One Dead 108 Wounded As Gaza Rocket Fire Rained Down

A 48-year-old man was killed when a rocket struck his house in Ashkelon late Monday night (12th).

Mahmoud Abu Asbah, a Palestinian worker who hailed from the town of Halhul near Hebron, was the first fatality since terrorists began firing rockets Monday afternoon.  His 40-year-old wife was found in serious condition and evacuated to Barzilai Hospital.

A second woman, unconscious and badly injured, was found in the same building and evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in critical but stable condition.

Medics also evacuated a 19-year-old soldier to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba early Monday.  He is listed in serious condition after a Kornet anti-tank missile struck a bus in the Sha’ar Hanegev region near where he was standing,

At least 108 people were hospitalized in Israel over the last two days for wounds and shock caused by the massive rocket bombardment of Israeli towns by Gazan terror groups.

As of 7 a.m. Tuesday morning (13th) 300-400 rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Websites linked to Hamas and Islamic Jihad had threatened over the past two days that the terrorist groups would expand the range of rocket fire to include Israel’s major cities, including Tel Aviv, if the Israel Defense Forces’ attacks on Gaza didn’t stop.

(worldisraelnews.com)

 

IDF Spokesman Reports On Gaza Fighting – Judah Ari Gross

The Israel Defense Forces have struck more than 160 military targets in Gaza in response to Hamas rocket fire.  “There is ample room for additional targets,” said Lt. -Col. Jonathan Conricus, and IDF spokesperson. “We have signaled to Hamas over the course of these two days that we have the intelligence and ability to strike a variety of military targets that belong to Hamas.”  Only small numbers of reserve personnel, mostly from air defense units, had been called up to army service.

Conricus warned that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have “in excess of 20,000 rockets and mortar shells of different calibers and ranges” in their arsenals, almost twice the number that they had in the 2014 war.  “Unfortunately they are not near the end of their capabilities.”

“The Iron Dome so far has been phenomenal, but even the Iron Dome is not hermetic and we cannot expect it to intercept everything, especially when it’s dealing with this amount of rockets,” Conricus said.  “It is unfortunate that of the dozens of rockets fired at Ashkelon, one was able to get through our defenses and hit a building in a populated area.”’

Conricus said the Hamas leadership and fighters have mostly stayed underground throughout the fighting, launching their rockets with timers and other remote-controlled devices in order to avoid being hit by Israeli airstrikes.  “They fire rockets from within the Gaza civilian population at our civilian population, and they do so while hiding beneath their civilian population,” he said.

(timesofisrael.com)

 

State Department: ‘We Stand With Israel’ As Gaza Uses ‘Tools of War’

As the latest attacks against Israel from Hamas have taken place in Gaza, the U.S. State Department condemned the terrorist group and reaffirmed that Israel has the right to defend itself.

“We are aware of reports of ongoing rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza against targets in Israel,” a State Department official told JNS on Monday (12th).  “We condemn the attacks and call for their immediate halt.  We stand with Israel as it defends itself against these attacks.”

Jason Greenblatt, the administration’s Special Representative for International Negotiations, tweeted, “Terrorists in Gaza are again attacking Israel with the tools of war.  These rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli towns must be condemned by all. Israel is forced once again into military action to defend its citizens. We stand with Israel as it defends itself against these attacks.”

Meanwhile, despite the rocket attacks, Israel continued delivering supplies to Gaza on Tuesday (13th), as the Kerem Shalom border crossing functioned normally, with dozens of trucks entering the Gaza Strip from Israel

According to reports five gas tankers, 30 fuel tankers and hundreds of other trucks with humanitarian goods, made their deliveries to Gaza.  Kerem Shalom is the main crossing for fuel and other merchandise between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Since Sunday night (11th), Palestinian terror groups fired more than 400 rockets and mortars into southern Israel.

(jns.org; jpost.com)

 

U.S. Jewish Groups Stand In Solidarity With Israel Amid Gaza Rocket Assault

U.S. Jewish groups have reacted with concern to the massive Gaza rocket attack on Israel Monday (12th).  “We condemn in the strongest terms the attack by Hamas, firing rockets, mortars, and anti-tank missiles from Gaza against the towns and residents of the south of Israel,” Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Chairman Arthur Stark and Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Malcolm Hoenlein said.  “Hundreds of rockets have been fired indiscriminately towards population centers in the last hours. These attacks specifically target civilians.”

“No country can or should have to tolerate such attacks across an internationally recognized border.  Israel must do whatever it deems appropriate to safeguard its citizens and borders….We support the government of Israel taking the measures necessary to end these countless assaults….Israel has demonstrated patience and restraint far beyond any expectations to avoid an expanding conflict.  We understand that now it must act to defend its citizens.”

(algemeiner.com)

 

Attack On Jewish Teens In Toronto Investigated As Hate Crime

An attack on a group of identifiably Jewish 17-year-old boys in north Toronto is being investigated as a hate crime.

The group of Jewish teens wearing “attire of their religious faith,” according to Toronto Police, on Sunday (11th) passed by a group of 10 other teenagers.  The larger group began making derogatory remarks about the Jewish religion and began to punch and kick some of the Jewish teens before splitting and running away, police said.  

One of the suspects was caught by police, and the attacked teenagers were treated for their injuries at the scene.

Toronto Mayor John Tory said in a tweet: “No one should ever be attacked for his religion.  Please help @ TorontoPolice solve this hate crime that occurred Sunday night.”

(jta.org)