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Rockets Hit Zichron Yaakov, Aimed at Dimona, Family in Sderot Escapes Injury

by TheTower.org Staff |

As the second day of Operation Protective Edge was winding down yesterday, the biggest news was that M-302 rockets, similar to the ones smuggled by Iran to Gaza in the past, struck Zichron Yaakov, just south of Haifa. An M-302 also hit the northern city of Hadera yesterday. Hamas also reportedly aimed rockets towards Dimona in the south, where Israel’s nuclear reactor is located.

JTA reports on the rocket strikes near Zichron Yaakov.

The rockets fired Tuesday afternoon landed in an open area located about 75 miles from the border with Gaza. Reports called it the farthest north into Israel that rockets from Gaza have hit.
Shrapnel from the rockets started a brush fire in the area. One person sustained shrapnel injuries.

Elhanan Miller of the Times of Israel observes that Arab newspapers have reported on Operation Preventive Edge, often exaggerating the extent of Israel’s attacks, the editorial pages have largely been silent.

But what is noteworthy, perhaps, is the general lack of attention given to the Gaza conflagration on the Arab editorial pages. In the midst of Ramadan, with the Islamic State (formerly ISIL) widening its grip on Syria and Iraq — the latter struggling to maintain its territorial integrity — the violence in Gaza and Israel is viewed by many as an unwarranted distraction.

A family in Sderot told the Jerusalem Post of their narrow escape this morning.

“We didn’t waste a second,” Tami said, as she sat on her porch in the afternoon and described the attack to The Jerusalem Post.

“I called out Uri, run quickly, there is a warning siren!” recalled Tami.

She explained that “sometimes when they [her children] are watching television, they don’t hear the siren.”

In spite of their young age, experience has taught them to race to the safe room.

They made it there on Thursday just before a rocket tore into Tami’s upstairs bedroom, two floors above.

Ha’aretz is reporting that Iron Dome has a 90% success rate in the current conflict, a slight improvement over its impressive record during Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012.

It has been activated to intercept about 27 percent of the approximately 180 rockets fired between Monday night and midday Wednesday. Of the times when Iron Dome was activated, it successfully intercepted the rockets nearly 90 percent of the time, and there have been few rocket hits or serious injuries.

The success of the defense system marks an improvement over the 84 percent success rate during Operation Pillar of Defense.

Ynet reports that a BBC investigation of images circulating on social media purporting to be current are actually from previous conflicts.

“Graphic images are being shared on social media to show how people have been affected by the renewed tensions between Israel and the Palestinians,” the BBC reported.

“Over the past week the hashtag #GazaUnderAttack has been used hundreds of thousands of times, often to distribute pictures claiming to show the effects of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.” …

The network found that several graphic photos, that spread through social media proporting to show killed Gazans and destruction caused by IAF strikes in recent days, were actually photos taken several years ago, some of which in other war areas like Syria and Iraq.

For example a picture of injured children that activists claim is current is actually from Aleppo,Syria.

Khaled Abu Toameh writes that Hamas may have gotten more than it bargained for when it escalated its war against Israel.

The massive Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours have surprised Hamas and other Palestinian groups. Hamas apparently expected a limited response to the recent rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns. But as the IDF intensified its strikes against Hamas targets – including the homes of some of its top commanders – it became clear to the movement’s leaders that Israel means business.

Earlier today The Tower featured posts from American newspapers and the IDF on how Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

The Tower also had posts on Ambassador Ron Prosor’s plea for the Security Council to condemn Hamas’s terror war against Israel and the support the American government has shown towards Israel.

[Photo: Israel Defense Forces / Flickr ]

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