Israel Matzav

'Palestinian' rockets hit empty fields near Beersheva, IDF responds

'Palestinian' terrorists fired Grad rockets from Gaza at Beersheva on Monday night. The rockets fell in empty fields outside the city. The IDF responded during the night, killing one 'Palestinian' terrorist and seriously wounding five others who were about to fire rockets at Israel. This is from the first link.

No injuries or damages were reported.

Beersheba is located approximately 40 kilometers away from the Gaza Strip.

Last week [I think "Last week" is an editor's mistake. CiJ], Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired three mortar shells at the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council in the south overnight on Sunday.

The first shell exploded near a fence surrounding a kibbutz, damaging the structure. Two additional mortars exploded near a kibbutz. A rocket alert system was activated, sending residents fleeing for cover.

Due to the escalation in rocket fire from the Gaza Strip earlier in the month, Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided at the time to deploy an Iron Dome anti-rocket defense battery outside the southern city of Ashkelon.

Barak’s decision came after close to 30 rockets were fired into Israel since the beginning of July.

What they're not saying explicitly here - but which Israel Radio explicitly reported - is that there is no Iron Dome battery deployed around Beersheva. So much for our great protection.

The 'color red' alarms sounded in Beersheva, and in Omer and Meitar, the latter two being located east of Beersheva.

This is from the second link.

Israeli air strikes launched on Tuesday killed one gunman and wounded five other people, Hamas medical sources said.

They added that three gunmen involved in firing rockets at Israel were hit in the first air strike, east of Gaza City, in a pre-dawn attack. One of the gunmen later died of his injuries, they said.

Three Palestinian civilians, among them a boy, were injured, the sources said, in a separate air strike that targeted a tunnel beneath Gaza's border with Egypt of a type Israel says is used to smuggle in weapons.

Why is a 'boy' in or around a weapons smuggling tunnel? Hello? Geneva?

The IDF Spokesman's Office confirmed that IAF struck four targets in the Gaza Strip. The statement added that the precision strikes were identified as hitting their targets.

It added that prior to the strikes, several terrorists were seen attempting to fire a rocket at Israel but were thwarted by the air force.

This kind of tit-for-tat game benefits the terrorists and not us. They can be sure that the IDF will only shoot at military targets (and yes, a smuggling tunnel is a military target even if a 'boy' is being used as a human shield to protect it - a fact presumably not known by the IDF before they fired). Our civilians, on the other hand, cannot go about their normal daily lives because they never know when the next rocket will hit. Even rockets that fall 'harmlessly' into fields disrupt daily life (would you want to live that way?).

Beersheva and Ashkelon aren't 'occupied territory' unless one counts all territory on which Jews live as 'occupied,' which means that the 'Palestinians' don't accept the 'two-state solution.' Gee, you mean that the 'Palestinians' don't accept it? No kidding....

Eventually, the IDF will have to 'mow the grass' again - as was done in Operation Cast Lead - but since we left Hamas to fight another day the last time, the IDF will confront greater quantities and quality of weaponry this time.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Beersheva, Gaza, Grad rocket, Iron Dome, Palestinian terrorists

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:28 AM