we are looking at a century-old Arab onslaught on Jewish national sovereignty in the land of Israel – that didn’t start yesterday.”
Aharoni said that Israel’s cabinet is currently debating a plan to send troops into the Gaza Strip to root out Hamas’ leadership and networks.
“One thing for sure we understand: We are in it for the long run, the goal of Operation Protective Edge, named for the offensive [against Hamas], is to bring about stability, calm and quiet to Israel’s southern and central region,” he said.
He said that Hamas has about 12,000 rockets in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Defense Forces struck over 320 Hamas terror sites in the Gaza Strip overnight bringing the total to 750 in the last three days. The sites struck were mainly rocket launcher sites and areas connected to the terrorist organization’s tunnel system.
The strikes come as Israeli intelligence stopped an attempt by Hamas terrorists to sneak a bomb into Israel. Authorities stopped a car with Palestinian plates at a checkpoint and discovered the bomb inside. The suspects were arrested and admitted they were planning to carry out an attack on civilians.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters the situation is at a crisis level.
“This is one of the most critical tests the region has faced in recent years,” he said. “Gaza is on a knife-edge. The deteriorating situation is leading to a downward spiral which could quickly get beyond anyone’s control.”
Palestinians have been trying to claim that Israel is targeting civilians but the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. told reporters that Hamas has taken to hiding in civilian homes and businesses to try and avoid retribution for their activities. One Hamas headquarters is located within a working hospital.
Officials say that half of the Israeli population is in bomb shelters because of ongoing rocket attacks in central Israel by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. The terrorist group has declared in a public statement “all Israelis have now become legitimate targets.”
The leaders of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem opened their city’s public bomb shelters because of the level of the attacks. Officials also told residents to open and prepare their private bomb shelters for the possibility of a prolonged assault.
An Iron Dome battery was able to successfully shoot down an incoming rocket over Tel Aviv. Hamas announced they had fired four rockets at the capital but there was no evidence of three more rockets impacting in the city.
According to the Israeli Defense Force, over 120 rockets struck within the Israeli borders during the night. Iron Dome destroyed 23 rockets in Ashdod, Ashkelon and communities along the Gaza border.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev told reporters that Israel had reached out to the terrorist group in an attempt to de-escalate the situation and found that the terrorist group was not interested in ending the current conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called world leaders to tell them their position that they could not sit by and allow their country to be attacked by a terrorist organization and not respond to their provocation.
Islamic terrorist group Hamas attempted to send a group of terrorists inside the Israeli border to launch attacks from inside the country.
The Israeli Defense Forces drove back the terror squad that was attempting to sneak into the country north of the Gaza Strip from the ocean. The IDF exchanged gunfire with the group and killed at least four of the terrorists whose bodies were left on the beach.
Israeli officials say that the current assault, Operation Protective Edge, could continue for a significant length of time.
“It won’t end in a day and it won’t end in two days. It will take time,” Yitzhak Aharonovitch, the country’s Cabinet minister for internal security, told Israeli TV.
Israel has called up 40,000 more troops to be deployed throughout the country to prevent another group from attempting to take advantage of Hamas’ current actions and launch another assault on Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu alluded to the possibility of other attacks but mainly focused on Hamas an address to his Security Cabinet.
“The army is ready for all possibilities,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “Hamas will pay a heavy price for firing toward Israeli citizens. The security of Israel’s citizens comes first. The operation will expand and continue until the fire toward our towns stops and quiet returns.”
Israeli military officials reported carrying out over 100 airstrikes in the last 24 hours at Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip.
The new offensive is part of a potential offensive into the Gaza Strip. Israel has called up over 40,000 troops to the border along the Gaza Strip as military officials continue to meet with senior Israeli ministers.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the Israeli leadership has had enough of dealing with terrorists.
“We have repeatedly warned Hamas that this must stop and Israel’s defense forces are currently acting to put an end of this once and for all,” spokesman Mark Regev told Fox News.
The movements and air strikes, called “Operation Protective Edge”, reportedly plans to continue air strikes at Hamas positions over the next several weeks.
Hamas has fired nearly 300 rockets into Israel over the last few weeks including 100 on Monday. The attacks come amid increased tensions after the terrorist group kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers.
Palestinians threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli police and military after the body of a Palestinian teen was found in the Jerusalem forest.
The rioting teens blocked Jerusalem’s light rail service and were driven back when Israeli defense forces responded to their assaults by firing rubber bullets at rock throwers.
Israeli investigators say they were called with a report of an Arab teen that was forced into a car and that a partially burned body was found in the woods a few hours later but say there is no evidence connecting the incidents, if a teen was actually forced into a car.
The investigators also say there is no evidence the dead teen was killed by Israelis and assert that it could be an attempt by Palestinian terror groups to deflect attention from the kidnapping and brutal murder of three Israeli teenagers by the terrorist group Hamas.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that authorities used tear gas on some of the protesters and that security in the area has been heightened. Police have also closed holy sites in the Old City to visitors because of rock throwing Palestinian youths.
