Israel puts 40,000 troops on alert for possible ground offensive after day-long airstrikes in Gaza leave 10 Palestinians dead
- Israeli military bombs 50 sites in Gaza, including homes, in air strikes and naval attacks as part of new offensive
- Troops have also been mobilised for possible ground invasion aimed at stopping recent barrage of rocket attacks
- Attacks by Israel come after cabinet approved 'hardening' of stance against Hamas as tanks mass on border
- Nearly 300 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel in recent weeks, including barrage of 80 projectiles yesterday
- Tensions mounting after killing of Palestinian boy, 16, in suspected revenge attack for deaths of three Israeli youths
The Israeli military
launched what could be a long-term offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza
Strip on Tuesday, striking more than 100 sites and mobilising troops for
a possible ground invasion aimed at stopping a heavy barrage of rocket
attacks against Israel.
At least 10 Palestinians, including two children, were killed in the attacks from air and sea, Palestinian officials said.
The
military said the open-ended operation aims to deliver a blow against
the Islamic Hamas group, and end the rocket fire that has reached deeper
into Israel.
Smoke and flames are seen following what police said was an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip today
Massing: The Israeli army has begun building up
forces on the border with Gaza, including tanks, after the cabinet
approved a stronger stance against the Islamists
Israeli soldiers take cover near an Iron Dome missile defense system on Tuesday
Israeli combat helicopters fly above the Gaza border line near Ashkelon
Palestinians inspect the destruction of a
building as smoke rises from the ruins in Khan Yunis following an
Israeli airstrike in Gaza today
A Palestinian girl stands in a destroyed
building following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City today. The
Israeli military has launched an offensive against Hamas-ruled Gaza
Strip, bombing 50 sites, including homes, in air strikes and naval
attacks as part of a campaign meant to end Palestinian rocket fire into
the Jewish state
The army said Operation Protective Edge intended
to strike the Islamic Hamas group and end the rocket fire which has
intensified in recent weeks. Pictured is a Palestinian boy carrying
belongings from a house which police said was destroyed in an Israeli
air strike in Khan Younis
Gaza health official Ashraf Al-Kedra said at
least nine Palestinian civilians were brought to a Gaza hospital with
light to moderate injuries from the airstrikes, including several who
suffered from shock
Lt Col Lerner said the army will gradually
increase its attacks on Hamas in Gaza and is recruiting additional
reservists for a potential ground invasion of Gaza
Israeli
officials said the government had authorized the army to mobilize an
additional 40,000 troops, if needed, for the operation. The army said
there were no immediate plans to call up the troops but that they would
be activated depending on operational needs. Israel has already
mobilized about 1,500 reservists.
Israel said it wants to quell the rocket fire which
has intensified in recent weeks amid tensions over the killing of three
Israeli teenagers and the apparent revenge killing of a Palestinian
teenager.
Nearly 300
rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel in recent weeks, including
a barrage of about 80 projectiles yesterday alone, the military said.
Israel has responded with dozens of airstrikes. Eight Palestinian militants were killed yesterday.
Israel has responded with dozens of airstrikes. Eight Palestinian militants were killed yesterday.
It had signalled it would not launch a larger offensive if the militant group Hamas ceased the rocket fire.
Military
spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said: 'They chose the direction of
escalation. So the mission will go on as long as we feel it is necessary
to carry it out. We don't expect it to be a short mission on our
behalf.'
Among the 50 sites the army
said it targeted early today were four houses it said were 'activity
sites' belonging to Hamas militants involved in launching rockets at
Israel or other militant activity. There were no reported casualties in
the strikes.
The
military said it also struck three militant compounds, 18 concealed
rocket launchers, and other militant infrastructure sites. Most were
targeted in airstrikes, and three were attacked from the sea.
Gaza
health official Ashraf Al-Kedra said at least nine Palestinian
civilians were brought to a Gaza hospital with light to moderate
injuries from the airstrikes, including several who suffered from shock.
He said some of the injured Palestinians were treated and released.
Israel bombarded dozens of targets in the Gaza
Strip on Tuesday, stepping up what it said might become a long-term
offensive against Islamist Hamas after a surge in Palestinian rocket
attacks on Israeli towns
Lt Col Lerner said last month's kidnapping and
killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank was connected to the
intensified rocket fire carried out by Hamas militants in Gaza.
Pictured is what police said was an Israeli air strike in Rafah
Palestinians inspect the area near a huge crater following an airstrike in Gaza City today
Smoke rises following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
A missile is launched by an 'Iron Dome' battery,
a short-range missile defence system designed to intercept and destroy
incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells in the southern
Israeli city of Ashdod
Lt Col Lerner said the army will gradually increase its attacks on Hamas in Gaza and is recruiting additional reservists for a potential ground invasion of the area.
Lt Col Lerner said the army will gradually increase its attacks on Hamas in Gaza and is recruiting additional reservists for a potential ground invasion of the area.
He said Hamas had amassed about 10,000 rockets, including longer-range rockets that can reach 'up to Tel Aviv and beyond'.
He
said the army was preparing for the possibility that Hamas would launch
rockets towards Israel's heartland and its commercial and cultural hub.
The
army ordered hundreds of thousands of Israelis within a 40-kilometre
(25-mile) radius of the Gaza Strip, including Israelis in the major
southern city of Beersheva, to stay indoors and near shelters, Lt Col
Lerner said. Nurseries and summer camps in the area were cancelled.
Lt
Col Lerner said last month's kidnapping and killing of three Israeli
teenagers in the West Bank was connected to the intensified rocket fire
carried out by Hamas militants in Gaza. Israel blames Hamas for the
teenagers' abduction and is conducting a manhunt for two
Hamas-affiliated Palestinians in the West Bank it believes carried out
the kidnapping and killing.
A Palestinian boy carries belongings from a house which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis today
Palestinians try to salvage what they can of
their belongings from the rubble of a house destroyed by an overnight
Israeli airstrike in Gaza City
Yesterday the Islamist group said Hamas
militants in Gaza had fired 'dozens' of rockets into southern Israel
after six of its men died in an Israeli airstrike. Pictured are
Palestinians salvaging belongings from a house destroyed by an airstrike
The Israeli military also mobilised troops for a
possible ground invasion aimed at stopping a recent barrage of rocket
attacks against Israel. Pictured are Palestinians inspecting the
destruction in Khan Yunis following the Israeli airstrikes
The Israeli government has not yet provided proof of Hamas's involvement in the kidnapping.
The Israeli government has not yet provided proof of Hamas's involvement in the kidnapping.
'The
abduction of the three boys only cost them, and they had no gains from
it,' Lt Col Lerner said. 'Therefore they have increased their
involvement in rocket fire,' he said, adding that nearly all of the
rocket fire at Israel on Monday was carried out by Hamas, not militants
affiliated with other groups. He said Hamas was 'trying to gain clout'.
Tensions
have been high since the three Israeli teenagers kidnapped on June 12
in the West Bank were later found dead, followed by last week's killing
of the Palestinian youth in what many suspect was a revenge attack.
Throughout the unrest, Gaza militants have launched more than 300
rockets and mortars into Israel, including close to 100 on Monday alone.
Yesterday
the Islamist group said Hamas militants in Gaza had fired 'dozens' of
rockets into southern Israel after six of its men died in an Israeli
airstrike.
The
bombardment was confirmed by the Israeli army which said militants had
launched 'a few dozen rockets' within a short period of time.
Palestinians inspect the wreckage of a vehicle which was hit by an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City
Lt Col Lerner said the army was preparing for
the possibility that Hamas would launch rockets towards Israel's
heartland and its commercial and cultural hub. Pictured are Palestinians
at the wreckage of a vehicle following an Israeli airstrike
The father of killed Hamas militant Rashad
Yassin, 28, grieves at the morgue of the al-Aqsa hospital in Deir
al-Balah, in the central Gaza strip
At least four rockets were intercepted over Netivot by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, while another 16 struck the area around the southern city of Beersheva, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Gaza, and which is home to 200,000 people, the army said.
At least four rockets were intercepted over Netivot by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, while another 16 struck the area around the southern city of Beersheva, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Gaza, and which is home to 200,000 people, the army said.
Media
reports put the number of rockets at around 40, but there were no
immediate reports of casualties. Sirens sounded in several locations
south of Tel Aviv, public radio said.
The
rocket fire was claimed by Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam
Brigades, in a statement. It said: 'Al-Qassam fired dozens of rockets on
Netivot and Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ofakim in response to the Zionist
aggression.'
Shortly
afterwards, the Israeli air force hit more than 30 targets near the
southern city of Rafah in an area close to the Israeli border which is
riddled with tunnels.
Palestinians inspect the destroyed home of the
Al Abadlla family following an Israeli airstrike in Khanyounis, in the
southern Gaza Strip
People gather around a vehicle targeted in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City today
An explosion is seen after an Israeli air strike
in the northern Gaza Strip today. Among the 50 sites the army said it
targeted were four houses it said were 'activity sites' belonging to
Hamas militants involved in launching rockets at Israel or other
militant activity
The Iron Dome air-defence system fires to intercept a rocket over the city of Ashdod in Israel
Israeli soldiers stand on Merkava tanks in an army deployment area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip today
An Israeli soldier directs a Merkava tank in an army deployment area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip
Israel's
Channel 1 television said the attacks came after the security cabinet
gave the military a green light to 'toughen the response to Hamas.'
The
channel also showed footage of dozens of tanks massing near the border
with Gaza, preparing for a possible offensive against the enclave.
'With
this barrage of rockets, Hamas has crossed the red line and
unfortunately, it will pay for it,' senior officials told Israel's
Channel 10 television.
The
rocket fire came several hours after Israel staged around 16 air strikes
on targets across Gaza, following a night in which warplanes had
attacked 14 more targets, killing at least three militants.
Smoke billows from four targets in the town of Rafah, southern Gaza, following air strikes by the Israeli airforce yesterday
The Israeli airforce said it carried out the
strikes after Hamas militants launched 'dozens' of rockets (pictured) at
the city of Beersheva, 25 miles from Gaza
Earlier in the day six Hamas men were killed
after a suspected Israeli airstrike hit a tunnel they were in - though
Israel denies this, saying instead that explosive the men were handling
detonated
Another
five Hamas militants died and one was left in critical condition when a
tunnel collapsed near the southern city of Rafah yesterday, with the movement
blaming it on an Israeli air strike.
But
the Israeli army denied hitting the area where the tunnel was, with a
spokesman describing it as a work accident by militants handling
explosives.
There was no immediate word on casualties or damage in Israel from the latest rocket attacks.
The
news comes as earlier yesterday it was reported that three of the six
Jewish suspects arrested over the murder of a Palestinian teenager have
confessed.
Citing
police, Israeli media said the trio had been suspected of involvement
in the abduction and murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, whose body was
found burned in a Jerusalem forest on July 2.
Ready to go: A soldier driving an APC takes
position on the Israeli side of the border in preparation for what could
be an attack on Gaza
Both barrels: The Israeli military say militants
have now fired a total of 150 missiles across the border in recent
weeks as tensions in the region escalate
Of the rockets fired by Hamas yesterday, four
were taken out by the 'Iron Dome' defence battery (pictured) designed to
intercept incoming rockets
An
anonymous security source was quoted as saying: 'Three out of six
suspects in custody have confessed to the murder and burning of Mohammed
Abu Khdeir, and performed a re-enactment of the crime in front of
officers.'
Palestinian
officials say preliminary post mortem results show his lungs contained
smoke, meaning he was alive and breathing while he was set alight.
Investigators
said they believed the crime had been carried out for 'nationalistic
motives' - meaning that Mohammed had been targeted because he was
Palestinian.
It
is the closest Israeli officials have come yet to confirming the belief
of the teenager's family that he had been killed in revenge for the
murder of three Israeli youths, whose bodies had been found in the West
Bank two days earlier.
Members of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas are suspected to have committed those murders.
Meanwhile in Palestine funerals were yesterday
taking place for militants who were killed by a suspected air strike
from Israeli forces
Hamas said it fired rockets into Israel in
response to 'Zionist aggression', though there were no immediate reports
of casualties from the blasts
Relatives of Fatah militant Marwan Sleem, who
was killed in overnight airstrikes by Israel, grieve while they watch
mourners carry his body out of the family house during his funeral in
Gaza
Tensions in the region have escalated sharply in
recent days after a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was burned to death in a
suspected revenge attack for the murder of three Israeli teenagers two
days before
As
well as the five militants killed in the tunnel collapse, two more from
a different group were also killed in a separate strike.
The men were involved in rocket attacks on southern Israeli communities,
the Israeli military said.
Israel
said it carried out airstrikes on at least '14 terror sites' including
'concealed rocket launchers' in Gaza overnight in retaliation to a
recent spike in attacks from Gaza.
About
a dozen rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza overnight the military
said. One injured a soldier. Gaza militants fired 25 rockets at Israel
on Sunday the military said.
Meanwhile Tariq Abu Khdier, 15, the cousin of murdered Abu Khdier, who was badly beaten before being arrested by
Israeli forces, was pictured relaxing with his family back home. He was arrested on Thursday when protests over the murder of his cousin turned into a street battle.
It
followed days of growing suspicion that Wednesday's murder was carried
out in revenge for last month's abduction and murder
of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank.
Their
bodies were found last week, and Mohammed was killed just hours after
their funeral. His family said news of the arrests brought them little
joy
........... Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2682995/Beaten-home-American-teen-held-Israeli-police-pictured-safe-parents-house-arrest.html#ixzz36ty5TOvf
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