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IDF-Gaza Watch

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by

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz
in

Please Pray for the Peace of Israel!

In the early hours Monday morning, a rocket attack hit central Israel with one rocket making a direct hit on a house, injuring seven people. The rocket penetrated 75 miles into Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is currently in Washington has decided to cut short his visit and will return to Israel following a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

“There has been a criminal attack on the State of Israel, and we will respond forcefully,” said Netanyahu. “In light of the security events, I have decided to cut short my visit to the US and will return to Israel immediately after my meeting with President Trump.”

In the meantime, it is thought that he has already held a security consultation with the Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the head of the National Security Council (NSC) and senior security officials.

This is the second time in as many weeks that rockets and missiles have been fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel’s densely populated coastal plain.

UPDATES

Monday 10:45 PM

Multiple rockets fired at Israel. Israel strikes near Khan Younis Port.

Monday 10:00 PM

Hamas sources claim an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Israel will go into effect at 10:00 PM

Monday 9:35 PM

House in Sderot suffers a direct hit from Hamas rocket. No injuries were reported.

Monday 9:15 PM

Multiple barrages launched at Israel. No reports of Damage or injuries.

Monday 9:00 PM

The IDF destroys the office of Hamas head, Ismail Haniyeh.

Monday 9:55 PM

Hamas media is quoting Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum as saying that an Egyptian brokered ceasefire with Israel will go into effect at 10:00 PM.

Monday 8:20 PM

Red alert sirens go off in southern Israel. Two mortars land in an open field. One Palestinian reported injured in IDF strikes.

Monday 7:45 PM

The IDF stated that the current attacks in Gaza are the first stage of a larger operation.

“We are just at the beginning,” Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said. “A large attack is planned. I think that Hamas understands this is a significant strike (following) a serious incident, and ultimately, this is a price that Hamas has been due to pay for the past year.”

IDF reports destroying Hamas’ military headquarters.

The Gaza Health Ministry is reporting that there have been no injuries as a result of the IDF strikes.

Monday 6:55 PM

Gazan news site Shehab reported another wave of IDF airstrikes. No injuries have been reported so far.

Monday 6:45 PM

Major Israeli cities including Tel Aviv open up public bomb shelters.

Monday 5:45 PM

Media sources inside Gaza are reporting loud explosions. Shehab news reported that Israeli aircraft hit a post in the northern Gaza Strip belonging to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, with two missiles. This was confirmed by the IDF.

The Gaza Health Ministry reported that no people were injured in the strikes.

Monday, 4:00 PM

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said that the IDF had placed infantry and an armored brigade under the IDF’s Southern Command and had put out an emergency call-up to reservists to bolster the personnel available to operate the Iron Dome rocket defense system and anti-aircraft systems and carry out intelligence work.

“We are ready for a variety of scenarios,” Manelis said, stressing that the rocket had been fired from a Hamas position and that Israel was holding Hamas responsible for “everything that happens in the Gaza Strip.”

In addition, the army deployed infantry and armored corps units to the Gaza border.

Monday 3:00 PM

The IDF shut down agricultural work and roads along the Gaza border “to improve readiness.” Train service in southern Israel was also shut down.

Monday 5:24 AM

Red Alert sirens went off in southern Israel, sending Israelis scrambling. The family was in a child’s bedroom which had been fortified as a secure space. when the rocket hit the roof above their living room, penetrating into the house. The grandmother, 60, sustained burns and shrapnel wounds when she ran out to pull the door to the safe room shut. She was listed in moderate condition. The mother of the family and a six-month-old baby were lightly wounded by shrapnel. The rest of the family, including a 12-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy, were suffering from shock but physically unharmed. The family’s dogs were killed in the attack.

A Hamas source inside  Gaza told Al Jazeera that the rocket launch was due to “bad weather.”

“No one from the resistance movements, including Hamas, has an interest in firing rockets from the Gaza Strip towards the enemy,” the official said on condition of anonymity, evoking the possibility that the strike may have been caused by “bad weather”.

The IDF placed the blame directly on Hamas. “The rocket fire was carried out by Hamas from a Hamas position. We see Hamas as being responsible for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip,” an IDF statement read.

Reports out of Gaza said that Hamas and the Islamic Jihad were evacuating their positions, expecting an Israeli military response.

A joint statement by the military factions in Gaza released a statement warning Israel against any military response.

“We warn the Israeli army not to test the resistance, because it will be surprised by the harsh and collective response the occupation will not be able to endure,” said the statement.

 

Source: Israel in the News