In response to the more than 60 Kassam, mortar, and Grad rockets fired from the Gaza Strip since Saturday, the IDF has launched retaliatory strikes they hope will end the recent back-and-forth with Hamas without further escalation.
Four military-grade projectiles — the IDF could not confirm yet whether they are Kassam, mortar, or Grad rockets — were just fired at the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council area near the border with the northern Gaza Strip.
The attacks, Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich told reporters on a conference call a short while ago, have been coming from seven launch points in Gaza, though the IDF only targeted six of them for retaliation.
“The reason we only targeted six was because [near] the seventh one we identified civilians,” Leibovich said. “So we eliminated that target. This is really the point here, that the IDF retaliates to protect its citizens, defend this country, only when we have information that there are no civilians in that area.”
On the Israeli side, Leibovich said she can confirm damage to houses and a handful of injuries.
Leibovich said Israel has no desire to escalate the conflict. I asked her if there are plans for a deeper retaliation if Hamas continues the rocket fire. She responded: “Look, the IDF has one goal, to try and eliminate terrorists, to try and reduce the launchings into Israel. This is our goal. I hope that Hamas will realize the situation and also to choose not to escalate. At our end, we do not wish to escalate the situation.”
— Seth Mandel is a foreign-affairs writer specializing in the Middle East.
According to our local trolls. The fact that nobody was killed in these attacks is proof that Israel had no right to retaliate.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt’s good to see Israel not enduring years of rocket attacks before they retaliate this time. One of the many lessons of Operation Cast Lead is that Israel earns no good will waiting to defend itself, so it’s better to immediately retaliate and risk immediate condemnation than wait and be condemned anyway. It’s also rather clarifying to see Europe willing to use force against a country that did not attack it, while denying Israel the right to defend itself against thousands of direct attacks. The “International Community” quickly tossed aside the so-called doctrine of “Proportionality” it claimed existed during Operation Cast Lead when it went to war with Libya, but no honest person ever thought that the Doctrine of Proportionality was anything other than some nonsense made up by haters of the Jewish state in order to deprive Israel of the right to self-defense.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWrong answer. Israel should escalate the situation. For every crude mortar the savages lob into Israel, 100 large caliber accurate artillery shells should be fired back blanketing the entire area. Trying to be proportionate and over cautious about civilian casualties only emboldens the monsters and as for international condemnation, they already get that when they practice restraint.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf the presence of civilians guarantees a non-response in a given area, this is the perfect incentive to the terrorists or terrorist states to place civilians there! Which is what they usually try to do.
This cowardly human shield strategy never bothers the terrorists' leftist supporters and fellow-travelers.
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