Hamas fires rockets into Israel after airstrikes kill six

[Shah-i-Kot]

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/n...ter-airstrikes


Hamas fires rockets into Israel after airstrikes kill six

The armed wing of Hamas has fired more than 12 rockets and mortars from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel.





Luke BrowneJune 19, 2012 14:45
A Palestinian fighter from the Popular Resistance Committee, an Islamist coalition of militants based in the Gaza Strip, attends a training session in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza in December 2010. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

The armed wing of Hamas has fired more than 12 rockets and mortars from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel in response to Israeli airstrikes on the territory that have left at least six Palestinians dead in recent days.
The rocket fire from the al-Qassam Brigades – a rarity, given Hamas’ tacit truce with Israel – followed the deaths of two 17-year-old Palestinian teenagers shortly after midnight Tuesday in an Israeli strike on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Witnesses told the Agence France Presse the two had been attempting to breach Israel’s security fence when they were hit. The Israeli military said it had struck “a terrorist squad handling an explosive device.”
Four other Gazans have died in Israeli air attacks over the past few days. According to ynetnews.com, two suspected militants were killed whilst riding a motorbike near the northern town of Beit Hanoun on Monday evening.
Militants from other Palestinian groups in Gaza have fired more than 275 rockets and mortars into Israel since January, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement Monday, according to Haaretz. It is unclear why Hamas’ armed wing has now chosen to engage Israel directly.
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Meanwhile, a militant group calling itself the Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem claimed responsibility for an attack just inside Israel’s southern border with Egypt on Monday, in which two men crossed into Israel from the lawless Sinai peninsula and opened fire on civilians working on the construction of a border security force, according to the BBC.
One of the Israeli workers was killed, while both attackers – identified by the militant group as an Egyptian and a Saudi – died in clashes with Israeli forces, the Associated Press reported.

[Shah-i-Kot]

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=274471


Four Border Police officers injured by Kassam

By YAAKOV KATZ, YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST.COM STAFF
06/19/2012 22:35
1 injured seriously, 3 lightly in Ashkelon Coast area; over 40 rockets, mortar shells pound southern Israel; after refraining from launching rockets itself, Hamas claims responsibility for at least 10 launches.

Photo: Nikola Solic / Reuters Palestinians in Gaza fired a Kassam rocket into southern Israel injuring four Border Police officers late Tuesday night.
One of the officers was seriously injured when the rocket directly struck a building in the Ashkelon Coast region. Three others were lightly injured. Magen David Adom paramedics evacuated the injured to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.
Related:

• IAF strikes 2 weapons facilities in Gaza Strip
• IAF strikes again at Gaza Strip terror groups

The seriously injured officer suffered shrapnel wounds to his legs.
A total of 46 rockets and mortar shells pounded southern Israel on Tuesday, in one of the worst days of violence in months. Israel was expected to escalate its response and Defense Minister Ehud Barak held security consultations late Tuesday night to review various options
36 fell in the Negev region and 10 exploded in the Lachish area. Police bomb squads spent the day searching for rocket impact areas to recover the projectiles’ remains. No one was hurt in the attacks but residents in the Ashkelon and Sdot Negev regions were ordered to stay close to bomb shelters throughout the day.
Israel was particularly concerned with the increase in rocket fire but particularly with Hamas’s declared involvement in the attacks, a clear break from its earlier policy not to attack Israel as was demonstrated during the last round of violence with Islamic Jihad in March.
While attacking Israel along the border with the Gaza Strip, Hamas has refrained from firing its long-range Grad-model Katyusha rockets into Israeli cities. Instead, it allowed other groups, such as Islamic Jihad or the Popular Resistance Committees to fire into Israel.
In the afternoon, the Israel Air Force attacked a motorbike in the central Gaza Strip, wounding one person, who the IDF said was involved in the rocket fire into Israel.
Iron Dome batteries were deployed throughout the South but by the evening had not been activated. The IDF said that the batteries were on high alert and were prepared to defend the cities they surrounded.
Hamas claimed that it was responding to the killing of Palestinians in recent days. The IAF killed at least six Palestinians since Monday, when it launched a series of airstrikes against a sniper and rocket cell.
Meanwhile Tuesday, Reuters obtained a video showing a group of masked men who claimed responsibility for the attack along the Egyptian border on Monday during which terrorists killed an Israeli construction worker. The men said they were part of a newly formed Islamic movement called "The Shura Council of Mujahideen in the Holy Land."
The masked men used Islamic slogans, pledging to liberate the Holy Land from what they termed Jewish control.
A second video showed two men, one of whom said they were about to embark on a mission to attack "the Zionist forces on the border of Egypt and occupied Palestine", an apparent reference to Monday's incident on the Sinai border.
The first man said he was an Egyptian named Abu Salah al-Masri. The other said he came from Saudi Arabia and gave his name as Abu Huthiyfa al-Rathali. The videos could not immediately be verified.
"The more things deteriorate, the closer we come to a decision we don't want to make," Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said. "The prospect of a ground operation (in the Gaza Strip) shouldn't frighten us."
"If this situation escalates, and I hope it won't, then all options are open. They know it. We know it. The international community knows it," he told Israel Radio.
Reuters contributed to the report.

[Shah-i-Kot]

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/brea...nt/2012/06/19/


40 Rockets Fired at Israel, Policemen injured, Iron Dome Silent

By: Jewish Press Staff
Published: June 19th, 2012

Since the morning hours, at least 40 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into south-western Israel. Several Israeli Border Policemen were injured Tuesday evening, one of them is in critical condition.
Tuesday afternoon, IAF aircraft targeted a terrorist squad in the central Gaza Strip. The squad targeted was responsible for the rockets fired at Israel over the previous few hours. Both Arab terrorists were killed.
Since the start of 2012, more than 290 rockets have been fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. But, unlike earlier attacks, so far this week the Iron Dome defense system has not been put in operation.
The IDF has released a statement that it will not tolerate any attempt by terrorist groups to target Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, and will continue to operate against those who use terror against the State of Israel. The Hamas terror organization is solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip