Palestinians fire at least 80 rockets at southern Israel

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Palestinian terrorists fired at least 80 rockets from Gaza into southern Israel since Friday night, leaving eight Israelis injured. The barrages came after an air strike killed the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair Qaisi.

The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted at least five rockets fired from the Gaza Strip at Beersheba and Ashdod early Saturday morning. In total, at least ten rockets have been intercepted by the system since the beginning of the escalation on Friday.

A Palestinian rocket fired from Gaza landed in Beersheba early Saturday morning, activating air raid sirens and sending residents fleeing for cover.

The IAF struck six targets in Gaza overnight Friday and Saturday morning in response to the rocket attacks from the Strip earlier in the day. 12 Palestinians - ten of them members of the Islamic Jihad organization - were killed in the strikes and another 20 were injured, according to Palestinian news agency Ma'an.

In the Eshkol Regional Council a 40-year-old man was seriously injured, a second man was moderately injured by shrapnel in his stomach and a third was lightly injured. Paramedics said the injured appear to be foreign workers. An electric pole and a vehicle were also damaged in the attack.

Two additional people were lightly injured in a car accident that occurred during an air raid siren at the Emunim Junction between Ashdod and Ashkelon. Three other people in the South were lightly injured while fleeing for cover during sirens. One other civilian was being treated for shock.

The injured were taken to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot and the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, as well as the Soroka Medical Center in Be'ersheba. In the Be'er Tuvia area, police located a rocket explosion site. The windows of a home were shattered and a car was damaged. No injuries were reported.

The barrage of rockets followed an IAF air strike that killed the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair Qaisi.

The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) swiftly called for retaliation following the first IAF strike that killed Qaisi, as well as senior PRC member Ahmad Hanini. A third man was also injured in the attack. The IAF struck a vehicle in a move to thwart a large-scale terror attack that was in its last stages of preparation, according to the IDF spokesperson.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Israel was responsible for what he called "a grave escalation."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also condemned the strike.

The IDF stated that the attack was part of an operation to thwart the intentions of terrorists to carry out terror attacks in Sinai, along the border between Israel and Egypt. Qaisi had been planning and leading over the past few days, a major terror attack against Israeli targets, and the strike was conducted in order to prevent the attack, the IDF said in a statement.

It added that the IDF was not interested in escalation but was ready to defend Israel and would respond forcefully and decisively against against any attempt at terrorist activity.

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=261203

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Palestinian terrorists fired at least 80 rockets from Gaza into southern Israel since Friday night, leaving eight Israelis injured. The barrages came after an air strike killed the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair Qaisi.

The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted at least five rockets fired from the Gaza Strip at Beersheba and Ashdod early Saturday morning. In total, at least ten rockets have been intercepted by the system since the beginning of the escalation on Friday.

A Palestinian rocket fired from Gaza landed in Beersheba early Saturday morning, activating air raid sirens and sending residents fleeing for cover.

The IAF struck six targets in Gaza overnight Friday and Saturday morning in response to the rocket attacks from the Strip earlier in the day. 12 Palestinians - ten of them members of the Islamic Jihad organization - were killed in the strikes and another 20 were injured, according to Palestinian news agency Ma'an.

In the Eshkol Regional Council a 40-year-old man was seriously injured, a second man was moderately injured by shrapnel in his stomach and a third was lightly injured. Paramedics said the injured appear to be foreign workers. An electric pole and a vehicle were also damaged in the attack.

Two additional people were lightly injured in a car accident that occurred during an air raid siren at the Emunim Junction between Ashdod and Ashkelon. Three other people in the South were lightly injured while fleeing for cover during sirens. One other civilian was being treated for shock.

The injured were taken to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot and the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, as well as the Soroka Medical Center in Be'ersheba. In the Be'er Tuvia area, police located a rocket explosion site. The windows of a home were shattered and a car was damaged. No injuries were reported.

The barrage of rockets followed an IAF air strike that killed the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair Qaisi.

The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) swiftly called for retaliation following the first IAF strike that killed Qaisi, as well as senior PRC member Ahmad Hanini. A third man was also injured in the attack. The IAF struck a vehicle in a move to thwart a large-scale terror attack that was in its last stages of preparation, according to the IDF spokesperson.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Israel was responsible for what he called "a grave escalation."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also condemned the strike.

The IDF stated that the attack was part of an operation to thwart the intentions of terrorists to carry out terror attacks in Sinai, along the border between Israel and Egypt. Qaisi had been planning and leading over the past few days, a major terror attack against Israeli targets, and the strike was conducted in order to prevent the attack, the IDF said in a statement.

It added that the IDF was not interested in escalation but was ready to defend Israel and would respond forcefully and decisively against against any attempt at terrorist activity.

http://www.jpost.com....aspx?id=261203

READ STORY BEFORE YOU APOLOGIZE FOR THE IDF!!!!! They instigated the action and then they claim to be victims, PUUUULEEEEZE!!!! If the IDF ever needs a spokesman, apologist, whatever, you've got my endorsement.

[Pooky 3,836]

READ STORY BEFORE YOU APOLOGIZE FOR THE IDF!!!!! They instigated the action and then they claim to be victims, PUUUULEEEEZE!!!! If the IDF ever needs a spokesman, apologist, whatever, you've got my endorsement.

Obviously, you didn't read paragraph 4. Report States clearly that Islamic Jihad launched first on Friday, which prompted the response from the IDF, to be followed by further rockets out of Gaza.

So, no, the IDF did not instigate this round of stupidity.

I would, however, be interested to find out why Islamic Jihad did.

Edited March 10, 2012 by Pooky

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

This is how the Arabs would like the world to see it. The Arabs shoot 80 missiles into Israel and Israel isn't supposed to retaliate?

http://news.yahoo.com/arab-league-condemns-gaza-massacre-170856103.html

Arab League condemns Gaza 'massacre'

AFP – 3 hrs ago

The Arab League on Saturday condemned Israeli air strikes on Gaza that killed 15 Palestinians, calling it a "massacre" and urging an international tough stance against the Jewish state.

Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo slammed Israel's "dangerous escalation on the blockaded Gaza Strip which led to 15 deaths, left dozens injured and destroyed property and houses."

The 22-member Arab body called on the international community to "take a firm stance to dissuade Israel from its continued massacres and violations of the rights of the Palestinian people."

It also said "Israel bears the responsibility, as an occupying force, to end the illegitimate blockade on Gaza and to protect the Palestinian people."

Medics said Saturday that Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed 15 Palestinians including a militant group chief.

The raids came as Palestinian militants fired more than 90 rockets and mortar rounds into southern Israel since Friday morning, the Israeli army said.

It was the deadliest 24-hour period on the Gaza-Israel border since a devastating Israeli assault in December 2008-January 2009 aimed at halting Palestinian rocket attacks.

[Pooky 3,836]

This is how the Arabs would like the world to see it. The Arabs shoot 80 missiles into Israel and Israel isn't supposed to retaliate?

You need to read the article, too. The 80 rockets followed the IDF strike, which itself followed a far smaller number of rocket launches by Islamic Jihad earlier on Friday.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Obviously, you didn't read paragraph 4. Report States clearly that Islamic Jihad launched first on Friday, which prompted the response from the IDF, to be followed by further rockets out of Gaza.

So, no, the IDF did not instigate this round of stupidity.

I would, however, be interested to find out why Islamic Jihad did.

Looks like you didn't read Paragraph 8:

The barrage of rockets followed an IAF air strike that killed the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair Qaisi.

Read more here (same source as the OP):

Analysis: Easy to start, hard to end

By YAAKOV KATZ

03/10/2012 22:16

Israel knew that it could expect rockets when it made the decision to assassinate the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees.

When the IDF decided Friday afternoon to assassinate the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in the Gaza Strip it knew what it was getting itself into.

Assessments ahead of the decision to bomb the car carrying Zuhair Qaisi predicted that around 100 rockets could be fired into Israel during every day of the round of violence expected to erupt. This was a price the Israeli government felt it was capable of paying.

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=261274

Translation: Israel wanted an escalation, so it instigated one.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Obviously, you didn't read paragraph 4. Report States clearly that Islamic Jihad launched first on Friday, which prompted the response from the IDF, to be followed by further rockets out of Gaza.

So, no, the IDF did not instigate this round of stupidity.

I would, however, be interested to find out why Islamic Jihad did.

Read paragraph 1, line 2 of the story and we'll chat..

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-strike-kills-gaza-militant-leader-militants-164342817.html

Eleven Palestinians, most of them fighters, were killed and around 15 wounded in a series of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian medics.

The Israeli raids came as Palestinians fired dozens of rockets and mortar rounds into the Eshkol region of southern Israel, wounding four people, one seriously, Israeli military sources said on Saturday.

One Israeli strike, on a car travelling in the Tel El-Hawa neighbourhood west of Gaza City, killed the head of the militant Popular Resistance Committees, Zohair al-Qaisi, and fellow member Mahmud Hanani, the group said.

Both the PRC and the military wing of Hamas threatened to retaliate for Qaisi's death, and around 40 rockets and shells were subsequently fired on southern Israel.

The Al Quds Brigades, the military arm of Islamic Jihad, said later that strikes on the east side of Gaza City and then on the city centre had killed nine of its members.

Around 15 Gaza citizens were wounded in the Israeli raids, emergency services said. The Israeli military said that in the course of the day about 40 rockets and mortar rounds had landed in southern Israel.

The PRC and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement, issued statements claiming to have fired rockets into Israel on Friday.

The official Palestinian WAFA news agency quoted a statement by the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority condemning the Israeli retaliation, saying it had created a "negative environment" that would "escalate the circle of violence in the region."

The Israeli military said Qaisi "was among the leaders who planned, funded and directed" a deadly cross-border attack into southern Israel from Egypt's Sinai last August.

In that incident, gunmen carried out a coordinated series of shooting ambushes on buses and cars on Route 12, which runs along the Egyptian border 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the Red Sea resort of Eilat.

The shootings took place over several hours, leaving eight dead and more than 25 wounded.

The military statement said Qaisi was also involved in a 2008 attack on a terminal for pumping fuel from Israel into the Gaza Strip, in which two Israeli civilians were killed.

The statement added that both the dead men were "responsible for planning a combined terror attack that was to take place via Sinai in the coming days."

It said that other strikes were aimed at men about to fire rockets into Israel.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has maintained a tacit truce with Israel, but other armed Palestinian groups regularly fire rockets and mortars across the border, which can spark air strikes in response.

The relatively small Popular Resistance Committees is one of the most active, and it pledged to avenge its men's deaths.

"We are not committed to the truce; we will respond very strongly to this (Israeli) crime," Abu Ataya, a spokesman for the PRC's military wing, the Al-Nasser Salahadin Brigades, told AFP.

Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, also warned of retribution.

"Al-Qassam Brigades mourns the martyr leader Zohair Qaisi and martyr Mahmud Hanani and confirms that their blood will not be wasted, the enemy's crime will be a curse on him," it said in a statement.

Its political leaders were more restrained.

"The recent Zionist escalation is an unjustified crime, it comes as a part of the destabilisation of a stable security situation in the Gaza Strip" the Hamas-run Gaza government's interior ministry said in a statement.

"We hold the international community fully responsible for the attacks."

Before Friday's air strikes, Israeli army radio quoted what it called "senior military sources" as saying the army "does not intend to allow the firing to continue."

The Israeli attacks came in response to Palestinian mortar and rocket fire which started on Friday morning.

Edited March 10, 2012 by Why_Me

[Pooky 3,836]

Looks like you didn't read Paragraph 8:

Read more here (same source as the OP):

Translation: Israel wanted an escalation, so it instigated one.

Still lacking reading comprehension, I see.

Act 1. Islamic Jihad launches small number of rockets (quantity not identified in article)

Act 2. IDF strike on Gaza

Act 3. Islamic Jihad unleashes the "barrage of rockets"

No argument that Israel escalated the situation, but they certainly didn't start this round, no matter how you want to read it.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

How does the Arab League have the time to stick their noses in this when they are so busy doing nothing over the situation in Syria?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Still lacking reading comprehension, I see.

Act 1. Islamic Jihad launches small number of rockets (quantity not identified in article)

Act 2. IDF strike on Gaza

Act 3. Islamic Jihad unleashes the "barrage of rockets"

No argument that Israel escalated the situation, but they certainly didn't start this round, no matter how you want to read it.

Um. No. It is you who can't seem to read very well.

Act 1. Israel assassinates al Qaisi (PRC leader in Gaza) by hitting his car with missiles

Act 2. Flurry of low-tech rockets from various groups in Gaza, 1/3 of which are intercepted by Iron Dome and 2/3 apparently falling on unpopulated areas - neither killing nor injuring any Israelis

Act 3. IDF murders 15 more Palestinians and injures 21

Act 4. More rockets (which don't kill or injure anyone)

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Still lacking reading comprehension, I see.

Act 1. Islamic Jihad launches small number of rockets (quantity not identified in article)

Act 2. IDF strike on Gaza

Act 3. Islamic Jihad unleashes the "barrage of rockets"

No argument that Israel escalated the situation, but they certainly didn't start this round, no matter how you want to read it.

Dig deeper and we'll get the answer, oppressive policies might have something to do with it.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Um. No. It is you who can't seem to read very well.

Act 1. Israel assassinates al Qaisi (PRC leader in Gaza) by hitting his car with missiles

Act 2. Flurry of low-tech rockets from various groups in Gaza, 1/3 of which are intercepted by Iron Dome and 2/3 apparently falling on unpopulated areas - neither killing nor injuring any Israelis

Act 3. IDF murders 15 more Palestinians and injures 21

Act 4. More rockets (which don't kill or injure anyone)

Didn't Israel kill that kidnapper Zohair al-Qaisi...they guy behind kidnapping Gilad Shalit and then proceeded to hold him hostage for years? Ya that's the fellow who lost his head the other day.

Moral of the story is don't kidnap people and chances are you will keep your head on your shoulders where it belongs.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Didn't Israel kill that kidnapper Zohair al-Qaisi...they guy behind kidnapping Gilad Shalit and then proceeded to hold him hostage for years? Ya that's the fellow who lost his head the other day.

Moral of the story is don't kidnap people and chances are you will keep your head on your shoulders where it belongs.

It's the Israeli government that agreed to the prisoner swap. Since releasing the Palestinian prisoners, it has proceeded to re-arrest many, and now begin the assassinations. This only encourages the other side to up its ante as well.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

It's the Israeli government that agreed to the prisoner swap. Since releasing the Palestinian prisoners, it has proceeded to re-arrest many, and now begin the assassinations. This only encourages the other side to up its ante as well.

It's the way Israel rolls and has done so since the '72 Olympics in Munich. The Arabs know this.