And again: We cease and they fire
I was too optimistic when I guaranteed that the Gaza cease fire that was declared by Hamas on Monday would not last until the end of the month. It didn't even last until the end of the evening. I'm writing this several hours before you'll see it, but at this writing there have already been three Grad rockets that were shot at Ashkelon and two more that fell in Gaza. One Kassam rocket exploded on Monday night in an open area in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council after two further rockets exploded earlier in the evening. One of the rockets that fell south of Ashkelon earlier sparked a fire near a kibbutz, and was later doused police said.It's been a long time since I've pointed this out, but for those of you who are wondering why the terrorists keep trying to hit Ashkelon as opposed to other targets, here is why.
The attacks once again placed reports of an unofficial ceasefire in question and have shattered a period of around 8 hours when no projectiles were fired at southern Israel.
Earlier on Monday, Taher a-Nunu, spokesman for the Hamas government, said that the factions in the Gaza Strip and Hamas announced that they are willing to comply to truce, if Israel agrees not to carry out more strikes.
The Popular Resistance Committees, the group Israel says is behind a deadly terror attack last week near Eilat, announced Monday that it would adhere to a cease-fire as an escalation in Gaza seemed to calm. The announcement followed reports that Palestinian factions had agreed to stop firing rockets at Israel.
"We will temporarily stop firing rockets for the sake of our Palestinian people," the terrorist group said in a statement posted on its website, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported. The PRC had previously resisted committing to a cease-fire.
Over a dozen rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel since Sunday night and the IDF struck back in the Strip at least once. No Gaza-based group took responsibility for the rocket launches. No injuries were reported from the rockets.
This morning's Toronto Star points out three sensitive targets for the Kassams in and around Ashkelon in addition to its 120,000 residents:So a strike in Ashkelon could lead to a real disaster - exactly what the terrorists want.The strike on Ashkelon ... exposes three extremely strategic vulnerabilities certain to alter the tenor of debate within Israel's security cabinet. The sensitive sites include:
The Rotenberg Power Plant, Israel's second-largest generating station which supplies an estimated quarter of the country's needs. The Ashkelon Seawater Reverse Osmosis Plant, the largest desalination plant of its kind in the world. Launched last August, the facility is ramping up to provide an annual flow of 100 million cubic litres of water, an estimated 15 per cent of domestic demand. The Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company, which controls three oil pipelines reaching to the port cities of Eilat, Ashdod and Haifa.
Labels: Ashkelon, Gaza, Grad rocket, Hamas, strategic facilities
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:26 AM
1 Comments:
At the moment, Palestinian losses are greater than Israeli losses and the rockets have done negligible damage to Israel. The Palestinians are finding terrorism is not drawing Israel into the kind of wider conflict they want. That may succeed someday but not now.
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