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Israel launches 200 strikes on targets in Gaza Strip
Source: Agencies |
November 18, 2012, Sunday
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ISRAEL bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes early yesterday, the military said, widening a blistering assault on Gaza rocket operations to include the prime minister's headquarters and a police compound.
The new attacks, which Gaza officials say left 10 dead, followed an unprecedented rocket strike aimed at the contested holy city of Jerusalem that raised the stakes in Israel's violent confrontation with Palestinian militants and extended the battlefield.
Israeli aircraft also kept pounding their original targets, the militants' weapons storage facilities and underground rocket launching sites. They also went after rocket squads more aggressively. The military has called up thousands of reservists and massed troops, tanks and other armored vehicles along the border with Gaza.
Militants, undaunted by the heavy damage the Israeli attacks have inflicted, have unleashed some 500 rockets against the Jewish state, including new, longer-range weapons turned for the first time this week against Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv heartland. Following those attacks, the military deployed an Iron Dome rocket defense battery in central Israel yesterday and shot down an incoming projectile bound for Tel Aviv.
Widened instability
Ten people, including eight militants, were killed and dozens wounded in the various attacks early yesterday, Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said. In all, 40 Palestinians including 13 civilians and three Israeli civilians have been killed since the Israeli operation began.
The violence has widened the instability gripping the Middle East. At the same time, revolts against entrenched regional regimes have opened up new possibilities for Hamas. Islamists across the Middle East have been strengthened, bringing new-found recognition to Hamas, shunned by the international community for its refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence.
A high-level Tunisian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem, drove that point home with a visit to Gaza yesterday. The foreign minister's first stop was the still-smoldering ruins of the three-story office building of Gaza's prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.
"Israel has to understand that there is an international law and it has to respect the international law to stop the aggression against the Palestinian people," Abdessalem said during a tour of Gaza's main hospital, Shifa, yesterday.
Israel had been expanding its operation beyond military targets but before dawn yesterday it ramped that up dramatically, hitting Hamas symbols of power.
Haniyeh's office building was flattened by an airstrike. He was not inside at the time.
Missiles also smashed into the massive Hamas police headquarters in Gaza City, setting off a blaze that engulfed nearby houses, the Interior Ministry reported. No one was inside the buildings.
The Israeli military said more than 800 targets have been struck since the operation began.
The new attacks, which Gaza officials say left 10 dead, followed an unprecedented rocket strike aimed at the contested holy city of Jerusalem that raised the stakes in Israel's violent confrontation with Palestinian militants and extended the battlefield.
Israeli aircraft also kept pounding their original targets, the militants' weapons storage facilities and underground rocket launching sites. They also went after rocket squads more aggressively. The military has called up thousands of reservists and massed troops, tanks and other armored vehicles along the border with Gaza.
Militants, undaunted by the heavy damage the Israeli attacks have inflicted, have unleashed some 500 rockets against the Jewish state, including new, longer-range weapons turned for the first time this week against Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv heartland. Following those attacks, the military deployed an Iron Dome rocket defense battery in central Israel yesterday and shot down an incoming projectile bound for Tel Aviv.
Widened instability
Ten people, including eight militants, were killed and dozens wounded in the various attacks early yesterday, Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said. In all, 40 Palestinians including 13 civilians and three Israeli civilians have been killed since the Israeli operation began.
The violence has widened the instability gripping the Middle East. At the same time, revolts against entrenched regional regimes have opened up new possibilities for Hamas. Islamists across the Middle East have been strengthened, bringing new-found recognition to Hamas, shunned by the international community for its refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence.
A high-level Tunisian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem, drove that point home with a visit to Gaza yesterday. The foreign minister's first stop was the still-smoldering ruins of the three-story office building of Gaza's prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.
"Israel has to understand that there is an international law and it has to respect the international law to stop the aggression against the Palestinian people," Abdessalem said during a tour of Gaza's main hospital, Shifa, yesterday.
Israel had been expanding its operation beyond military targets but before dawn yesterday it ramped that up dramatically, hitting Hamas symbols of power.
Haniyeh's office building was flattened by an airstrike. He was not inside at the time.
Missiles also smashed into the massive Hamas police headquarters in Gaza City, setting off a blaze that engulfed nearby houses, the Interior Ministry reported. No one was inside the buildings.
The Israeli military said more than 800 targets have been struck since the operation began.
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