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Day 7: Rockets in Eilat and North; Ceasefire Proposed; Jews Assaulted in California, Morocco

by TheTower.org Staff |

The seventh day of Operation Protective Edge is over.

The southern port city of Eilat was attacked with rockets late Monday; one man was lightly injured.

To the north, Israel retaliated against rocket fire from Lebanon. The Jerusalem Post reports:

A rocket fired from Lebanon landed on Monday night in an open area near Rosh Hanikra and the border between the two countries. …

IDF artillery forces fired a salvo of shells and flares at source of recent rocket attack from Lebanon on Monday night, the military said.

The terrorist behind the rocket fire was injured due to a technical malfunction.

A Hamas spokesman had a telling slip of the tongue.

Although there were reports that the Israeli cabinet will vote on an Egyptian sponsored ceasefire proposal on Tuesday morning, Avi Issacharoff reports that the two sides are far apart.

The demands Israel is presenting as part of truce negotiations, at least since Friday, are that Hamas accept the terms of the 2012 agreement that came after Operation Pillar of Defense, empty the Gaza Strip of rockets, and close down the tunnels that run between the coastal enclave and Israel.

Hamas is demanding that 56 prisoners who were released as part of the 2011 prisoner swap for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, and were rearrested in the West Bank following the June 12 abduction of the three Israeli teenagers, be freed. The terror organization is also asking that the Rafah crossing to Egypt be opened, and that the salaries of 40,000 former Hamas employees be transferred to the Gaza Strip.

Though Issacharoff believes that Hamas is sticking to its terms, The Jerusalem Post reports that a Palestinian Authority official claims that Hamas is “desperate” for a ceasefire.

Two sisters in a Bedouin town near Beersheba were injured in a rocket attack as 105 rockets were fired into Israel Monday.

Two sisters aged 11 and 13 from a Beduin-Israeli village near Beersheba were seriously injured by a Gazan rocket attack on Monday, and the younger sister is in critical condition, doctors at the Soroka Medical Center said.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad targeted Israel with 105 rocket attacks throughout the day, firing at central Israel, Ashdod, Beersheba, Ashkelon and Dimona throughout the day. Eighty five rockets fell in Israeli territory, mostly in open areas, and Iron Dome batteries intercepted 15 rockets. Five additional rockets fell inside the Gaza Strip.

In an unequivocal show of support for Israel, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper condemned Hamas and called on the international community to unite behind Israel.

“The indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel are terrorist acts, for which there is no justification. It is evident that Hamas is deliberately using human shields to further terror in the region.

“Failure by the international community to condemn these reprehensible actions would encourage these terrorists to continue their appalling actions. Canada calls on its allies and partners to recognize that these terrorist acts are unacceptable and that solidarity with Israel is the best way of stopping the conflict.

In addition to the physical and verbal assaults on Jews in France, Germany, Boston and New York, violence has been reported elsewhere.

A rabbi in Casablanca, Morocco, was beaten and seriously injured.

A young man beat up a Moroccan rabbi in the economic capital of Casablanca over Israel’s deadly air war on Gaza, a newspaper reported on Sunday. …

The unidentified assailant asked: “Are you Jewish? What’s the Tsahal (Israeli army) doing to our brothers?” the weekly quoted the rabbi as saying.

Today, the Tower covered Hezbollah’s and Iran’s objection to Israel’s right to self-defense. Hezbollah official Naim Qassem said, “Gaza and Palestine are facing an international Zionist aggression, covered by the U.S. administration by not opposing the Zionist ground assault in the Gaza Strip.”

Mahmoud Abbas’s criticism of Hamas led to Hamas calling him a “member of Likud.”

An analysis written by Khaled Abu Toameh observed that “[President Abdel Fattah el-]Sisi and many Egyptians seem to be delighted that Hamas is being badly hurt.”

Israel shot down a Hamas-launched drone over Ashdod, again raising the specter of Iran’s continued support for the terrorist organization Hamas.

[Photo: Israel Defense Forces / Flickr ]

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