Hamas pounds Israel with missiles, rockets, mortars, suicide bombers
Pastor Dale Morgan
Hamas pounds Israel with missiles, rockets, mortars, suicide bombers *
Debk Files
Under cover of a barrage of more than 50 missiles, mortars and rocket,
Hamas made three attempts to breach the Gaza border fence for major
suicide bombings, the last one late Thursday, June 12. They sent a
bulldozer to ram Netiv Ha’asara, a bomb car to crash the border fence
and gunmen on foot to blow up the Erez crossing. Israel ground and air
units foiled them all.
Israeli locations from Ashkelon in the north down to Shear Hanegev,
Kibbutz Nir Oz and Sderot were struck by 20 missiles, one Grad rocket
and more than 35 mortar shells. A woman was injured at Kibbutz Yad
Mordecai. Sirens warned people under attack to stay in indoors, as fire
blazed and explosions erupted – one close to the Barzilai regional
hospital in Ashkelon.
The first Hamas attempt to blow up Israeli military guard posts at the
Erez crossing was mounted early Thursday as the Israeli defense
ministry’s political coordinator Amos Gilead traveled to Cairo to hand
over Israel’s acceptance of the Egyptian formula for a truce in Gaza.
They were intercepted and at least one was killed by Israeli ground and
air fire.
Wednesday, Israel’s security cabinet approved the decision by prime
minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak to accept a
ceasefire with Hamas (called “a lull”), instead of launching the
large-scale military operation needed to finally relieve southwestern
Israel of daily Palestinian missile, rocket and mortar attacks. Hamas
greeted that decision with the heaviest Palestinian barrage in months.
The population is preparing further protest action, accusing the Olmert
government of cowardice, sacrificing their security for self-serving
political ends and risking the loss of the Negev, the southern half of
Israel.
IDF: We prevented major Gaza border terror attack – www.haaretz.com
The Israel Defense Forces foiled a large scale terror attack planned to
coincide with a barrage of some 50 Qassam rockets and mortar shells
fired from Gaza into western Negev Thursday afternoon, the army said.
One Israeli woman moderately wounded when a rocket slammed directly into
the infirmary in a moshav in the Ashkelon coastal region.
The IDF said that Gaza militants were planning to use the heavy barrage
as a diversion in order to carry out a massive attack at the border
fence between Israel and the Strip.
A heavy vehicle approached IDF troops stationed at the Gaza border fence
at an alarming speed; the IDF described the attempted attack. The
soldiers opened fire and forced the vehicle to stop. The IDF said that
it was the soldiers' quick response that likely prevented a serious attack.
The vehicle and the scene were both studied by IDF investigators in
order to learn more details of the militants' plan.
Furthermore, the IDF added that the Israel Air Force bombed the
Palestinian mortar squad that fired on kibbutz Nir Oz minutes earlier,
and identified a direct hit.
The barrage of mortar shells came shortly after an explosion destroyed a
Hamas bomb-maker's house in the Gaza Strip, killing at least four
people, including a baby, in what Hamas initially called an Israeli air
strike.
Israel, which routinely accepts responsibility for attacks on military
targets, denied involvement and described the incident as a Palestinian
work accident.
The explosion, which also wounded about 25 people, destroyed the
two-story dwelling and damaged several other homes in the northern Gaza
town of Beit Lahiya, an area from which militants frequently fire
rockets into southern Israel.
Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida later announced the group had launched an
investigation into the cause of the blast, indicating that the explosion
was likely caused by an accident.
Hamas initially said that an Israel Air Force aircraft attacked the
house belonging to Ahmed Hamouda, whom it described as one of its senior
bomb-makers.
It was not clear whether Hamouda, was inside the house at the time of
the explosion.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said a 4-month-old niece and teenage
nephew of Hamouda were among the dead, along with an assistant to
Interior Minister Said Siyam, a top Hamas figure in Gaza.
Over the years, dozens of Palestinian militants have been killed
unintentionally while mishandling explosives meant to be used against
Israel.
Earlier Thursday, Israel Defense Forces troops killed two Palestinian
militants who were rigging explosive devices near the security fence
between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
An IDF spokesman said the militants were also apparently trying to
infiltrate Israeli terrirtory.
An IDF tank operating in the Nativ Ha'asara area north of the Gaza
border opened fire on one of the militants and forces from the Givati
Brigade shot at the second militant.
The militants killed belonged to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the groups said.
The violence came as members of the political-security cabinet decided
to hold off on a much-touted invasion of Gaza in order to give
Egyptian-brokered truce efforts more time to succeed.
Meanwhile, Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad headed to Cairo on
Thursday in attempt to reignite the Egyptian-brokered truce talks.
IDF troops killed four Palestinians - one militant and three civilians -
in three separate incidents in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
Also Wednesday, an Israeli man was lightly wounded by a mortar shell
fired from the coastal territory.