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Day 4: Rocket Targets Expand, World Leaders Express Support, Netanyahu Firm

by TheTower.org Staff |

The fourth day of Operation Protective Edge is coming to an end. The Times of Israel sums up the current situation:

Four days into Operation Protective Edge, over 400 rockets have been fired at Israel, and several Israelis were injured during Friday, even as Iron Dome intercepted most rockets heading into residential areas. The Israeli Air Force has carried out over 1,000 airstrikes on the Gaza Strip; Palestinian reports say at least 100 Palestinians have been killed. Prime Minister Netanyahu says all Gaza casualties are the fault and responsibility of Hamas, which uses Gazans as human shields while Israel does its best to avoid hitting civilians. Netanyahu also says the operation will continue until longterm calm is guaranteed for Israel’s citizens.

The Jerusalem Post reports that two people, including an 80 year old woman were injured when a rocket hit a house in Beersheba and that the government plans to deploy more Iron Dome batteries across the country. Rockets hit across the country.

An hour earlier, the Iron Dome battery intercepted two rockets over Tel Aviv and at least two rockets over Herzliya on Friday evening just seconds after sirens were heard across the region.

Earlier in the day, the anti-missile system intercepted dozens of Palestinian rockets fired at suburban Tel Aviv, the Shfela region, Beersheba, and the western Negev, which was the hardest hit.

Ynet reports that chief of staff Benny Gantz says that a ground offensive is a possibility.

Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said earlier Friday that the military was ready for a ground offensive, and was only awaiting instructions from the political leadership.

“Nothing is stopping us from moving forward,” Gantz said during a tour of a Paratroopers training base. “The IDF is not waiting for the last straw to go on a ground offensive, it’s waiting on political instruction.”

Today The Tower covered Mahmoud Abbas’s planned application to the International Criminal Court which “would further jeopardize relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) amid an ongoing Israeli campaign to halt rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip into the Jewish state.”

Another Tower post noted that an impressive group of Western leaders have expressed their support for Israel’s Operation Protective Shield to fight the rocket war launched against civilians by Hamas. Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized the international support Israel has garnered in a statement he made today.

On social media Iran is forcefully supporting Hamas’s terror campaign against Israeli civilians citing the memory of Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, who “is considered the ‘father of Iran’s missile program.’” The Iranian support comes at a time that Arab support for Hamas has been, at best, limited.

Israel21c reports that despite the terror, Israeli hospitals continue to treat Gaza residents as they always have. Specifically, “Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus reported today that its hospitalized patients include three adults and eight children from Gaza, and three adults and two children from the PA.”

[Photo: Israel Defense Forces / Flickr ]

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