Israel struck 50 targets by air and sea in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip overnight and is calling up reservists for a possible ground operation to stop a barrage of Palestinian rocket fire into its territory, a military spokesman said.
Among the targets hit in the opening salvo of “Operation Protective Edge” were rocket launchers, “terror infrastructure sites” and at least four homes of Palestinian militants, army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said in a phone briefing. Forty-seven of the strikes were carried out by aircraft, he said.
The military has also been given “the green light” to call up more reservists for a possible ground operation into Gaza, Lerner said. Israel has already called up 1,500 reservists to boost the regular infantry and paratroop forces stationed along the Gaza border.
“There will be a gradual increase of the pressure on Hamas in order to achieve our goals,” Lerner said.
Gaza militants began bombarding southern Israel after the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers last month led to an Israeli roundup of Hamas operatives in the West Bank. The attacks increased after the suspected revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem last week. More than 230 rockets have been fired since the June 12 abduction, including 85 since yesterday, according to the military’s count.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed the killings of the three Israel teenagers on Hamas, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. Israel, like the U.S. and European Union, considers Hamas a terrorist organization.
A dozen Palestinians have been killed in Gaza air strikes and seven in the West Bank arrest raids over the past month. At least 12 Palestinians were injured overnight, and the homes of three militants were destroyed in the Israeli strikes, according to Ashraf al-Qedra, chief of the Gaza emergency medical services.
Family members of the militants said they received warning calls to evacuate their homes before they were fired on.
Israel evacuated Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation. It has carried out two large offensives against Gaza militants in the past six years, including a ground incursion in January 2009.
To contact the reporter on this story: Calev Ben-David in Jerusalem at cbendavid@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net Amy Teibel
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1xKoI7v
0 comments:
Post a Comment