Israel under fire-April 2011

Israel under fire-April 2011

  • 4/10/2011
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    Following the missile attack on a school bus on Thursday, April 7, over 120 rockets and mortar shells were fired on Israel's south by Gaza terror groups over the weekend.
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    Over the weekend, approximately 120 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israeli population centers in southern Israel, including Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon, the three largest cities in the south. Eight rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system, preventing direct hits on cities in the south (the system is not used to intercept rockets falling in open areas).

    Between April 7 and 10 a total of 58 rocket and 67 mortar shell hits were identified in Israeli territory. Several were long-range rockets which hit north of the city of Ashdod. Several villages sustained damage to property and civilians were treated for shock. Since Thursday, eight Grad missiles and rockets were intercepted by IAF Aerial Defense Corps forces, using the "Iron Dome" systems stationed in Beersheba and Ashkelon.

    Daily rocket and mortar shell fire

    Source: ITIC


    The farming communities of the Sha'ar Hanegev and Eshkol regional councils have been subjected to continuous mortar and rocket attacks. One of rockets that struck a kibbutz in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, late on Saturday afternoon, hit a main water pipe. One rocket fell in the Eshkol Regional Council area and caused damage to homes. Three people remained hospitalized at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon suffering from shock after experiencing rocket attacks. Six other shock victims were released to their homes. Three Grad rockets exploded in the Ofakim area on Saturday, one near a school fence in the Merchavim Regional Council causing minor damage. Rockets also fell in the Lachish region, in the western Negev.


    Summary of IDF activity in response attacks from Gaza
    (Communicated by the IDF Spokesperson)

    Over the past 48 hours, in response to the incident in which a school bus was hit with an anti-tank missile near Sa'ad on Thursday, April 7, 2011, combined Israel Air Force, Armored and Infantry forces are operating in the Gaza Strip in order to restore the calm to Israel's southern communities.

    IAF aircraft and armored forces targeted eleven squads of terrorists in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, immediately following their firing of rockets and mortars at the Israeli home front, deliberately targeting Israeli civilians.

    Following heavy rocket and mortar fire at residents of the Eshkol Regional Council, fired from within a civilian neighborhood in southern Gaza on Friday (April 8), an IAF aircraft targeted two terrorist squads at the launch sites. Next to one of the targets, in addition to the terror squad, uninvolved civilians were apparently injured. The IDF regrets that the Hamas terrorist organization chooses to operate from within its civilian population, using it as a "human shield".

    Footage released the Hamas' military wing shows the launching of rockets from the heart of a civilian area in Gaza.


     
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    I​AF aircraft targeted 15 terror activity sites in the Gaza Strip, including terror infrastructure sites, Hamas outposts, smuggling tunnels and weapons manufacturing and storage facilities. The targets struck included a truck containing weaponry in the northern Gaza Strip and a smuggling tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip. Direct hits were confirmed.

    Additionally, during joint IDF-ISA activities, IAF aircraft targeted Hamas commanders and operatives, including a senior Hamas operative in the southern Gaza Strip, Tayser Abu Snima, who was directly and physically involved in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. In addition, he held several major roles in the military wing of Hamas and was involved in a significant number of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. Most recently, he was in charge of executing a terror attack from Sinai, firing rockets at the city of Eilat. The Shalit family was notified of the incident.

    The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians, and will continue to operate with strength and determination against any terrorist organization using terror against the State of Israel. The Hamas terrorist organization is solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip.

    Kerem Shalom, the main entry point for goods entering the Gaza Strip, has been closed due to continuing rocket fire and the accumulation of concrete security threats against IDF soldiers who operate the crossing. This measure was taken on the order of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, since an anti-tank missile attack carried out by Palestinian terrorists on a school bus (April 7) at the Sa'ad junction, wounding two Israeli civilians.
    Despite the closure, the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration notes that there are still large supplies of food and medical supplies in Gaza and that no shortages are expected in the coming days.
    The Kerem Shalom crossing was reopened on April 13.

    PM Netanyahu (April 10):

    "The IDF has been active in the Gaza Strip just now and it struck very hard after Hamas's criminal aggression against us. No other country would be willing to countenance the intentional firing of an anti-tank missile at a children's bus, to say nothing of criminal attacks against civilians, and Israel is certainly not willing to accept it. Today, the Cabinet instructed the IDF to do whatever is necessary to stop the firing at our people and restore quiet to the south. This is our intention. I hope that this will be Hamas's intention as well. If this is what it intends, then quiet will return. If it steps up its aggression, it will feel our arm and our response will be much harsher."