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Day 5: Israeli Commandos Strike Rocket Site in Gaza; Hamas Takes Credit For Nonexistent Casualties

by TheTower.org Staff |

Day 5 of Operation Protective Edge has ended.

Palestinians are not immune from Hamas’s rocket fire.

Rockets landed in Hebron and Bethlehem, the IDF Spokeperson said. Four rockets landed in total in the attack- three in Palestinian areas and one near a Jewish West Bank settlement.

IDF commandos landed in Gaza and struck at a rocket launching facility. The Jerusalem Post reports that they took fire and suffered injuries, but the target was damaged.

Israel Navy commandos raided a facility from which Hamas fired many long-range rocket at Israeli cities, the IDF said early Sunday. During the raid, the commandos were shot at by Hamas gunmen, and returned fire. “The facility was hit and damaged,” the army said.

Four commandos sustained light injuries during the special operation. They have been evacuated to a hospital in Israel.

Hamas reported on victories that never happened. According to the Jerusalem Post:

“Seven Israelis die in Zikim,” “Ten injured in Haifa after rocket explodes,” “All of Tel-Aviv is in shelters,” and “Hamas succeeds in causing malfunctions to the Iron Dome system,” – these are just some of the headlines that Gaza residents have been hearing in recent days on Hamas radio and television broadcasts.

But none of the news items mentioned above actually happened. Seven Israelis did not die in Zikim, instead it was five Hamas terrorists that died. No one was injured in Haifa, and Tel Avivians are still going to work, enjoying the beach and sitting at cafes, not locked in shelters.

The Times of Israel reported on how a Hamas broadcast announced an upcoming attack on Tel Aviv, expecting success:

Israeli braced for the worst, and a little after 9pm, the hefty barrage of rockets was indeed launched from Gaza. We knew this as it was happening because Israeli TV camera crews are monitoring the skies over the Strip, on constant lookout for signs of rocket launches. So we all saw the lights in the sky, little orange balls heading for Israel. We then, mercifully, all saw other lights in the sky, as Iron Dome fired its interceptors and took out the Hamas rockets, one after another, all across central Israel.

So confident was Hamas of its impending “success,” however, that it was broadcasting Israel’s Channel 2 on its Gaza Al-Aksa TV station — hoping it would be relaying scenes of Israelis dead and dying. Channel 2, for its part, used the opportunity to interview the Al-Aksa presenters in mid-broadcast, minutes after Iron Dome had proved itself again.

Hamas warned residents of Gaza not to post pictures of rockets firing from their neighborhoods on social media.

The ministry’s social media department published a video in Arabic Thursday containing guidelines for “cautious and effective” social media engagement on Facebook and Twitter during Operation Protective Edge. The ministry calls on residents to be wary of repeating Israeli “rumors,” and of adopting “the occupation’s narrative.” “Always doubt it and dispel it,” the video advises.

“Beware of posting photos of missiles launched from the center of town directed at Israel. This is used as a pretext to strike residential areas in the Gaza Strip,” it continues.

Ynet reported that Hamas has also told residents not to leave targeted buildings.

Gaza’s Interior Ministry called on residents to ignore the IDF’s “knock on the roof” procedure – wherein the Israeli military fires a small round to signal residents to evacuate their homes before a strike.

“We call on the people to not cooperate with these messages, not leave their homes, and continue their lives.”

The IDF just posted a video of a pilot aborting an attack when civilians, possibly children, were sited near the target.

Yesterday, The Tower explained the considerations leading Israel to launch Operation Protective Edge to stop the rocket fire, and why a ground invasion may well be necessary: “The various factors appear to create a scenario in which Hamas has ensured that its long-range missiles – which it is preparing to deploy over the course of months against Israeli civilian centers and nuclear installations – are functionally invulnerable except from the ground.”

[Photo: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Flickr ]

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