For the first time since the end of Operation Protective Edge, the IDF attacked Gaza: Israeli Air Force planes attacked Hamas training areas in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, in response to the rocket yesterday at the western Negev. The IDF said that the targets attacked were used by the military wing of the terrorist organization. Gaza medical sources Reuters reported to Reuters that there were no casualties following the Israeli response to the rocket yesterday. “The IDF will not allow any attempt to harm the security of the citizens of Israel,” IDF spokesman said in a statement. Hamas is a terrorist organization and is responsible.” Channel 2 News/Meir Ben Harush Despite the IDFs response to the shooting yesterday, Eshkol Regional Council head Haim Yellin claimed this morning that surgical strikes will not bring long-term peace to residents near the Gaza Strip. Israel must above all take care of the physical safety of its citizens, said Yellin to News 2 Online. The state can do this through military responses like last night, but must always end this with an agreement.” What is happening today in Gaza is a ticking time bomb, warned the head of the council, who announced last week that he is joining the party “Yesh Atid. Even if a thousand trucks a day go through with equipment and food to Gaza, it will not change the hardships of the residents there, that unfortunately, come to us in the form of Qassam rockets and mortar shells. According to Yellin, the only way to test whether Israels deterrence is good enough is by measuring the length of quiet in the region. You have to take care that the calm will be maintained, stressed Yellin. We do not consider the responses of the IDF and the government. We want peace and that is the governments responsibility. You can no longer refer to the single mortar shell or Qassam as a trickle, because if it was fired at the center of the country it would be called a barrage . Yesterday, at about 11:45 there was a red alert in several towns in the areas of the Eshkol Regional Council, including Holit and Sofa. A rocket fired from Gaza exploded in the area without causing casualties or damage. It remains unclear what entity in the Gaza Strip was responsible. At the end of several hours of searching, IDF forces located the remains of the rocket in an open area outside one of the communities in the region.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 08:50:33 +0000