Israeli military officials confirmed Tuesday that airstrikes targeting at least 50 sites in the Gaza Strip are part of a new offensive to stop Hamas rocket attacks.
In a statement, military officials said its goal was to “retrieve stability to the residents of southern Israel, eliminate Hamas’ capabilities and destroy terror infrastructure operating against the State of Israel and its civilians.”
President Obama penned an op-ed in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, urging both sides to use restraint. However, Obama’s effectiveness on the world stage apparently never reached the Middle East, if anywhere, and the violence continued to escalate Tuesday.
“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,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The latest Israeli-Palestian conflict began when officials made a grim discovery, locating the bodies of three previously kidnapped Israeli teens in shallow graves in the West Bank. Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16 and Naftali Frenkel, 16, were snatched by Hamas earlier in June. Frenkel held duel U.S.-Israeli citizenship. Israeli forces searched more than 1,000 sites, rounding up Hamas and Islamic Jihad suspects as part of the operation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised to make Hamas pay, claiming there was overwhelming evidence that the terrorist group was behind the attack. Even Sec. of State John Kerry said last week that it appears from U.S. intel reports that Hamas was behind the kidnapping.
The kidnappings and subsequent news of their murders sparked outraged in Israel, which Palestinians claim led to the revenge killing of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a 16-year old Palestinian teenager. Khdeir’s charred body was found just a short after his abduction in a Jerusalem forest late last week. Israeli officials confirmed June 6 that six Jewish men being arrested in connection with a crime officials characterized as ‘nationalistic” in nature.
Israeli troops began building up on the border with the Gaza Strip after Hamas-fired rockets hit at least one residential neighborhood in Sderot last week. Among the 50 sites the military said it targeted early Tuesday were four houses they say were “activity sites” used by Hamas terrorists responsible for launching rockets at Israel. The military said the houses targeted belonged to Eiad Sakik, Abdullah Hshash, Samer Abu Daka and Hassan Abdullah.
Officials in the Israeli military also said they successfully attacked three militant compounds, 18 concealed rocket launchers and various militant Hamas sites. The operations were mostly conducted using air power, while three were targeted by naval forces.
“They chose the direction of escalation,” Israeli Army spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said in a telephone briefing to reporters. “So the mission will go on as long as we feel it is necessary to carry it out. We don’t expect it to be a short mission on our behalf.”
Lerner promised the Israeli army will gradually increase attacks in the Hamas-held Gaza Strip, and is currently recruiting army reservists for a potential ground invasion. The final option will remain on the table until Hamas ceases fire, which has not yet showed signs of occurring.
In fact, the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip resumed after a short break early Tuesday, as at least 15 more rockets were lobbed toward southern Israel, including the cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon. Five were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, courtesy of a friendly U.S. ally in the past decades.
Israel’s defense minister announced a special state of emergency in the region Tuesday as summer camps and kindergartens were shut down and residents were encouraged to stay close to their homes.
“All parties must protect the innocent and act with reasonableness and restraint, not vengeance and retribution,” Obama wrote in the op-ed published Tuesday.
Obama warned of a “dangerous moment” for the region after the collapse of U.S.-backed peace talks.
“As I said last year in Jerusalem, peace is necessary, just, and possible. I believed it then. I believe it now,” he wrote. “Peace is necessary because it’s the only way to ensure a secure and democratic future for the Jewish state of Israel.”
Yet, despite Obama’s plea, Israeli officials say they must respond with greater force to a level of activity not seen from Hamas in recent memory. Since the unrest began, the Israeli military claims Hamas has launched nearly 300 rockets and mortars into Israel from the Gaza Strip, including a whopping 80 launched on Monday alone. The military claimed that 40 rockets were launched in just one hour just after the sun went down. Twelve rockets were intercepted and many others landed in open areas.
The army later said that eight more rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza since just before midnight through early Tuesday morning, and fortunately one rocket was intercepted directly above the Israeli town of Sderot, located near Israel’s border with Gaza. Lerner said Hamas has an inventory of roughly 10,000 rockets, including longer-range rockets that can reach “up to Tel Aviv and beyond.”
Because of their capability and recent emboldened attacks, Lerner said the Israeli military must prepare for the very real possibility that Hamas is gearing up to launch rockets into Israel’s heartland, including its commercial hub and cultural centers.
