On Wednesday at least three more rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip in a continuation of sporadic violence that has left the region on edge after President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel a week ago. Today's attack brings the number of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel since Trump's announcement to eight (a few more have been launched but landed in Palestinian territory), which marks the largest number fired since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
The Israeli military says it intercepted two of the missiles through its Iron Dome defense system, while a third fell without damage or casualties, though local media reported that a handful of Israelis were being treated for minor things like shock and a leg injury from fleeing a potential impact area.
Large explosions could be heard over southern Israel's Negev region as the Iron Dome intercepts were successful, which were caught on cell phone video by stunned Israeli onlookers below the flight path.
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BREAKING: Multiple rockets have just been fired from Hamas controlled Gaza into Israel. "Iron Dome" has reportedly intercepted as many as 6 of them. http://pic.twitter.com/eP3SIAw4kE
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 11, 2017
This is the second time this week that the Iron Dome system has been put into action after a similar number of rockets were launched from Gaza on Monday. Israel has continued to retaliate – early on Wednesday the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported a strike on a Hamas military compound in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF has repeatedly warned that it would hold Hamas directly responsible for all "hostile activity" and threats coming from Gaza – though Israeli airstrikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip have been notorious for causing mass civilian casualties among the Palestinian population, who often have nowhere to flee outside the confines of the relatively small strip of land that comprises Gaza territory.
This is the second time this week that the Iron Dome system has been put into action after a similar number of rockets were launched from Gaza on Monday. Israel has continued to retaliate – early on Wednesday the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported a strike on a Hamas military compound in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF has repeatedly warned that it would hold Hamas directly responsible for all "hostile activity" and threats coming from Gaza – though Israeli airstrikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip have been notorious for causing mass civilian casualties among the Palestinian population, who often have nowhere to flee outside the confines of the relatively small strip of land that comprises Gaza territory.
Map source: BBC
During Operation Protective Edge, for example, the United Nations reported that at least 2,104 Palestinians died, which included 1,462 civilians, of whom 495 were children and 253 women. The 2014 Israeli Army incursion into Gaza lasted seven weeks, and 66 Israeli soldiers died during the operation, as well as seven civilians killed in Israel due to rocket fire from Gaza.
Though Hamas as well as outside regional groups like Hezbollah have called for a "third intifada" (or Palestinian uprising) in response to what Palestinian leadership has called Trump's "declaration of war", various reports indicate that protests are losing momentum and now appear only sporadic after an aggressive Israeli crackdown.
via http://ift.tt/2CdUFxp Tyler Durden