Palestinian Terrorists Escalate Rocket Attacks As Israel Again Defends Itself

Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have again launched barrages of rockets against Israel. Each rocket is intended to cause mayhem, injuries, and deaths. They are fired indiscriminately against civilian targets, and more than a few have resulted in serious carnage.

Even with Israel's deployment of the Iron Dome anti-missile system, rockets and missiles have rained down on cities within range of Gaza. Some of those rockets and missiles were intercepted, but others have managed to get through.

Kassams have landed on kibbutzim (and here and here). Grads were fired and hit various locations, including Ashdod. Three people were injured when one of the Grads exploded.

And when the terrorists aren't firing rockets, they're firing mortars.

So, which terrorist groups are firing the rockets, mortars, and missiles? Well, all of them are claiming responsibility. Hamas declared its armistice over with Israel, even though it always considered its hudna to be strategic in nature. The moment the terror group considered itself to be sufficiently armed and capable of attacking Israel, it would do so.

The PRCs and Islamic Jihad also claimed responsibility for attacks.

Each and every one of these terror attacks are crimes against humanity and war crimes under international law, yet the people who twitter about how Israel may have killed civilians ignore that salient point. Those who claim that US law (Leahy law) should prevent military aid to Israel because civilians are killed ignore that the Palestinian Authority would be cut off as well, precisely because the Palestinian Authority is comprised of the terror group Hamas and Fatah, whose spinoffs in the al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade and People's Resistance Committees are regularly engaged in terror attacks against Israel.

Gazans are preaching revenge, even though it was Palestinian terrorists who initiated the latest round of violence by carrying out multiple terror attacks against vehicles near Eilat.



Israel attacks terrorists who surround themselves with human shields, who attempt to smuggle terrorists and arms in and out of Gaza via dozens of smuggling tunnels, and yet Israel is cast as the bad actor here? Israel hasn't occupied Gaza since it unilaterally left the region in 2006. Indeed, Gazans squandered a golden opportunity to build the foundations for a 2-state solution. They took up arms and the moment Israel left, they turned the then-deserted communities into terror training camps and rocket launching zones from which to attack Israel.

Meanwhile, Egypt is considering diplomatic actions against Israel after several Egyptian security forces were killed when those security forces were caught in the line of fire from Israeli airstrikes targeting terrorists. Egyptians are calling it random firing, but the terrorists who attacked the vehicles in Eilat were wearing Egyptian uniforms and Israel believes that the terrorists originated in Gaza and crossed into the Sinai and then into Israel to carry out the attacks.

UPDATE:
Defense Minister Ehud Barak apologized for the deaths of the Egyptian security officers.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday said that "Israel regrets the deaths of Egyptian policemen [killed] during the terror attack on the Israeli-Egyptian border,"Speaking during a security briefing with Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz, Barak said that "the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt is of great importance and strategic value for the stability of the Middle East."
The defense minister was expected to open a military investigation into the deaths of Egyptian forces in the border incident. Later, a joint investigation with the Egyptian military will be launched in order to clarify the circumstances of the incident.

That's a move designed to defuse tensions between Egypt and Israel, and to help keep the security coordination in place between the two countries that have gone a long way to reducing (but not stopping) terror attacks in both countries.


UPDATE:
More than 50 rockets have slammed into Israel in the past 48 hours and Israeli injuries are also increasing:

Sirens were heard in Beersheba shortly before two rockets exploded within the city, hitting a vehicle and private residence. Four people were evacuated to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba to be treated for serious injuries, Channel 2 news reported.

Moments before, a Grad rocket from Gaza landed on a home in Ofakim, starting a fire and sending shrapnel and debris flying that injured a four-month-old baby, a nine-year-old boy, and a man in his early 20s. Emergency crews put out the fire and paramedics evacuated the three to the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba to be treated for light injuries.