Two more rockets fired at Israeli women and children as IDF clash with rioters

No injuries reported in attacks on Hof Ashkelon, Eshkol Regional Council; IDF fires, injures Palestinians protesting near border on second day of increased violence.

2 rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel on Friday evening, the IDF Spokespersons office reported.

No injuries were reported in either attack, and the IDF was searching for the remnants of the rockets.The first rocket landed in Hof Ashkelon and later on in the evening a second rocket landed in the Eshkol Regional Council.

Earlier Friday, the IDF fired into Gaza as a group of Palestinians were protesting near the border with Israel.

An unknown number of Palestinians were injured in the incident.

On Thursday, IDF soldiers fired on Palestinian suspects who approached a closed security zone on the border between northern Gaza and Israel and attempted to damage the fence.

Palestinian sources said that one man was killed and another wounded in the incident.

Jerusalem post

IDF soldiers shoot and reportedly kill suspected terrorists attempting to damage Gaza fence

Group of possible terrorist suspects enter closed security zone and begin sabotaging security fence, despite challenges from soldiers.

IDF soldiers fired on Palestinian suspects who approached a closed security zone on the border between northern Gaza and Israel on Thursday, and attempted to damage the fence.

Palestinian sources said that one man was killed and another wounded in the incident.

An army spokeswoman said a group of suspects entered the zone and began sabotaging the security fence, and that soldiers dispatched to the area attempted to persuade them to leave.

The conducted themselves professionally and after challenging then and trying to get then away, the soldiers opened fire, striking one or possibly two suspects. 

The Palestinian men then evacuated the area on their own. 

An army spokeswoman said a group of suspects entered the zone and began sabotaging the security fence, and that soldiers dispatched to the area attempted to persuade them to leave.

According to the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency, Ibrahim Suleiman Mansour, 26, was the man killed by the IDF fire.

The second man, a 21-year-old, suffered moderate wounds to his right foot in the incident, according to Ma'an.

Israeli soldiers are constantly getting fired upon from the fence and surrounding areas.

Conducted with help from Jerusalem post

So much for the warming relationship: Erdogan to Israel: Lift Gaza siege, or no reconciliation

The premier's statements are surprising given that just two days ago his foreign minister said that Turkey and Israel are as close as they have been yet to ending the long-running saga over the 'Mavi Marmara' incident.

It appears prospects for an Israeli-Turkish rapprochement are once again growing more distant.

During a news conference held on Tuesday, Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reiterated his government's position that any reconciliation between Ankara and Jerusalem would be contingent upon an Israeli commitment to remove the siege on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The premier's statements were all the more surprising given that just two days ago his foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, was quoted as saying that Turkey and Israel are as close as they have been yet to ending the long-running saga over the Mavi Marmara incident."The compensation talks on behalf of the victims of the Mavi Marmara, which are taking place between Ankara and Jerusalem, have not concluded," Erdogan said. "In the final stages, there will be a need to include a clause in the protocol that calls for the lifting of the siege on Gaza."

Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News quoted Davutoglu, who has been an acerbic and vocal critic of Israel, as saying in a televised interview that "there has recently been a momentum and new approach in compensation talks. We could say that most of the differences have been removed recently in these discussions."

Israeli diplomatic officials, continuing a policy that has been in place for the last few weeks, refused to comment on the matter. Last week officials in the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry were instructed not to talk about the issue.

Jerusalem post

25 facts and 25 points worth considering

Much of the media cover the so called peace process and portray it either as Israel being the bad guy or even as both sides kind of being 'equals' when in reality Israel is a modern civilised democratic country while the Palestinian camp is a barbaric, backward and bloodstained. The PA and Hamas want the same thing -PERIOD! And Gaza, the shining example of what happens when Israel is forced to give up its land, is a warning of what is to come if any further land is stolen from the Jewish people. 

Please share this as a warning to what is Kerry's intentions and what he is planning on an even larger scale. The rocket attacks on Israel WILL increase massively if further Jewish land is lost and the blame lies not on Israelis for handing their land over, but instead thousands of miles away in a White House dominered by the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Here are 25 facts about Hamas and 25 things worth considering while the present 'peace talks' are underway :

1. Hamas takes its name from an acronym that means “Islamic Resistance Movement” in Arabic.

2. Hamas refuses to recognize the State of Israel’s right to exist as an independent, sovereign nation, and is totally opposed to any agreement or arrangement that would recognize its right to exist. At the beginning of its charter there is a quotation attributed to Hassan Al-Bana, the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder, that “Israel will arise and continue to exist until Islam wipes it out, as it wiped out what went before.”

3. Hamas is committed to jihad. Its charter stresses the importance of jihad (holy war) as the main means for the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to achieve its goals: An uncompromising jihad must be waged against Israel. Jihad is the personal duty of every Muslim.

4. Hamas is an anti-Semitic organization. According to its charter, the Jewish people have only negative traits and are presented as planning to take over the world. The charter uses myths taken from classical European and Islamic-based anti-Semitism.

5. The Hamas Charter includes anti-Semitic myths taken from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (mentioned in Article 32) regarding Jewish control of the media, the film industry and education (Articles 17 and 22). The myths are constantly repeated to represent the Jews as responsible for the French and Russian revolutions and for all world and local wars: “No war takes place anywhere without the Jews’ being behind it” (Article 22). The charter demonizes the Jews and describes them as brutally behaving like Nazis toward women and children (Article 29).

6. Hamas is the local Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which recently took control of the Egyptian government.

7. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Canada, the European Union and Japan.

8. Although members of the international community have proposed treating the political and military wings of Hamas as separate entities, the Hamas infrastructure places the political wing at the command of the military wing. As Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin stated in 1988: “We can not separate the wing from the body. If we do so, the body will not be able to fly. Hamas is one body.”

9. Hamas’s first ever suicide bombing took place on April 16, 1993 when a suicide bomber detonated the car in which he was driving at the Mehola Junction near Beit El.

10. On January 27, 2002, the first female Palestinian suicide bomber, Wafa Idris, blew herself up on Jaffa Street in the heart of downtown Jerusalem, killing one person and injuring about 100 more. Hamas claimed responsibility.

11. Hamas has been responsible for many appalling acts of terror including the suicide bombing in the Park Hotel in the coastal city of Netanya, in the midst of the Passover holiday seder with 250 guests. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack in which 30 people were killed and 140 injured – 20 seriously.

12. In December 2011, Hamas “celebrated” its 24th anniversary, boasting that it had killed 1365 “Zionist soldiers” since 1987. Hamas does not differentiate between Israeli soldiers and civilians.

13. Hamas won a four year term at the head of the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006 but remains in office indefinitely.

14. In June 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip through a violent coup, killing numerous Palestinians, some by pushing them off of tall buildings in Gaza. The Red Cross estimated that at least 118 people were killed and more than 550 wounded during the fighting in the week up to June 15.

15. Hamas members use Palestinian children as human shields when carrying out attacks on Israeli soldiers.

16. On April 16, 2001, Hamas launched its first rocket into Israel from Gaza.

17. Since the beginning of 2012, over 1,800 rocket hits have been identified in Israeli territory.

18. Hamas deliberately targets Israeli civilians, firing rockets indiscriminately while hiding among its own civilian population – a “double war crime.”

19. Hamas is a Sunni group while it’s primary patron over the years has been the Shi’ite Iran.

20. Iran aids and supports Hamas in the following ways: by transferring enormous sums of money to the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip and to the Hamas movement; by training Hamas operatives in military skills in Iran; by smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip, including the long-range rockets recently used to attack Israeli cities; by transmitting technical-operational know-how used to manufacture and improve the weapons in Hamas’s possession, including increasing the destructive power of the IEDs and homemade rockets used to attack Israel.

21. Hamas’s annual budget was estimated to be some $70 million according to the Council of Foreign Relations.

22. Hamas routinely misinforms its followers. This week, Khaled Meshal falsely claimed to the Palestinian public that Hamas had destroyed Ehud Barak’s home in Tel Aviv. In reality, Israel destroyed the home of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

23. Although Hamas has complained of product shortages in the Gaza Strip, it has focused on smuggling thousands of rockets into the area.

24. Hamas and Fatah have been holding reconciliation talks intermittently since 2008, but have yet to reach a sustainable agreement.

25. “Palestine from the river to the sea, north to south is our land. Not an inch can be conceded. The liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine is a duty, a right and a goal. Holy war and armed resistance are the real and right path to liberation and recovery of rights.” – Khaled Meshal speaking at this week’s Hamas 25 anniversary “celebrations.”

Hamas is not interested in peace or compromise with Israel – the facts speak for themselves.

IDF officer Capt. Tal Nachman killed by friendly fire near Gaza border

Nachman's father to Army Radio: It was supposed to be his last day in Gaza; Nachman shot in back while asleep in case of mistaken identity.

IDF Captain Tal Nachman, 21, from Ness Ziona was shot dead by friendly fire early Tuesday morning after being mistaken for a terrorist near the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip.

The incident occurred during a routine security operation on the border with northern Gaza, in which a Combat Intelligence Collection unit set up a mobile observation post in an armored personnel carrier that is especially designed for surveillance.

During one of the security patrols, at around two a.m. on Tuesday morning, a Givati soldier identified what he believed to be suspicious movement on top of the APC containing the Combat Intelligence Collection soldiers. According to an initial IDF investigation, the movement was caused by an intelligence officer who descended into the APC's cabin to fetch an object.At the same time, soldiers from the Givati Brigade's Reconnaissance Battalion were in the area, in a separate armored personnel carrier, from which they launched occasional foot patrols.

The soldier initiated a procedure to arrest security suspects, during which he opened fire at the officer, believing him to be a terrorist who was trying to get into the APC.

The shots, fired from a range of ten to twelve meters, struck Nachman who was sleeping on the APC's top deck. The sleeping officer was fully equipped with protective body gear, in accordance with regulations, the IDF has found. Nevertheless, he was struck in the back, and evacuated to hospital, where he died of his injuries.

"Tal was killed by friendly fire for nothing," Nachman's father Nasi told Army Radio. "A soldier from Givati shot him by accident. It wasn't even in war. I guess God had other plans. Our greatest fear was to become a bereaved family, but the statistics caught up with us."

"Tal was the baby of the family," he added. "We were so proud of him. I guess we didn't take good enough care of him."

His father described him as a gifted student who followed his brother into the intelligence reconnaissance unit. Nachman was in the process of training to be a company commander, and Tuesday was to be his last day in Gaza before being transferred to a quieter area for training.

The Battalion Commander of the Combat Intelligence Collection unit involved in the friendly fire incident has visited the home of the bereaved family in Ness Ziona, and provided them with an account of what transpired.

IDF sources say a full investigation is underway that will closely examine the actions of the infantry soldier who opened fire.

Nachman was promoted to the rank of captain posthumously. He will be laid to rest on Tuesday at 3 p.m. in the military section of the Ness Ziona cemetery.

Last week, an explosive device was detonatedalong the southern portion of the security fence separating Israel from the Gaza Strip, the army said. No Israeli soldiers were injured.

Also on Tuesday morning, a Code Red missile alert siren sounded in Eshkol Regional Council near the Gaza Strip. No fallen missiles were located in the area.

IDF: Dramatic increase in Gaza terror in January

Over 28 rockets were launched at Israel from Gaza this month, says IDF Spokesperson's Office.

There was a dramatic increase in terror activity from Gaza in January, according a press release from the IDF Spokesperson's Office put out on Friday.

Fourteen rockets landed in southern Israel, and five were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system as they were approaching the area surrounding Ashkelon, the statement said.

The Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes at three suspected terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip before dawn on Friday, an IDF spokesman said.

Seven Palestinians were injured in the strikes, reported Palestinian news agency Ma'an."In response to the rocket fire at Israel, IAF aircraft targeted overnight a terror activity site and a weapon manufacturing facility in the northern Gaza strip and a weapon storage facility in the southern Gaza Strip," the IDF said. "Direct hits were confirmed."

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, currently on a business trip in Germany, released a statement on the airstrikes.

"We will not tolerate rocket fire towards Israel or any attempt to return to the situation before Operation Pillar of Defense," he said.

The defense minister stressed that Israel holds Hamas responsible to everything that happens in the Gaza Strip, and that the organization will pay the price for any rocket shooting or terror attacks against Israel.

Earlier in January, the IAF struck and killed Islamic Jihad terrorist Ahmed Sa'ad and PLO terrorist Ahmed Za'anin, both of whom "were extensively involved" in the planning and carrying out of rocket attacks on southern Israel as well as other attacks on IDF soldiers, an IDF spokesperson said.

Three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were found next to the Gaza security fence in the last month alone. The IEDs were detonated with the aim of harming IDF soldiers in the area safeguarding Israeli communities close to the border, an IDF spokesperson said.

"Israelis cannot be held at the mercy of these hideous terrorists operating from Hamas Gaza Strip," the spokesperson continued. "The bases of Gaza terrorism and its industry of death will not be immune while our citizens are being attacked. It is our responsibility, right and obligation to defend Israel from Gaza-based aggression."

Kerry desperately pushing his 'peace deal' through : meanwhile - ‘Annihilate Israel,’ Hamas leaders urge Gaza teens

‘Love death for the sake of Allah as much as our enemies love life,” Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told thousands of young Palestinians at last week’s graduation ceremony for Hamas camps in the Gaza Strip’s Yarmouk Stadium.

Haniyeh and other senior Hamas officials exhorted the young graduates to not only annihilate Israel, but also to carry their fight across the globe, in a January 16 Al-Aqsa TV broadcast translated by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute.

“This generation, Allah willing, will vanquish Israel,” said Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad.

“Let me congratulate you on your future victory,” Hammad continued, “and on the annihilation of Israel. As I said yesterday, they only have eight years left.”

“We pray for Allah to choose leaders and martyrs from among you, not only in Palestine, but throughout planet earth, so that the call for jihad will spread all over the world, and the entire world will embrace the religion of Allah.”

The camps, titled “the pioneers of liberation,” are run by Hamas’s ministries of education and interior. Some 13,000 students in grades 10-12 participated in the one-week training camps this year, compared to 5,000 last year when the program was launched, Israeli sources with knowledge of the program said.

The corps of instructors consists mainly of active members of Hamas’s security forces, and the curriculum includes weapons training, first aid, self defense, marching exercises and “security awareness” classes on identifying Israeli spies.

“Continue what you began in the camps,” Hamas Education Minister Osama al-Mazini urged. “Memorize what you have learned, and implement it in the battlefield when you meet the enemy.”

The footage showed thousands of young Palestinians, dressed in black, standing in formation as they listened to senior Hamas officials urging them to die in battle against the Zionist enemy.

Later in the clip, the graduates are seen performing military drills often seen in terrorist training videos, including clambering over walls, swinging across monkey bars, and jumping through burning obstacles. They also held RPGs and rifles.

“Nothing awaits you here but to be killed or to leave,” declared a camp graduate. “Our message to the Zionist enemy, everywhere and at any time, is this: You shall never enjoy a pleasant life on our beloved homeland. We, the sons of the Futuwwa camps, will confront you on every hill, in every valley, on every road.”

Hamdi Shaqura, deputy director of program affairs at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, a Gaza-based watchdog, said that his organization issued no statement on the training.

“To the best of my knowledge no other organization in Gaza issued a statement either,” he told The Times of Israel.

Omar Dawabha, an eleventh-grader who took part in the training, was quoted on the website of Hamas’s interior ministry saying that “he learned how to safeguard our rights and principles.” Another student, Mohammed Abu Nar, addressed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem at the graduation ceremony.

“We are the pioneers of liberation, we are coming to purify you from the Zionists,” he said.

Times of Israel 

IDF Targets Palestinian Islamic Jihad Terrorist Ahmad Sa’ad

The IDF successfully targeted a terrorist operative involved in recent attacks against Israel. The terrorist was planning further attacks on Israel in the coming days. Ahmad Sa’ad, a senior operative in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, was in the northern Gaza Strip when an IAF aircraft carried out the mission. The IDF operated in order to eliminate an imminent threat to the lives of Israeli civilians.

Ahmad Sa’ad was a key Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative in the Gaza Strip specializing in rocket launching. Sa’ad is personally responsible for the launching of five rockets towards Ashkelon on January 16, 2014 which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Sa’ad’s terrorist activities over the years include concealing, directing, and launching rockets at southern Israel in numerous incidents including during operation Pillar of Defense in Nov 2012, and multiple launches during an escalation of violence during March 2012. In recent days Sa’ad was involved in substantial planning of launching rockets at Israeli civilians.

“Gaza terrorists must know that there is a personal price to pay when planning and executing terror attacks against Israel,” said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, IDF Spokesman. “There is no immunity for those that partake in projectile terrorism. The IDF targeted an integral component of the Gaza terrorist mechanism in order to diminish terrorist capabilities and send a clear message of intolerance to the aggression from the Hamas territory.”

IDF Officer Who Intercepted Rockets above Israel: “We are always ready”

Moments after intercepting rockets aimed at the Israeli city of Ashkelon, Lieutenant Aviel Perry described his tremendous pride in serving as an operator of the Iron Dome system.

Not many soldiers finish a day of work like Lieutenant Aviel Perry, a soldier who serves as the commander of an IDF Iron Dome battery. Early Thursday morning, he intrecepted five Gaza rockets headed straight for the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

At 1:00 AM, Lt. Perry was on duty in an Iron Dome battery near Ashkelon. Although the battery’s last interception was two months ago, Lt. Perry and his soldiers always remain alert for the possibility of a rocket attack from Gaza. “We have prepared soldiers to react to an incident at any moment,” he says. “We must always remain vigilant and alert, even when we think that an upcoming shift will be normal and uneventful.”

IDF Iron Dome Officer, Lt. Perry

When five rockets from Gaza came soaring toward Israel, soldiers in the Iron Dome battery had only seconds to react. Realizing that the rockets would strike populated areas, they made a quick decision to activate the Iron Dome battery. Despite extraordinary pressure, their swift actions resulted in the interception of all five rockets.

Moments after stopping the rocket attack, Lt. Perry was filled with pride and satisfaction. “You can not describe the feeling of stopping a rocket that could hurt, injure or kill civilians. This is what we prepare for all the time – to be there at the right time and do the right thing.”

“The environment in the battery is warm and like family,” he adds. “Events like these increase the motivation of soldiers, and we prove that above all we are fighters who save lives.”

source

As the fake Palestinians show lack of respect they demand of Israel : IAF strikes Gaza in response to rockets fired on southern Israel

Palestinians fire 2 rockets at Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council near site of former prime minister's burial ceremony at Negev ranch; projectiles land in open areas; no damage, injuries reported.

The Israel Air Force struck on Monday evening two targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire on southern Israel earlier in the day, the IDF confirmed.

Both targets belonged to Hamas, which the IDF holds responsible for failing to prevent Monday's rocket fire.The targets hit were a military compound and a terror infrastructure site, said an IDF spokesperson, adding that both targets were accurately hit.

On Monday afternoon, Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets at the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council shortly after the burial ceremony for former prime minister Ariel Sharon culminated at his nearby Sycamore Ranch.

The rockets landed in open fields and did not cause damages or injuries.

Earlier on Monday, Israel had beefed up securityfor Sharon's  funeral near the Gaza border and warned Hamas not to allow rocket fire during the ceremony, which many international dignitaries attended.

An Israeli security source said Israel had "passed the message" to Gaza authorities to prevent any rocket fire during the funeral. Gaza is governed by the Islamist Hamas movement, which has fought several rounds of violence with Israel over the past few years.

"It was made clear to them that tomorrow would be a very bad day for anyone there to test Israel's patience," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Security sources said Israel had deployed an Iron Dome rocket interceptor near Sharon's funeral site at his beloved Sycamore Farm, which had been hit by Gaza-launched rockets in the past.

On December 26, the Israel Air Force struck two targets in Gaza in response to the firing of two rocket on southern Israel within a 24-hour period. Earlier that week a mortar fired from the Strip laned in the Asheklon Coast Regional Council after a string of mortar fire failed to reach their desination, falling inside the Palestinian territory.

Jeruselam post 

AFTER ISRAEL HAS BEEN REPEATEDLY ATTACKED : IDF attacks Gaza targets in response to shooting of Defense Ministry employee

The Israel Air Force struck targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon in retaliation for the cross-border shooting earlier in the day that resulted in the death of a civilian Defense Ministry employee.

Officials from Hamas, the Islamic group which rules Gaza, and witnesses said IAF aircraft bombed the group's training camps in Khan Younis and al-Bureij. Witnesses said IDF tanks fired shells east of Gaza city.

She was standing with other family members outside their home near the camp and her mother and two of her brothers were wounded, the officials said.Gaza hospital officials said a three-year-old girl was killed by shrapnel during the strike on the Bureij facility.

Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, 22, from Rahat, was working for Shabbat Drilling operating a tractor at the Gaza border when was shot by a Palestinian sniper.

He was airlifted to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba where he later succumbed to his wounds.

"The incident occurred very close to the border," one security source said.

"This was his first day working on the Gaza Strip border and unfortunately it was also his last day of life," Latyef's cousin said.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded soon after the sniper attack, calling it a "very grave incident" that Israel will not let go unanswered.

"Our policy up until now has been to prevent beforehand and to react with force, and this is how we will act now as well," he said.

Netanyahu made his comment as he was just about to fly back to Jerusalem from Sderot, where he went Tuesday to dedicate the new Tel Aviv-Sderot train line.

An IDF spokesman said that the military had limited the access of farmers working in the immediate vicinity of the fence in the aftermath of the attack.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian youth who approached the fence on the border with northern Gaza entered the closed security zone, and ignored calls by soldiers to vacate the area. He was shot in the leg and evacuated to a Gazan hospital by the Red Crescent.

The cross-border shooting comes after a spate of attempts by Palestinians to plant explosivesalong the security fence and to damage the barrier in recent days.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said there was "no direct relation" between terrorist attacks in Israel over the past two days and the cross-border shooting attack.

An Israel Air Force jet Photo: REUTERS

"We view take a most severe view of them. In Gaza, Hamas is sovereign, and we see it as being responsible for today's shooting from the Strip and rocket launches over the past today at Israel. We will not allow a disruption to life in the South, and we will respond decisively and painfully to attacks on our sovereignty and against our civilians and soldiers," the defense minister added.

He advised Hamas "not to test our patience," calling on Gaza's ruling regime to exercise its authority on the ground to prevent further attacks on Israel by other organizations.

"If there won't be quiet in Israel, there won't be quiet in Gaza either," Ya'alon warned.

"Terrorism incidents are the continuation of previous attacks, most of which are the result of a lone attacker, or one who has been influenced by the atmosphere of incitement and hatred that exists in the Palestinian Authority against Israel. This is an intolerable situation from our perspective, and despite the difficulties in dealing with a lone individual incited to murder Jews, we will act with a resolute hand and in various ways to harm anyone who tries to carry out terrorist attacks," Ya'alon pledged.

As long as the PA continues to incite against Israel and its civilians, and fails to promote a culture of peace, Israel will have to deal with attacks that result from this, he added. Ya'alon sent his condolences to the family of the fatally wounded civilian, and wished the policeman stabbed on Monday a swift recovery.

Shortly after midnight, on Sunday, Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket into southern Israel, triggering an air raid siren and sending residents fleeing for cover.

Security forces located the rocket’s remains after sunrise inside an Israeli village, where it fell between homes, failing to cause injuries or damages.

Jeruselam post 

Another attack on an Israeli citizen : Shooting attack near Gaza; one Israeli seriously hurt

Civilian was working on border fence between Israel and Gaza when attack occurred. Victim flown to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba

An Israeli civilian was seriously wounded by sniper fire on Tuesday, in a shooting attack near the Gaza border fence in southern Israel.

 

The attack occurred as the man was working on the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip. He was taken by helicopter to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba. IDFtroops launched a search of the area in the wake of the attack.  The IDF said in response to the attack that it "maintains the right to protect Israeli civilians and its soldiers."

Moments before the incident, Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu addressed the security situation in southern Israel. "Since the end of Operation Pillar of Defense , the south has been the quietest it has been for years. We will continue to keep the south quiet with a strong hand and determination," Netanyahu said.

Regarding the recent spate of attacks, the prime minister added: "We have recently witnessed an increase in terror attacks. Are we facing a new intifada? We will act with a fierce offensive policy, so that whoever considers attacking us would have to think twice."

The shooting is the latest a string of attacks targeting Israelis in recent days. On Sunday, the quick thinking of a passenger and bus driver prevented what could have been a major attack when they spotted a bomb on a bus in Bat Yam. A police sapper was lightly hurt when the bomb detonated as he was dismantling it.

A little after midnight Sunday, a rocket fired from Gaza struck a residential area in Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, in southern Israel. There were no injuries reported, but light damage was sustained.

Hours later, an Israeli police officer was stabbed in the back in an apparent terror attack near the settlement of Adam. The man suffered moderate injuries.

Ynet news

Gaza rocket hits south of Ashkelon Israel as Hamas displays aggression against women and children

Projectile fired from Gaza Strip just after midnight Sunday lands in settled area near southeastern border. Sight of bomb squad early Monday morning causes panic among local Hof Ashkelon residents

On Sunday, just after midnight, the red alert siren went off in several communities in the southern regional council. Some of the residents in one of the areas reported hearing a large blast.

 

"I don't want to imagine what would have happened if there would have been children there," one resident said.

Police officers and the bomb squad unit from Lakhish Region immediately started searching for the rocket, and located it at dawn Monday.

 

Local residents say they do not remember such a significant blast since the IDF's Gaza operation Pillar of Defense ended in November 2012. And although not all of the residents heard the explosion, the sight of the sappers in the area caused panic.

 

"We were very lucky that it happened in the middle of the night, when no one's wandering in the streets," a resident said. "It completely caught us by surprise. We have become used to the quiet since Pillar of Defense."

 

Hof Ashkelon Regional Council Chairman Yair Farjon said the rocket startled the area, but life will go on. "We will continue to be on the lookout, but we will continue with our routine, being sure that the IDF knows how to locate the source of the rockets and to stop them from being fired."

In Egypt, a military representative told Palestinian news agency Ma'an that a rocket fired from Gaza during a Hamas experiment landed in Egyptian territorial water, a hundred meters from Rafah.

 

The source said that Hamas announced that it was a trial launch, and therefore it erroneously reached Egypt.

Ynet news

Hamas increases rockets range, seeks deeper targets

Egypt's closure of smuggling tunnels forces terrorist organization to stop importing missiles, invest more in making homemade weapons, as local Gazan engineers stock arsenal with better quality rockets

Israeli security officials said despite Egyptianefforts to destroy the tunnels on the Egypt-Gaza border, a smuggling trail of raw material for rockets still exists.

 

Egypt's forceful activities in the Sinai Peninsula and along the Suez Canal have managed to stop the smuggling of Iranian Farj rockets, which were used in Operation Pillar of Defense. However, terrorists in Sinai are still smuggling effective explosives into Gaza, which will help Hamas increase their rockets' range.

 

During Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012, Hamas fired five homemade long-range rockets. The rockets, called M75, had a range of 60-70 kilometers (37-43 miles), made by local Gazan engineers, are capable of reaching Tel Aviv. Egypt's closing of the tunnels forced Hamas to invest more time and money in homegrown rockets, and since the operation, reports say they have made even more.

Despite Hamas' budget crisis in the last two years, its two main projects to make fighting againstIsrael more efficient - increasing its rockets' range and digging more attack tunnels - have not been affected at all.

 

IDF representatives said that if Hamas can enhance its rockets, Israel will be forced to rethink its air defense system. The Iron Dome's effectiveness is naturally lessened as there are more and more rockets to intercept, and as rockets can reach regions that the battery is not protecting.

Ynet news

Israel helps those that wish it harm as it transfers aid supplies to Gaza due to harsh weather conditions - We wonder if BDS, the UN or any other liberal Israel hating western leader or media people are listening?

Israel on Friday decided to open the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing with Gaza to transfer aid supplies to the coastal enclave amid harsh weather conditions hitting the region.
 
At the request of the UN to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Maj.-Gen.Eitan Dangot, Israel implemented the transfer of gas for heating and water pumps to the Strip facing heavy flood from severe winter storms.

"Israel will do everything that is necessary to assist the civilian populations in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria, with an emphasis on providing electricity to the power plant in Gaza," the army said on its website.

A joint Israeli-Palestinian situation room was also opened to help distressed civilians in the West Bank with transportation and electricity concerns.

An unusual blanket of snow surprised residents in the Gaza Strip who stopped to take pictures of snowy scenes. But the Palestinian territory was also hit by heavy rain that flooded roads and made them impassable.

Emergency workers used fishing boats to evacuate 700 people from their homes and provide food, blankets and torches to hundreds of others caught in high water.

Gaza's Hamas government said all its resources and manpower were available to aid rescue operations, including its armed wing usually charged with fighting Israel.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called for fuel to be allowed to enter Gaza. "Gaza survived two wars (against Israel) and it will walk out of this," he said wearing a heavy coat and the yellow jumper of emergency workers as he toured the affected areas overnight.


Story taken from Jerusalem Post

Palestinians fire three rockets at Israel from Gaza - And Obama and Kerry still think peace is within reach

Kassams land in open Gazan territory near border fence; no injuries or damage reported

Three Kassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory on Saturday afternoon, all landing in open Gazan territory, Army Radio reported.

There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Last week, sirens blared in the Ashkelon region signaling that residents should take cover, after a rocket was fired toward Israel from Gaza Strip. The rocket fell short of the border, in Palestinian territory.

The rocket fire followed a series of unsuccessful attacks on Israel in past weeks.

Last Tuesday, a Palestinian who crossed into Israel from Gaza was caught by Israeli security forces with a grenade in his possession.

Israel and Gaza last month marked the one-year anniversary since Operation Pillar of Defense, an eight-day offensive launched by Israel to stem rocket fire from the Strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted a 98 percent drop in rocket fire since the operation.

“There is no doubt that significant deterrence has been achieved,” Netanyahu said at the time, adding that there had only been 35 incidents of rocket fire since the operation ended.

Times of Israel