An Israeli air
strike killed two people on a motorcycle in Gaza City early on Sunday,
medical officials said, the latest development in the weeks-long
conflict with Palestinian militants that has shown no sign of abating.
The Israeli military had no
initial comment on the strike and it was unclear if those killed had any
particular militant affiliation. Israel launched an offensive on Gaza
on July 8, with the declared aim of ending militant rocket fire on its
territory.
Palestinian Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra identified the
two casualties as Badr Hashim Abu Mnih and Yahya Abu al-Omareen, both in
their twenties. They were taken to al-Shifa Hospital.
The IDF has announced that Hamas' chief weapons researcher got his virgins on Friday.
The target, Ismael Muhammad Sa'ad Akluk, 25, was in a vehicle which was
targeted by the IAF, acting on information from the Shin Bet
intelligence agency.
The Shin Bet said Akluk had been involved in weapons production centers
and weapons research and development for several years, describing him
as a key figure in Hamas's drone and rocket research program.
"This strike represents a blow to the armament program of Hamas's
military wing, particularly to advanced weapons and drones, which are
seen as flagship programs that received many resources," the Shin Bet
stated.
In a separate incident, a joint IDF-Shin
Bet (Israel Security Agency) operation struck a vehicle containing a
commander of Hamas's naval commando unit, Muhammad Sa'aban, aged 24, on
Tuesday.
Palestinian media reported that four Hamas people in total were killed in the targeted strike on the vehicle.
Sa'aban's commando unit operated in northern Gaza, security forces said.
He was immediately killed in the strike. Sa'aban was a resident of
Jabalia in Gaza.
The IAF critically wounded a 'Palestinian' terrorist riding a motorcycle on Sunday in Gaza. Abdallah Kharti, 28, was no hero - he was a real rocketeer.
Kharti, from Nuseirat, is a member of Gaza's Popular Resistance
Committees. He also smuggles weapons into Sinai and Egypt for the global
jihad group Ansar Bayt al-Quds, which intends the weapons for attacks
on Israeli civilians and soldiers. He was involved in two rocket attacks
from Gaza last month, the Shin Bet said.
In
a joint press release, the army and Shin Bet said it "will respond
forcefully to any planned or actual rocket attacks at Israel, and
continues to hold Hamas responsible for preventing such assaults." They
said 33 rocket attacks have been launched from Gaza at Israel this year.
Defense
Minister Moshe Ya'alon warned Hamas, ruler of the Strip, that if it
"didn't know how to enforce its authority over the territory it
controls, we will know how to make it pay a price, too."
Kharti was also allegedly involved in a terrorist attack near Eilat in the summer of 2011 in which eight Israelis were murdered.
Have you noticed that the 'Palestinians' don't seem to be celebrating these things quite as much as they used to? Hmmm.
The IAF struck an Islamic Jihad terrorist on a motorcycle on Sunday morning, taking him out of commission for a long time to come. According to the IDF spokesman, the terrorist was responsible for Thursday's rocket fire on Ashkelon and constituted an immediate danger.
The target, named as Ahmed Sa'ad, took part in the firing of rockets
at southern Israeli communities, the IDF said, and planned further
attacks in the near future.
Palestinian media sources said a missile struck a 22-year-old
motorcyclist in Gaza who sustained serious injuries, along with a
12-year-old boy who suffered moderate injuries.
"We acted to remove an immediate threat to Israeli civilians," the IDF
spokesman said. "Sa'ad was personally responsible for the firing of
rockets at Ashkelon last Thursday," he added, referring to an attack
that saw five rockets fired at the southern city in the middle of the
night, setting off air raid sirens. The Iron Dome anti-rocket system
intercepted all of the projectiles heading to Ashkelon in that attack.
Sa'ad was also involved in planting rocket launchers, the IDF spokesman
added. During Operation Pillar of Defense, in November 2012, and an
earlier escalation, in March 2012, Sa'ad fired rockets at Israel as
well, according to the military.
According to Palestinian news agency Ma'an, two other Israeli air
strikes on sites used to train Palestinian militants in central and
southern Gaza left no reported injuries.
Security forces have named the targeted man as 24-year-old Hitham
Mashal, a resident of northern Gaza. Mashal was active in multiple Salafi-jihadi
organizations, and was a weapons expert linked to last month’s twin rocket
attack on Eilat, security forces said.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security
Agency) and the IDF jointly carried out Tuesday’s air strike, which occurred at
10 a.m.
“Mashal dealt in the manufacturing, upgrading and trade of
firearms, particularly rockets and bombs, which he delivered to various terror
organizations for profit, and to promote terrorism against the IDF and Israeli
civilians,” the Shin Bet added.
Mashal provided arms to the Ashura
Council of Holy Fighters in the Environs of Jerusalem, a global jihadi
organization that fired rockets on Eilat and at the western Negev earlier this
month.\
“Mashal was involved in promoting and carrying out [the Eilat]
attack,” the Shin Bet said. “His activity was known to Hamas, which refrained
from stopping him.”
It's been a while since we've seen a good car swarm. I have two videos of tonight's. The first is an amateur video (probably someone's cell phone or iPOD of the immediate aftermath.
Let's go to the videotape.
The other is from after most of the fire was put out.
Let's go to the videotape.
I wonder why they don't seem to be throwing the body parts around anymore. Heh.
Breaking: IDF hitting terror sites in Gaza (UPDATED WITH PICTURE OF CAR SWARM)
Within the past hour, the IDF has targeted - and killed - Hamas terror commander Ahmed Jabari (pictured right).
In the past hour, the IDF targeted Ahmed Jabri,
the head of Hamas’ military wing, in the Gaza Strip. Jabri was a senior
Hamas operative who served in the upper echelon of the Hamas’ command
and was directly responsible for executing terror attacks against the
State of Israel in the past number of years.
The purpose of this operation was to severely impair the command and
control chain of the Hamas leadership, as well as its terrorist
infrastructure. This was a surgical operation in cooperation with the
Israeli Security Agency, that was implemented on the basis of concrete
intelligence and using advanced capabilities.
The airstrike marked the beginning of a campaign
to target Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror organizations in Gaza, IDF
spokesman Yoav Mordechai said.
"The first aim of this operation
is to bring back quiet to southern Israel, and the second target is to
strike at terror organizations," Mordechai said.
Mordechai
described Jabari as a man with "a lot of blood on his hands." The IDF
has urged civilians to pay attention to instructions from the Home Front Command in light of the developments.
Over the past 48 hours, IDF Chief of Staff
Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz has approved a series of
steps following a four-day rocket barrage on southern Israel.
"All options are open," the IDF spokesman said, adding "we are very determined to strike at terror organizations."
The
IDF confirmed that Jabari was killed in the attack which came after four
rockets landed in the Eshkol Regional Council area on Wednesday. The IDF
was reportedly checking if the rockets were fired from Gaza or Egypt's
Sinai Peninsula.
The Israeli military says its assassination of the Hamas military
commander marks the beginning of an operation against Gaza militants.
Wednesday's
airstrike in Gaza killed Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing.
The killing was a dramatic resumption of Israel's policy of
assassinating Palestinian militant leaders.
Military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch said the attack is the "start of a broader operation."
Jabari is the most senior Hamas official to be killed since an Israeli invasion of Gaza four years ago.
Jabari
has long topped Israel's most-wanted list. Israel blames him for a
string of attacks, including the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad
Schalit in 2006.
And here's what you all want. Here's a picture of the car swarm:
Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed at least 12 Palestinians, including a senior militant leader.
Zohair al-Qaisi, secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), was targeted because he was planning an attack, the Israelis said.
Another militant was killed with him. The Islamic Jihad militant group said 10 members of its military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, were also killed.
The Israeli military said dozens of rockets had been fired into Israel.
Why is it that nearly everything that happened to the 'Palestinians' is stated as objective fact and as having been caused by Israeli air strikes, whereas the rockets that were fired into Israel are treated as unverifiable and therefore as "the Israelis said"? Does the BBC have no correspondents in southern Israel?
I am going to guess that the answer is that the BBC has correspondents in Israel, but only in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and therefore cannot verify anything for itself elsewhere in Israel, whereas in Gaza it has 'Palestinian' stringers who present every consequence of an Israeli airstrike - and indeed the existence of Israeli airstrikes - as 'fact.' Maybe it's time for the BBC to hire Israeli stringers in our periphery so as to overcome that bias?
By the way, the caption on the picture (which if you click on it becomes a video) is amusing. It's actually the car in which Zohair al-Qaisi, secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, was killed. But if you don't click on it and watch the car swarm video (which I embedded here from a different source), you would never know that the caption is quite understated.
Here's the car swarm video of the week featuring Zuhir al-Qaisi, the Secretary General of the Popular Resistance Committee - the group that kidnapped IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit - and Mahmoud Hanani, one of Qaisi's deputies who was released in the terrorists for Gilad trade.
It's raw, like car swarms should be, but you'll hear them screaming 'Alla hu Akhbar' in the background.
The IAF targeted two members of the Global Jihad on Tuesday night, and wounded eight others. Here's the IDF spokesperson.
A short while ago, in a joint IDF-ISA operation, a squad affiliated with recent terror activity was targeted in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, and will operate against anyone who uses terror against the State of Israel. The Hamas terror organization is solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza strip.
UPDATE: Following the targeting of a Global Jihad affiliated-terrorist and an additional member, in a joint IDF-ISA activity, IAF aircraft targeted an additional terrorist squad affiliated with the Global Jihad terror movement, in the northern Gaza Strip. The squad was previously known to the IDF due to its attempt in carrying out a terror attack on the Israel-Egypt border. A direct hit was confirmed.
The terrorist squad included: Rami Daoud Jabar Khafarna, born 1984, a Global Jihad-affiliated terrorist from Jabalia. Khafarna is a former member of the Hamas military wing who is known to have taken part in firing rockets at Israel; Hazam Mahmad Sa’adi Al-Shakr, born 1985, a Global Jihad-affiliated terrorist from Beit Hanoun, is a former member of the Hamas terror organization. He has planted and detonated explosive devices against IDF soldiers, along the border with the Gaza Strip.
Hamas identified the man killed in the earlier strike as Abdullah Telbani, an operative of Islamic Jihad's Saraya Al-Quds wing in his 20s. Two other Palestinians were also injured in the attack when the explosion ripped through their tuk tuk, a motorized rickshaw, according to medics in the Strip. They were taken to Amal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
Shortly afterwards, a Qassam rocket was fired from northern Gaza at Israel. The projectile exploded on the Palestinian side of the border.
...
The PA's Maan news agency reported that an Israeli military aircraft targeted a car driving in the center of Gaza City on Tuesday night, injuring at least eight people, who were rushed to the Strip's Shifa Hospital. Two of the injured are said to be in critical condition.
Finally, let's go to the videotape.
The Gazans have mellowed. In the old days, they would pick up body parts and wave them screaming "Allahu Akhbar." Perhaps they're getting tired of this? We can dream, can't we?
There are five fewer terrorists in Gaza today thanks to the Israeli Air Force (picture is from my archive) (Hat Tip: Noah P via Twitter).
IAF aircraft carried out a strike against a terrorist cell in Gaza that was attempting to launch rockets into Israeli territory on Saturday, IDF spokesperson reported.
The airstrike successfully hit its intended targets.
...
Palestinian medical sources said that five people were killed as a result of the strike east of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Palestinain News Agency Ma'an reported.
According to the report, four of the five Palestinians killed in the airstrike were from the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Islam Yassin, 35, from Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip was killed in the strike along with his brother Muhammad, and four people were lightly wounded, a Palestinian source in Gaza said.
Yassin was planning to kidnap Israelis vacationing in Sinai, the IDF Spokesman’s Office said in a statement.
According to the IDF, Yassin had “acted as the right-hand man and aide” to the head of the Army of Islam, Memtaz Dormush.
On November 11, the Counter-Terrorism Bureau released an urgent warning calling on all Israelis in Sinai to return to Israel immediately, due to intelligence of a kidnap plot.
Wednesday’s attack was the second in Gaza within a month in which a member of the global jihadi organization was targeted to thwart the Sinai plot.
These guys were also responsible for the kidnapping of BBC journalist Alan Johnston a few years ago. The world is a better place without them.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
