Imminent Ground Attack On Gaza

At least 22 Palestinians were killed last Tuesday in a massive military operation against the Gaza Strip carried out by Israel. There are over a hundred injured. The military struck 160 targets from the air and from warships that block sea access to the Palestinian region. It is the largest military operation in the area ruled by the Islamist organization Hamas, which took  control since late 2012. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his troops to “be prepared” for a possible ground invasion of Gaza, which would be the first since the end of 2008. Netanyahu also ordered the mobilization of at least 40,000 reservists.

Israel, who baptized Tuesday’s attack as Operation Margin Protector entered a new phase in the level of hostilities with Hamas. The offense is, according to the Israeli Army, “an answer” to the more than 160 rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel last Monday. The air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, shortly before a loud explosion and then a smaller one were felt in the southwest of the city. Hamas retaliated against Israel after the Army invaded Gaza and shot Palestinians after three Israeli police beat up a teenager in plain sight.

In addition, the armed forces intercepted a rocket in the metropolitan area of ​​Tel Aviv. A witness of the attack said that the air raid sirens interrupted the Peace Conference organized in the city. Alarms were triggered in major Israeli cities suggesting that Hamas was getting ready to use its arsenal to answer Israel’s violent attack on Palestinian citizens. The Army requested that the population within a radius of up to 40 kilometers from the Gaza Strip remained near bomb shelters.

The rocket attacks are the most dangerous for Israeli civilians. On July 8th, the Israeli government began opening the doors of bomb shelters in Jerusalem. According to Army sources, the military attacked nearly 100 Palestinian rocket launcher positions in Gaza. They also bombed alleged military buildings and infrastructure that the Army said belonged to Hamas, as well as the homes of several of his alleged militants.

Netanyahu asked the Army to “remove its silk gloves.” A military spokesman said the attacks had “reached” the locations of various Islamist militants. But, according to emergency services in Gaza as well as hospital records, the victims of the Israeli attacks were seven children and 10 adult civilians.

Only a few of the dead are Hamas militants or members of other groups including a local leader of the Islamic Jihad, who died on Tuesday night in an air raid on his home in which his parents and two his brothers were also killed. The armed wing of the organization announced a “widening of the attacks” against Israel as a response for the air strikes over civilian population. The Israeli army reported an attempted landing on the beach of Zikim, near Gaza, which was repelled by Israeli soldiers. In the event, five militants were killed and one Israeli was slightly injured. The skirmish allowed a spokesman for the military to speak of “attacks by land, sea and air.”

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, called for the “immediate end of the attacks on Gaza.” The Israeli defense minister, Moshe Yaalon warned however that the military operation “will not end in a matter of days.” The Israeli military highlighted that two brigades of infantry would be located in the vicinity of the Strip. Netanyahu said he ordered “a long, continuous and powerful operation” in Gaza. He acknowledged that the attacks “could be prolonged” but the time is yet undetermined. He argues that it is directed against Hamas and that it will serve to stop the rocket fire against Israeli territory.

On Monday, some 165 different caliber projectiles were launched from Gaza as Hamas threatened to mass bomb Tel Aviv and its vicinity with more powerful missiles.

Tensions have escalated between the two governments since June 12, when three young students of Jewish religion disappeared in the West Bank. The discovery of their bodies created a wave of consternation among the Israelis.

Hours after the burial, Israel began a series of attacks on Palestinian residents in Jerusalem, culminating that evening with the murder of a young man who, according to the Palestinian authorities, was burned alive. Israel arrested six Jewish extremists for the crime.

Luis R. Miranda is the Founder and Editor of The Real Agenda. His 16 years of experience in Journalism include television, radio, print and Internet news. Luis obtained his Journalism degree from Universidad Latina de Costa Rica, where he graduated in Mass Media Communication in 1998. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcasting from Montclair State University in New Jersey. Among his most distinguished interviews are: Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres and James Hansen from NASA Space Goddard Institute. Read more about Luis.