It’s the continuation of the Gaza war against Israel: Palestinian Arabs continue launching rockets at civilian sites in Israel and the Jewish State continues trying to demolish the violent implements of its genocidal neighbor while protecting its own citizens with the very expensive but quite effective Iron Dome defense system. And all the while, peace talks continue in Cairo.
The Arab Palestinian factions continue negotiations, while Israelis state they will not negotiate while the terrorists continue firing rockets and mortars at its southern flank.
Initial salvos from Gaza succeeded in hitting homes in Gaza, where three civilians were injured from the shrapnel.
By the end of the day, Gaza had launched several dozen rockets into Israel, and Israeli forces struck an equal number of targets in the Gaza Strip. According to Gazan sources, five Gazan residents were killed in Israeli air strikes.
Hamas, far superior to Israel in terms of communicating its demands and turning them into pre-conditions, castigated Israel for failing to extend the ceasefire by “delaying”its response to the Hamas demands.
Israel still haven’t addressed our demands. We only got a memorandum of understanding from the Egyptians, which too hasn’t addressed a single demand of ours – airport, sea port, release of prisoners, expanding Gaza’s territorial waters etc. The lifting of the blockade was not cited explicitly. We believe Israel is resorting to foot-dragging. It hasn’t responded to our demands, hasn’t initiated anything indicating there are reasons to extend the ceasefire. Having said that, the door for negotiation hasn’t shut. The ball is in Israel’s court whether to accept our demands.
But Israel’s approach to public relations remains more one of efforts at explanation. While Hamas and its fraternal twin the Palestinian Authority both excel at promoting themselves as victims, while rewarding its citizens for embracing violence, Israel slowly, methodically, tries to explain to the world why there is an imbalance in casualty numbers, why there is massive destruction in Gaza, and little in Israel, and why schools, houses of worship and civilian neighborhoods are destroyed.
The IDF released the following video this week. It is an effort to explain some of the imbalances.