The Israeli Air Force has escalated an all-out war against the Hamas terrorist regime in Gaza while making mincemeat of Hamas attempts to kill civilians in Tel Aviv.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and IDF officers made it clear Friday and Saturday that the days of repetitive “cease fires” with Hamas and that years of agreeing to allow Hamas to attack, and then stop to re-arm, are history.
Hamas put on a fabulous propaganda show for Gaza residents Saturday night, boldly announcing more than an hour ahead of time that it would pulverize metropolitan Tel Aviv with rockets at 9 p.m. Israeli time.
Sure enough, it carried out its promise, but the results were pitiful as the Iron Dome system intercepted most of the missiles, leaving only minimal damage. Shrapnel from one rocket in the city of Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, caused light injuries to one man.
Hamas celebrated as if it had won the war and even told its residents that at least one of those nasty Zionists was killed, leaving only 6,999,999 Jews to finish off before it could declare peace.
Two deaths due to heart attacks after sirens blared were reported in Haifa on Friday and Jerusalem on Shabbat, where an elderly American tourist in Jerusalem succumbed to heart failure while sirens wailed in the capital.
Shortly after the missile barrage on Tel Aviv, the Israeli Air Force bombed dozens of terrorist targets in Gaza, including the home of the chief of Hamas police.
Up to 15 people were killed in the attack, and even if the Arab figures are exaggerated, the strike undoubtedly leveled a significant hole in the Hamas terrorist regime.
Another dead terrorist was a man who launched rockets and also was a nephew of Ismail Haniyeh, who was de facto prime minister of Gaza until the new Palestinian Authority unity government disguised his power with the creation of a puppet ”technocratic” government to satisfy naïve international experts, not the least of which is the Obama administration, that there suddenly is a terror-free regime in Ramallah.
Around midnight Saturday, the IDF warned residents in northern Gaza to leave their homes. The area is a magnet for terrorists because of its proximity to Israel. The Air Force apparently is trying to push rocket-launcher terrorists as far south as possible, possibly allowing for ground forces to move in and keep the area clean of terrorists.
“In the next few hours, in light of the fact Hamas is hiding behind civilians, we will change patterns of action and start evacuating Palestinian civilians in the northern Gaza Strip, where long-range rockets are fired from,” a senior IDF official told Ynet. “Following the evacuation, there will be a significant attack there. The objectives for this operation are to deal a significant blow to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, decrease the fire on civilians and strengthen the deterrence.”
Hamas fired approximately 50 rockets and missiles on Israel Saturday, setting off sirens in almost every section of the country south of Haifa, even in the Dead Sea area. The Iron Dome continued to prove effective and knocked out one missile that threatened the Modi’in-Ben Gurion Airport area.
Northern Israel heard sirens because of a volley of missiles from Lebanon, causing damage to an agriculture building. Pro-Palestinian Authority elements, and not Hezbollah, were behind the attacks. The Lebanese army, which is barely distinguishable from Hezbollah, arrested at least one of those who fired the rockets, indicating that it does not want a confrontation with Israel at this time.
Sirens also sounded in the southern Hebron Hills, and at least two of Hamas’ missiles exploded in Arab areas in Hebron and Bethlehem, causing minor injuries and damage.