An interceptor rocket rises into the night sky, air-raid sirens howl. Then the bullet hits. The rocket, shot down from the Gaza Strip to the Israeli Ashkelon just a few miles away, was brought down from the sky.
Another bullet struck Ashkelon, in the middle of the night, and its splinters fatally injured a house-dweller. The man, father of four children, is the first Israeli death victim of this confrontation with the Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip.
About 450 rockets were fired by the Israeli army until the morning from the coastal area to Israel. One could intercept 150, explained an army spokesman. Tens of thousands of Israelis spent the previous night in fear.
Netanyahu sends reinforcements to the border
„We have chosen Benjamin Netanyahu and will continue to do so,“ says a concerned. He demands a tough move from the head of government. „Now the rockets have reached us here, 150 to 180 in one day, we can not be soft anymore, it’s time to draw a line, it can not go on like that.“
Netanyahu said in the morning that he had ordered the army to continue its operations against the terrorists in the Gaza Strip and ordered the sending of infantry, artillery and tanks to the border.
In response to the rocket fire, Israel’s forces alone attacked around 220 Gaza targets by the morning. These included a suspected underground rocket workshop and buildings containing facilities belonging to the Islamic Jihad group and Hamas, which controls the coastal area.
At least eight Palestinians were killed, including fighters of the two groups, but also a baby and his mother. The Israeli army dismissed the responsibility for the death of mother and child and said the two were probably killed in a failed rocket launch by Palestinians.
Hamas continues attacks
The government is under pressure to act. However, Yaakov Amidror, former major general and former national security adviser of his country, does not believe in an impending ground offensive aimed at overthrowing Hamas in the Gaza Strip. „Israel can not win anything with a major operation in Gaza,“ he believes. „At the end of the day, we do not want to take responsibility for the two million people there.“ Therefore, it was in Israel’s interest not to destroy Hamas. „Because if someone is responsible there is better than a situation in which nobody does.“
Hamas has announced that it will continue the rocket fire. She accuses Israel of failing to comply with the agreements that were made during an unofficial ceasefire a month ago.
UN call for restraint
For Israel, the current escalation comes at a sensitive time. The final weekend of Tel Aviv will be the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Meanwhile, the US government has shown solidarity with Israel and said it supports Israel’s right to self-defense.
The United Nations called for restraint on the Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip and on Israel. Together with Egypt, they will try to reassure the situation, said the UN Special Envoy for the region.
