Israel Matzav

Iron Dome gets two near Tel Aviv

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone. This is live. I didn't have time to prepare posts on Friday.

The Iron Dome anti-missile system shot down two Fajr-5 rockets that were shot at Tel Aviv on Saturday. It was the third attack on Tel Aviv in three days (you mean they don't know Peace Now is there?). There was also an attempt to hit Jerusalem on Friday evening just after sundown. It missed. 

While police said that one of the missiles landed in an open area, a military source told The Jerusalem Post that the Iron Dome intercepted both missiles.
The Defense Ministry deployed an upgraded Iron Dome battery in the Gush Dan area in the center of Israel on Saturday morning, after rushing its production in light of escalation. The battery is the fifth Iron Dome system operational in Israel.

The attack followed volley after volley of rockets aimed at southern towns on Saturday, as red alert sirens wailed repeatedly, warning residents to flee for cover. Two rockets also landed outside the capital Jerusalem on Friday. One rocket landed near a Palestinian village in the West Bank, shattering windows and scaring residents.

Rockets in Ashdod lightly injured five people Friday, and caused damage to a house. Houses were also damaged in Eshkol and Be'er Tuviya. Four IDF soldiers were lightly injured by shrapnel from a rocket in the Eshkol area.

According to Israel Radio, over 60 rockets have fallen on the South on the fourth day of Operation Pillar of Defense. The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted 15 of the rockets.

In total, Palestinians fired 740 rockets toward the Jewish state since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense on Wednesday, but only around 30 landed in built-up areas. Iron Dome intercepted 230 projectiles in total, maintaining a 90% intercept rate. Only 27 of the rockets, about 4 percent, ultimately landed in urban areas.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz instructed the military on Saturday afternoon to increase the rate of strikes on terrorist cells, among them rocket launching squads.
The Israel Air Force struck 200 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Friday, including 120 rocket launchers and 20 tunnels, bringing the total number of targets throughout Operation Pillar of Defense to 830.

Officials in Gaza said 41 Palestinians, including eight children and a pregnant woman, had been killed since Israel began its air strikes.

If you believe those Hamas figures (and Hamas figures are not usually believable) then you have to assume that 32 terrorists and nine human shields have been killed.  In 830 missions. If we really wanted to kill people, we would have killed a lot more.

Labels: Operation Pillar of Defense

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:32 PM