Meengla
Elite Member
- Jul 31, 2009
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This is quite an embarrassment for Israel: So many rockets fired from northern Gaza after Israel had claimed mostly controlled that area and withdrawn some troops from there. NY Times has this on its front page right now.
As long as Israelis don't feel safe again, the Israeli communities which are displaced will not go back and the economy will keep hurting really badly.
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired at least 25 rockets toward a nearby Israeli city on Tuesday, according to the Israeli military. It was one of the largest barrages in recent weeks, and renewed criticism in Israel of the government’s decision to scale back some military operations in Gaza.
Hamas took responsibility, saying in a statement that it had targeted the Israeli city of Netivot, which is about six miles from the Gaza border. Israel’s air defense systems generally intercept most incoming rockets from Gaza, and there were no immediate reports of casualties. But the Israeli police said that at least one building had been damaged in the attack.
The attack highlighted Hamas’s continuing ability to threaten Israeli civilians with rocket fire despite more than three months of a devastating Israeli offensive aimed at destroying the group’s military capabilities. It came as Israeli officials have said their campaign against Hamas is shifting to a more targeted phase amid rising international criticism over the civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.
On Monday, the Israeli military withdrew a division of troops from northern Gaza, part of a broader drawdown of forces aimed in part at relieving the war’s strain on Israel’s economy. After the rocket barrage on Tuesday morning, right-wing members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency wartime government called for an urgent re-examination of that decision.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, said the decision to withdraw some soldiers was “a serious, grave error that will cost lives.” Mr. Ben-Gvir, one of Mr. Netanyahu’s most hawkish allies, has called for Israel to reoccupy Gaza indefinitely.