Will troops be sent to Gaza?

In the cities and villages at the border of Gaza the horn has been heard non-stop for the third day in a row. This is how the map looked like in the evening of November 11th at 5.28 pm. In red colour are the villages under rocket attack… The militants claim that the next targets will be Beer-Sheva and Ashdod.

Within three days 370 missiles have been fired towards Israel from the Gaza Strip. Around 100 out of these were captured by the Iron Dome system.

A la guerre comme a la guerre

Life of Israeli citizens once again depends on military communique, while things happening in the south of the country resemble war more and more. The railway transportation between Ashkelon and near-border Sderot stopped. Elections to Ashkelon regional council are cancelled. Yisrael Katz, Minster of Transportation and Intelligence postponed the ceremony of opening a new Cross-Israeli highway Yokneam for one day.

Schools stopped working. The warriors position additional air defense systems, redeploy armoured vehicles and foot troops.

Thousands of Israeli citizens in the South spend sleepless nights in bomb shelters, dozens have turned to hospitals with injuries of various degrees of severity. People are waiting for actions from the government and guess whether troops will be sent to the Gaza Strip, if mobilization of reservists will be announced, to what extent air attack radius will be extended, and if the year 2014 will come back when thousands of missiles spread all over Israel from Sderot to Haifa while Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem were under massive attacks.

On Twitter of Israel Defense Force real time attack videos are being posted. Dozens of missiles are flying from Gaza.

Strikes on Gaza

Israel Defense Air Force have attacked over 100 targets in the enclave. The Navy has pushed back against Hamas Marine Base for the first time. On land the whole sector territory has been bombed: warehouses, missile launchers, militant groups, observation centers. Three tunnels and several weapons workshops were destroyed. Israel Defense Force attacked four skyscrapers, including the one hosting Al Aqsa TV channel editorial board and  Al Amal hotel at the coast of the Mediterranean, used as HAMAS military intelligence headquarters.

During one of night military actions an Israel army lieutenant colonel died, his name is kept confidential. Reuven Rivlin, the President of Israel, was present at the funeral and called the deceased the hero of Israel.

Attacks from Gaza

As a result of the rocket attack from Gaza one person died and dozens were wounded. Those injured got minor injuries, many are in a state of shock. In Ashdod and Netivot the rockets exploded in the apartment blocks. People did not suffer. In Netivot a dog was killed. In Sderot a rocket landed near an apartment building, a gas tank exploded, three people wounded. One of the missiles reached a bus severely wounding a 19 years old soldier. In Ashkelon a rocket reached an apartment building killing one man and wounding five people, out of whom two are women. They were taken to hospital in critical condition.

A necessary measure

Israel is waiting for the politico-military Security Cabinet decision. Experts claim that the government and the army will reserve the right for immediate military reaction as a response to any provocations from Gaza leaders. It may be referred not only to selective destroying of HAMAS and Islamic Jihad Union leaders, but to more radical actions and large scale operations.

While the Cabinet was holding a meeting the Israeli President Reuven Rivlin visited Netivot that had received intensive rocket attack. «When rockets are flying in the South, – said he, – we hear their growling in Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, and all over the country».

By the end of November 13 the Security Cabinet announced meeting results: «The Security Cabinet has discussed the situation in the south of the country. Having listened to the Army representatives, officials and security members talking about attacks and scales of anti-terroristic operations in Gaza, the Security Cabinet charged Israel Defense Forces to go on working as and when necessary».

Elena Shafran, Jerusalem

Translation by Marina Andreeva