MIDDLE EAST: Israeli says it won't tolerate missiles on its cities as it intensifies aerial offensive against Hamas in Gaza

Record ID: 359110

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Israeli says it won't tolerate missiles on its cities as it intensifies aerial offensive against Hamas in Gaza
  • Date: 8th July 2014
  • Summary: ISRAEL-GAZA- BORDER, ISRAEL (JULY 8, 2014 (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SMOKE BILLOWING OVER GAZA AS SEEN FROM ISRAELI SIDE ROCKET LAUNCHING FROM GAZA TOWARD ISRAEL VARIOUS OF WHITE AND BLACK SMOKES BILLOWING OVER GAZA ROCKET LAUNCHING TOWARD ISRAEL, FROM GAZA JERUSALEM (JULY 8, 2014) (REUTERS) SPOKESMAN OF ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, MARK REGEV, WALKING TOWARD CAMERA (SOUNDBITE) (E
  • Embargoed: 23rd July 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem, Gaza, Israel
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8FTO513HVQNHEG5UNUI34UO1R
  • Story Text: Israel stepped up its air offensive against Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday (July 8), bombing some 50 targets, including several homes, in a military campaign to end Palestinian cross-border rocket fire.
    The Israeli military said more than 80 rockets were launched at Israel on Monday, with warning sirens, which police described as false alarms, sounding in the outskirts of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Two people were reported wounded.
    "Yesterday, some eighty rockets were fired by Hamas at Israeli civilians. Of the last few weeks, hundreds of such rockets have been fired We have repeatedly warned Hamas that this must stop and the Israel Defense forces are curently acting to put an end to this, once and for all. Our goal is to free the people of Israel from the threat of these incoming rockets," Israeli Prime Minister spokesman, Mark Regev, said.
    Hamas' armed wing, the dominant force in the Gaza Strip, threatened an "earthquake" in response to Israel's attacks. But a Palestinian source close to Hamas said the group was ready to restore calm if Israel met a series of conditions, including a prisoner release.
    Despite a sharp escalation of the conflict, there were no immediate reports of deaths on either side on Tuesday. Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted several rockets and Palestinian officials said Israel gave advance warning to evacuate at least one of the Gaza homes it attacked.
    The military, announcing it had launched "Operation Protective Edge", said it targeted about 50 sites in aerial and naval assaults overnight and resumed air strikes on Tuesday morning after rockets were fired at southern Israeli towns.
    Palestinian officials said four homes were bombed in the southern Gaza Strip and that 16 people were wounded. They said other targets included training grounds used by militants.
    More than 200 rockets have been launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip in the past month, the military said, since Israel arrested several hundred Hamas activists in the occupied West Bank in tandem with a search for three missing Israeli youths.
    The Israeli teens's were found last week, and Israel said Hamas militants killed them. Their deaths and the suspected revenge killing of Palestinian teen in Jerusalem last week have exacerbated tensions. Six Jewish suspects have been arrested in connection with the Palestinian youth's death.
    rt/jrc
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