Here is another update from the War Zone, in the midst of the third day of the current bout of hostilities, in what has been given the name Operation Protective Edge (Tsuk Eitan). At 8 am this morning I was woken up in Jaffa by an air-raid siren, and another one sounded around noon. I heard some explosions, but the rockets headed this way had evidently had been intercepted by the Iron Dome system. No injuries were reported but falling fragments damaged some buildings, including a small piece that landed on the wall of a gas station in the Florentin neighborhood, on the north-eastern outskirts of Jaffa. The barrage continues - close to a hundred rockets had been fired today from Gaza on southern and central Israeli cities, causing massive property damage and fortunately only light injuries so far, mostly from the resulting fires. I can hear distant explosions all day long. Forty rockets were reportedly fired in just one hour around midnight last night (Thur-Fri) during the semifinal football match in the World Cup, perhaps hoping to catch everyone watching the game. Its not clear what percentage of the rockets does the Iron Dome system actually intercept, but many are also faulty and fail to explode on impact. Most of the damage Israel has sustained so far is psychological, caused by the constant and very scary-sounding air-raid sirens and the nerve-wrecking wait for the inevitable explosion. Cities and villages in the radius of 10-20 km from Gaza get no more than a 45 second warning between the two, hardly enough to get to the shelter-room, usually just time to get under a door-jamb - and this families with small children do every time, many times a day in the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot. The situation, however, is much worse in Gaza itself. The Gaza strip is a tiny territory, about 40 km long and an average of 8 wide - and it is home to two million people, making it one of the most densely populated regions in the world. Its virtually impossible to hit any military installation there without hitting adjacent civilian buildings as well. If that werent enough, the Hamas leadership keep their headquarters in their own living rooms with the family present, and conceal munitions in basements of schools and hospitals. Israel has been trying to make pin-point strikes targeting only a specific house or vehicle, this based on aerial and ground intelligence - but the family of the targeted person is almost always on the premises as well. When a munitions storage or rocket-launchers are sighted in a private residence Israel usually sends warning phone messages to residents to get out before an attack. But Hamas is asking them on the contrary, to stay in the house and make themselves martyrs for the cause, while photos of their horrible deaths are circulated on social media as obvious proof of Israeli atrocities. According to unconfirmed Gaza sources, 76 Palestinian civilians have been killed so far, many of them children or teenagers, and scores more injured. It is a horrible price to pay, but seems unavoidable given the population density. And with its cities being targeted by rockets and its citizens under attack, its hard to see what choice Israel has but to respond with force to at least try and halt the ceaseless barrage, while some type of a political compromise is reached. The issues surrounding this conflict doubtless demand a comprehensive resolution, but this cannot be achieved under fire. The population of Gaza will sadly continue to suffer as long as the shooting of rockets from there persists. It is fervently hoped that it can be stopped without a military incursion into the territory, as that would surely lead to massive civilian casualties there. Thousands of Israeli reserve troops have been called up and armored divisions have encircled the Gaza Strip in preparation for such an assault, which will hopefully still be avoided.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 15:43:38 +0000
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