Israel Matzav

Four border police injured by one of 46 Kassams shot from Gaza

Four border police were injured - one moderately and three lightly - by a Kassam rocket explosion in Ashkelon on Tuesday night. The rocket was one of more than 40 that were fired into Israel from Gaza on Tuesday, and in a change from the recent past, Hamas is taking 'credit' for some of the rockets.

The moderately injured officer suffered shrapnel wounds to his legs.

A total of 46 rockets and mortar shells pounded southern Israel on Tuesday, in one of the worst days of violence in months. Israel was expected to escalate its response and Defense Minister Ehud Barak held security consultations late Tuesday night to review various options

36 fell in the Negev region and 10 exploded in the Lachish area. Police bomb squads spent the day searching for rocket impact areas to recover the projectiles’ remains. No one was hurt in the attacks but residents in the Ashkelon and Sdot Negev regions were ordered to stay close to bomb shelters throughout the day.

Israel was particularly concerned with the increase in rocket fire but particularly with Hamas’s declared involvement in the attacks, a clear break from its earlier policy not to attack Israel as was demonstrated during the last round of violence with Islamic Jihad in March.

YNet adds:

The Home Front Command instructed the residents of the Gaza vicinity communities to stay in very close proximity to shelters and other fortified structures.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak convened the defense establishment's top officials for a situation assessment.

A Defense Ministry source said that "a wide range of retaliatory actions are under review."

Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino noted Tuesday night that the current round of violence between Gaza and Israel may continue for several days: "I hope (the violence) won't expand, but we are preparing for the possibility that it may reach the larger and more distant cities," he said.

Danino ordered the Southern District Police on high alert following Monday's terror attack on the Israel-Egypt border.

And Iron Dome? Deployed but not activated - probably because it didn't calculate that any of the rockets was going to hit anything. I guess they messed up in Ashkelon.

But the bigger drawback of Iron Dome is that it does not allow life to go on normally as if there was no rocket fire. That means that, despite Iron Dome, the IDF will have to go into action if normalcy is going to be restored. And don't hold your breath thinking that probably means they'll wipe out the whole terrorist infrastructure. They probably won't.

Labels: Gaza envelope, Hamas rockets, Iron Dome, Kassam rockets

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:21 AM