Israel: The Dead End Strategy

The fighting in Gaza has left nearly 2,000 dead, over 96 percent of them Palestinian. Hamas says it won’t stop fighting until the Israeli-Egyptian blockade is lifted. Israel and Egypt refuse to do that until Hamas drops its support for terrorism and disarms. Since Israeli troops left Gaza (and Hamas took control in 2007) Gaza has become a sanctuary for Islamic terrorists. Most seek the destruction of Israel but a growing number seek to establish a religious dictatorship in Egypt. Hamas does not expect to get the blockade lifted but does see itself gaining respect (and cash donations along with more diplomatic support) in the Moslem world. At the moment Hamas is still designated an international terrorist organization by the UN, most Western nations and even some Moslem ones.

 

Israel has plenty of electronic and video evidence of Hamas using ceasefires to move weapons and personnel and prepare to continue firing on Israel. Broadcasting this evidence is opposed by Israeli intelligence officials because putting the evidence out there enables Hamas to see where and how they are vulnerable to detection. With this knowledge Hamas can better hide its activities in the future.

  

Hamas has fired over 3,300 rockets since July 9^th. Some 70 percent landed in Israel but less than four percent hit populated areas (killing three and wounding 85 civilians) . Iron Dome intercepted about a quarter of the rockets fired at Israel as the Iron Dome computers predicted these would land in or near a populated area. About 20 percent of the rockets fired towards Israel were defective and landed inside Gaza or were aimed at targets in Gaza. This included some of the 11 percent of all rockets were fired at Israeli troops inside or near Gaza. Some 69 percent of the rockets were fired from northern Gaza (where most of the Israeli counterstrikes have been) while 13 percent were launched from central Gaza and the rest from southern Gaza. Over 80 percent of the rockets were fired from unpopulated areas but at least 18 percent were fired from locations that were clearly civilian (including schools, Mosques and medical facilities.) Hamas was believed to have had about 10,000 rockets in early July. Since then over 3,000 have been fired and over 4,000 destroyed before they could be fired. Israeli aircraft, helicopters, ships, armored vehicles and ground troops have attacked nearly 5,000 targets in Gaza since July 9^th and about a third of those attacks were against rocket launching sites, often while rockets were being prepared for launch. Hamas rockets have killed three Israeli civilians and 64 military personnel (and 670 wounded) so far. Some 82,000 Israeli reservists have been mobilized and most have been sent to the Gaza border. Hamas considers each Israeli they kill a victory and plays that up in their media. The Israeli military casualty rate is about the same as the U.S. suffered at the height of the fighting in Iraq. In other words; historically quite low. 

  

Some Israeli leaders want the ground troops to go back in and shut down Hamas once and for all. But that would involve a lot of combat and if Gaza were to be completely cleared of Islamic terrorists hundreds of Israeli troops would die and thousands wounded. Most Israeli politicians do not believe Israelis in general are willing to pay that high a price. Instead Israel will continue using its intelligence capabilities to find Hamas personnel and weapons and attack them with smart bombs and missiles. Other Islamic terrorist groups in Gaza are also being hit. But the Islamic terrorists are hiding among the 1.8 million civilians in Gaza. There are several hundred thousand buildings and hundreds of tunnels and bunkers. Less than one percent of these structures holds terrorist weapons or personnel and the Israelis already know that they cannot watch all of Gaza in great detail all the time. Israeli military leaders point out that there would be a lot of Palestinian civilian casualties because Hamas deliberately surrounds its weapons and key personnel with civilians. While some Palestinians answer the Hamas propaganda and volunteer for this duty, most do not and will flee if given a chance. For Hamas victory is simply surviving and still being able to issue victory statements. Israeli victory is suppressing terrorist capabilities. Ultimate victory is eliminating the terrorist threat but given the massive support for destroying Israel in the Arab world, ultimate victory remains a long term goal, not one that can be won right now in Gaza. Right now most media in the Arab (and Moslem) world portray Hamas as misguided but valiant fighters for a cause (the destruction of Israel) that still has a lot of popular support in the Moslem world. Most Westerners, especially journalists, don’t grasp that aspect of the situation and try to portray Gaza as a humanitarian disaster that only Israel can fix. Most Israelis are exasperated at the attitude of so many non-Moslems overseas and attributes it to ignorance, greed (oil-rich Arab states have spent billions to push the Arab point of view towards Israel) or anti-Semitism.

  

Despite the continued hostile attitude in the Arab world, Israel is seeing some progress. A growing number of Arab states officially classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. The most obvious of these is Egypt. This influences media coverage of the fighting in Arab media. This time around there is more emphasis on the suffering of Gaza civilians and not the Hamas fighters. Many Egyptian journalists and pundits openly call for Israel to destroy Hamas once and for all. A growing number of Arabs are giving up on Islamic radicalism as a solution for anything and many are calling for more international efforts to crush this latest round of Islamic terrorism.

  

Israel also wants to kill the military leadership of the Qassam Brigades (the military/terror portion of Hamas), who are believed to be the prime proponents of constant rocket attacks on Israel, despite ceasefires that the political leaders of Hamas have negotiated. The key Hamas official here is the head of the Qassam Brigades; Muhammad Deif. Israel see Deif the way the Americans did Osama bin Laden, as the one guy responsible for many attacks. There are at least ten key Qassam Brigades personnel Israel consider largely responsible for the persistent (despite five ceasefires) rocket attacks as well as the effort to send Islamic terrorists through tunnels into Israel. A growing number (up to a quarter) of the Hamas rockets are either damaged or launched incorrectly. This indicates the cumulative damage on the rocket supply and the personnel trained to launch them. In addition to a few remaining tunnels into Israel, Hamas is also believed to have several thousand rockets left and hundreds of Qassam Brigades fanatics willing to anything to launch them. 

  

The current war between Israel and Hamas was only partly about the persistent rocket attacks against Israel. Israel made it clear, soon after the fighting broke out in early July, that  one of its primary objectives was to find and destroy all the tunnels Hamas had dug into Israel over the last few years. This could only be accomplished if Israeli troops were inside Gaza and able to search for the places where the tunnels started. Hamas boasted about how it had lots of these tunnels and planned to use them to get terrorists into Israel to capture or kill Israelis. So far Israel has found and destroyed 32 tunnels that extended into Israel and several more that were just used inside Gaza. Israeli intelligence, because of the several weeks Israeli troops were inside Gaza, has a better idea where additional tunnels are and Israel is hustling to come up with more effective detection methods. Currently the best method is using a large mobile drill (normally used for digging wells) to go deep dozens of times in an area where a tunnel is suspected until it is found. That method is being used now on the Israeli side of the border but it is slow work. The most obvious opportunity here is for better sensors. One idea is a series of wireless sensors buried a few meters down all along the Gaza border that will broadcast the unavoidable sounds the Hamas men would make as they dug towards the surface to “open” a tunnel on the Israeli side. For obvious reasons the Israelis are giving out any details on this sort of thing but at the moment it’s one of the best potential solution for the tunnel threat. Meanwhile Israel is trying to make the UN and other major Hamas donors (like Arab oil states) understand that a large chunk (over $10 million in the last few years) of their aid money has gone to this enormous tunnel project and that better management of aid to Gaza could reduce the amount being spent on tunnels and terrorism in general.

  

The tunnels are not a new problem. The Palestinians in Gaza have been building tunnels (mainly into Egypt for smuggling) since the 1980s. The Egyptians long tolerated this because the local Egyptian police and soldiers got bribed and that kept everyone happy. But tunnels into Israel were another matter, because these were not for smuggling but for killing or kidnapping Israelis. No bribes involved here, just murder and abduction (for ransom). Israeli combat engineers had been trained to destroy discovered tunnels, which was not easy because Hamas had booby-trapped some of them. 

  

Lost amidst all the other stories is the fact that Israeli negotiators are trying work out a deal to get back the bodies of two Israeli soldiers that Hamas made away with. Israel is offering to release 25 Palestinians from prison for the bodies but Hamas wants a whole lot more. Earlier negotiations over the remains of dead Israelis went on for years.

  

Another story that does not get covered is the fact that most of Gaza is unharmed. Despite the thousands of Israeli bombs, missiles  and artillery shells fired into Gaza in the last month over 96 percent of the structures in Gaza are intact. Israel is using smart bombs and guided missiles meaning that most of the attacks destroy or damage individual structures, not entire neighborhoods as in the past (before smart bombs became standard). Images of all those intact Gaza towns and neighborhoods do not attract a lot of eyeballs and are not considered newsworthy. Another bit of non-news is the 40,000 tons of humanitarian aid (most of it food and medical supplies) Israel has allowed into Gaza since July 9^th. Also non-news are the thousands of Israeli attacks called off at the last minute because civilians were detected in the target area.

  

In Egypt several thousand additional soldiers and dozens of armored vehicles have been sent to the Libyan border in the last week. This is all to deal with the growing smuggling activity there, much of it involving Islamic terrorist groups bringing in weapons stolen from army warehouses left unguarded during the 2011 revolution. Those weapons have been selling briskly on the black market in Egypt. The customers are gangsters, Islamic terrorists and people seeking some illegal protection.

 

Meanwhile the military revealed that since the end of July soldiers and police had killed 61 Islamic terrorists in Sinai and arrested more than a hundred known or suspected Islamic terrorists there. The raids had also captured large quantities of weapons, ammo and bomb making material. Also seized was 650 kg (1,430 pounds) of marihuana. In the last year over 500 soldiers and policemen have died fighting Islamic terrorists.

  

August 10, 2014: Israel and Hamas agreed to another 72 hour ceasefire to begin at 9 PM GMT (11 PM local time). Hamas has fired over a hundred rockets since the latest ceasefire collapsed on the 8^th.

August 9, 2014: Hamas managed to fire five more rockets into Israel, but there were no casualties or damage. Israel responded with attacks on at least 20 targets in Gaza. A bomb that hit a mosque killed three people, including a senior Hamas leader. Hamas has fired at least 70 rockets since the latest ceasefire collapsed on the 8^th.

  

In Egypt a court dissolved the political wing of the Moslem Brotherhood (which was outlawed last September). This cuts off Moslem Brotherhood members from an legitimate participation in Egyptian politics. Earlier this year Egypt elected another military man, who replaces one who was overthrown in 2011. The government has arrested over 10,000 people since the coup a year ago but now the military is in charge legally. The newly elected president (Abdul al Sisi) is a former general and is determined to crush the Moslem Brotherhood and other more radical Islamic terrorist groups.

 

Hundreds of Islamic radicals have been sentenced to death or long prison terms in the last year. This is all a repeat of what happened twenty years ago during the last Islamic radical uprising against a corrupt and inefficient government. The army promises it will be different this time, but they always do that and it never is. President Sisi has made it clear that he sees Islamic terrorism as the greatest danger the region faces. At the same time Sisi is making moves to get the economy going although it’s doubtful he will do anything about the corruption.

  

August 8, 2014:  Another ceasefire ended with Hamas firing 61 rockets at Israel. These resulted in two Israelis wounded by rocket fragments. Israel promptly responded with attacks on 70 terrorist targets in Gaza. The resumption of fighting was disappointing to Egypt, which is trying to persuade Hamas to make a long-term peace deal. While the Egyptian diplomats can appeal to Hamas as fellow Arabs, Hamas tends to have difficulty of hiding their contempt for Egypt, which Hamas considers traitors for classifying Hamas as a terrorist organization and cracking down on Islamic terrorist groups inside Egypt. Many Egyptians believe Islamic terrorism is a dead end strategy, but Hamas believes just the opposite. 

  

In Egypt (along the Gaza border) several army raids left eleven Islamic terrorists dead and several smuggling tunnels destroyed.

  

August 5, 2014: Israel pulled its ground troops out of Gaza as another 72 hour ceasefire went into effect. Hamas announced that former Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha was found dead in a bombed building. Several days later rumors began coming out of Gaza that Taha had been executed. Medical staff and others saw his body at the hospital and morgue and despite orders to keep quiet, began talking. Taha was apparently being punished for secretly supplying Egypt with information on Hamas activities. Unwilling to admit that such a high-ranking official was a traitor, Hamas went with the “killed by an Israeli bomb” angle after putting Taha in front of a firing squad. 

  

In Egypt (North Sinai) soldiers killed three Islamic terrorists and captured six others who were being sought. One raid also seized an SUV and sixteen motorcycles used for terrorist attacks. Elsewhere (outside Alexandria) five policemen and four Islamic terrorists died in a clash on a road to the beach. 

  

August 4, 2014: Iran openly boasted of sending long range rockets to Gaza and ordered that an effort be made to get modern surface to air missiles into Gaza so Hamas can shoot down Israeli warplanes and helicopters. Actually, the shoulder fired missiles have been in Gaza for some time but Israeli aircraft have effective defenses against these missiles. Iran apparently wants to get larger and more effective anti-aircraft systems into Gaza. Iran has not commented on the fact that the Hamas use of rockets this time around has been a complete failure, with only three Israeli civilian (the main target for these rockets) deaths resulting mainly because of the Israeli Iron Dome anti-rocket system.

  

August 3, 2014: Israel pulled most of its troops out of Gaza.

  

August 2, 2014: Israel announced that one of its soldiers might have been captured. It later turned out that the soldier had been killed in combat while cut off from other troops. 

  

August 1, 2014: A ceasefire in Gaza collapsed hours after it began when more rockets were fired at Israel.

Egyptians Rise Up Against Islamic Radicals

Syrian rebels operating near the Israeli border, including the Islamic terrorist outfits, announced that they had no intention of launching attacks into Israel and were only interested in destroying Syrian government forces in the area. Syrian rebels have informally said this for months, but the media has been playing up the possibility that the rebels might attack Israel. This seemed suicidal but it did stir things up in Israel, which has been providing medical aid to some of the Syrians wounded along the border. Israelis have established some informal communications with the rebels on the border and discussions between these rebels and Israelis led to the official announcement.

 

Hamas has rejected peace talks with Israel as pointless. Hamas wants Israel destroyed and will only meet with the Israelis to discuss ceasefires. As far as Hamas is concerned Palestinians are at war with Israel and the fighting will only stop when Israel is destroyed. Western nations, especially the United States, believe some kind of peace deal is possible. So do some Palestinians, but this is despite decades of official Palestinian propaganda backing the “destroy Israel” goal and describing peace talks as a tactic in the battle to annihilate Israel and not a means to a peace deal. Israel believes that their best hope for peace with the Palestinians is the growing pressure on Palestinians by the Arab states (particularly the wealthy ones in the Gulf) to make peace. Israel has become a more public ally of these Arab nations in their battle with Iran and Israel hopes that sort of thing eventually leads to more Arab countries (besides Jordan and Egypt) establishing diplomatic relations. Israel already has informal diplomatic relations with several Arab states and the trend, slow as it is, has been towards more Arab states openly establishing formal links with Israel. 

 

Most Israelis have come to accept this Palestinian attitude and no longer support a permanent peace deal. Most Israelis agree with going through the motions, if only to please the United States and other Western nations, but few believe such talks will produce anything. A growing number of Arabs have also given up on a Palestinian peace deal and are pressuring the Palestinians to at least give up the pro-terrorist attitudes and make a long-term truce with Israel so that the Palestinian economy can be revived. The Palestinian terrorist groups, especially Hamas (which controls Gaza and 40 percent of the Palestinian population) will not quit trying to kill Israelis any way they can. Some Arab countries have threatened to cut financial support for Palestinians (especially Hamas) if the Palestinians don’t halt their hopeless war against Israel. Some Palestinians are listening to this, most are not. 

 

Hamas, like all other Islamic radical groups that gain control of a government, are making themselves increasingly unpopular as they continue to enact laws that restrict the lifestyle of the Palestinians they rule. Hamas has recently sought to restrict the mixing of men and women, and even children over age nine. These rules apply to Christian Palestinians as well as Moslems. The kids do not like this, and especially hate the growing list of dress restrictions. Hamas has other problems besides angry teenagers. Islamic terrorist group Islamic Jihad (an Iran backed terror group that is a Hamas rival) is threatening armed rebellion against Hamas. Many in Hamas see this as the work of Iran, which is angry at Hamas for openly supporting the Syrian rebels. That has cost Hamas over a million dollars a month in Iranian cash and caused a lot of dissent within Hamas. A few dozen, or more, Hamas men have gone to Syria to fight against the rebels. 

 

Israel believes Hezbollah is in big trouble as Lebanese opponents of Hezbollah increasingly use deadly force to express their opposition to the Iranian-backed Shia militia. That hostility in Lebanon has been building for decades and now that Hezbollah is openly involved fighting in Syria, the many enemies the Shia militia has made in Lebanon and outside the country (Israel and many Arab countries that are actively opposed to Iran-sponsored terrorism) are informally uniting in an effort to bring Hezbollah down. The Israelis play on Hezbollah fears that Israeli troops will be sent into southern Lebanon to destroy over 20,000 rockets stored in bunkers and the basements of homes and businesses within a few kilometers of the Israeli border. The Israelis know where a lot of these rockets are, and where the rest probably are. An air campaign would kill lots of civilians (forced by Hezbollah to store the rockets in their homes) so Israeli generals want to send troops in to remove and destroy the rockets without destroying the homes and businesses. A lot of Lebanese would welcome that but cannot admit it publicly because the official line in Lebanon is “Israel must be destroyed.” 

The Gulf Arab states that support the Syrian rebels have warned Hezbollah that if they do not withdraw their gunmen from Syria, Hezbollah will be added to the Arab list of terrorist organizations and Hezbollah will no longer be able to operate openly in most of the Arab world. This would hurt Hezbollah big time.  Hezbollah needs the Iranian support to survive and is now in a position where it will take some major losses no matter what it does. So will Iran, which has long considered Hezbollah ones of its major achievements. 

 

The Israeli government announced that from now on Jewish settlers in the West Bank making "price tag" attacks will be treated like terrorists. This gives the police more power to investigate and prosecute these crimes. These price tag attacks are usually in retaliation of the Israeli government dismantling illegal structures in the West Bank or local Palestinians attacking the settlements or settlers. Price tag attacks represent a shift in settler attitudes over the last few years. For decades the settlers could be depended on to be passive after a Palestinian attack, letting the Israeli police and military look for the culprit. But now the settlers are increasingly launching "price tag" counterattacks. The price tag refers to what the Palestinians must suffer for every attack on Israelis, or for Israeli police interfering with settler activities. This is vigilante justice, and it does more damage to Palestinians than Israeli police efforts to catch and prosecute Palestinian attackers. The Palestinians are not accustomed to this kind of swift payback, and they do not like it. Israel has been under growing public and international pressure to crack down more vigorously on the vigilantes. This became especially urgent because the attacks are much more common, and are even extending to feuds between factions of Jewish religious extremists. The Palestinians are still committing most of the terror attacks, but the Jewish terrorists are catching up. 

 

Egypt, in response to the growing internal unrest (between the Islamic Brotherhood dominated government and reformers and corrupt elements from the former Mubarak government) has continued its crackdown on smuggling tunnels into Gaza. Since March police have been searching for and destroying these smuggling tunnels. This is to make it more difficult for Islamic terrorists (opposed to the Egyptian government) to operate out of Gaza. The tunnels have been there for a long time, if only as a means to move goods and people that might have problems (arrest warrants or high tariffs) at the regular crossings. 

 

In Kuwait, two legislators openly defended Kuwait’s purchase of military equipment from Israel. The two men invoked the Prophet Mohammed’s similar dealings with the Jews and the need for Kuwait to buy the best military gear it could to defend against its enemies (who these days are mainly Iraq and Iran). There have been growing diplomatic and economic ties between Israel and several Persian Gulf Arab countries over the last decade. Many in the Gulf States want to trade with Israel and are fed up with the Palestinian self-destructiveness and inability to make peace with Israel. 

 

July 1, 2013:  The army demanded that the Moslem Brotherhood dominated government resign and allow a new one, not dominated by the Moslem Brotherhood, to be formed. President Morsi was told he had to agree to this within 48 hours or the army would move in and force him to comply. This was greeted with cheers by the many demonstrators still on the streets. Morsi and the Moslem Brotherhood are held responsible for the economic depression since the Arab Spring began two years ago and for generally ignoring the needs of the people. In practice, Morsi attempts to improve the economy were most often stymied by the wealthy (and largely pro-Mubarak) families that do not favor a real democracy, but rather an oligarchy (government controlled by the wealthiest families). Morsi told the army he would not comply with their demand. 

 

For the first time in many years Egypt has sent tanks to patrol the Gaza border. At least a battalion (30) of tanks are now operating in Sinai, mainly near Gaza.

 

June 30, 2013: In Egypt millions of people continued to demonstrate against the Moslem Brotherhood and what is seen as this Islamic radical group’s attempt to turn Egypt into a religious dictatorship. The headquarters of the Moslem Brotherhood was ransacked by anti-government demonstrators and nationwide there were nearly a thousand casualties over the last few days with at least sixteen dead. 

 

June 29, 2013: Israel and the U.S. warned its citizens to not visit Egypt in the next few days because of the growing number of demonstrations there. Supporters of Islamic radical groups are clashing with pro-democracy groups and it is feared that some of the Islamic radicals may seek out and attack non-Moslems, especially foreigners. Americans and Israelis already in Egypt have been warned to stay away from demonstrations and travel as little as possible. Egypt is suffering from political gridlock and economic collapse as Islamic radicals, democrats and supporters of the deposed Mubarak dictatorship (and that kind of government) fail to agree on a new government. The Mubarak supporters still occupy many senior positions in the courts and the military and elsewhere in the bureaucracy. The Mubarak supporters control most of the economy as well. Some Islamic radical groups are in armed opposition to the government, especially in the Sinai Peninsula, where they are sheltered by rebellious Bedouin tribesmen. The number of police and soldiers in Gaza keeps increasing, as does the resistance to government authority. Today, for example, a police general was assassinated by a group of gunmen, believed to be Islamic terrorists.

 

June 28, 2013:  In Egypt (Port Said) a homemade bomb killed one demonstrator and wounded fifteen others. In Alexandria at least three people died in clashes between democrats and Islamic radicals.

Israel announced that it is making preparations to deploy a sixth Iron Dome anti-rocket battery, with two more coming within the next eight months. The first battery of the new Magic Wand (David’s Sling) anti-aircraft/missile system, with a range of 160 kilometers, will enter service early next year. 

 

June 27, 2013: Russia has withdrawn its military and civilian personnel from the Syrian port of Tartus and turned their naval support facilities there (a few buildings and a pier for Russian warships to tie up next to) to Syrian caretakers. While Russia makes much of its newly established Mediterranean naval task force, these ships will not be using Tartus for supplies or maintenance anymore. 

 

June 24, 2013: Israeli warplanes hit several terrorist targets in Gaza in retaliation for recent rocket attacks on Israel. 

 

June 23, 2013: Six rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza. One of them landed inside Gaza and two of them were intercepted by Iron Dome missiles because the fire control computer calculated that these would land in an inhabited area. 

 

June 22, 2013: In Gaza Hamas executed two men (by hanging) it had accused of spying for Israel. Last April Hamas ended a month-long amnesty in which Palestinians who had, or were, working for Israeli intelligence could reveal themselves and be forgiven. Israel has long maintained a large, and pretty effective, informer network inside Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas has condemned five men to death so far this year after charging them with spying.

 

June 21, 2013: In Gaza the Islamic Jihad official (Raed Jundiya) in charge of rocket attacks was killed by Hamas police who tried to arrest him. Hamas is trying to force Islamic Jihad to stop firing rockets at Israel, which is a violation of the cease fire Hamas negotiated with Israel.  Islamic Jihad demanded that the men who killed Jundiya be punished and Hamas refused. This led to a three day armed standoff between Islamic Jihad and Hamas. The Islamic Jihad did the math (or were ordered by their Iranian patrons) and concluded that a war with Hamas would be futile and only benefit Israel. 

Islamic Jihad has several thousand armed followers in Gaza and cannot just be rounded up and put out of business. Islamic Jihad still refuses to halt its rocket attacks and Hamas may continue going after Islamic Jihad leaders to maintain the pressure.

 

June 19, 2013: A mortar shell landed in Israel (Gaza) and apparently came from Syria. There is still fighting on the Syrian side of the border, but not a lot. Israel has been holding more training exercises on its Syrian and Lebanese borders, to remind Hezbollah and the armed groups in Syria who they might be messing with if they fire across the border. 

New Iran missiles said headed to Gaza

An Iranian 150-ton freighter loaded with short- and long-range missiles left Iran Sunday for Gaza.

 The cargo included 220 short-range missiles and 50 improved long-range Fajar-5 rockets, intelligence sources told DEBKAfile, a Jerusalem-based military intelligence website.

The Fajar-5s have a 200-kilo warhead, the site said.

DEBKAfile said sources report four big Sudanese shipping boats sailed out of Port Sudan early Monday and are waiting to rendezvous with the freighter Cargo Star and offload its missile cargo at sea. Tehran would then tell the Sudanese the route to take to the Sinai coast, and the missiles would be smuggled through tunnels into Gaza, the report said.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Palestinians during the six-day conflict in Gaza, Palestinians said Monday.

The Ma'an News Agency reported an Israeli airstrike injured eight civilians, two seriously, in the bombing of a family home in Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. A physically disabled man, Muhammad Zeidan, was killed in an airstrike on an agricultural area near al-Nuseirat.

Israeli planes also bombed a tower block housing several international media offices in Gaza for the second day, Ma'an said, killing a military leader of Islamic Jihad and a civilian.

Iran confirms military aid to Hamas, sending long-range missile technology

Iran has supplied military assistance to Hamas in Gaza, including technology needed to build long-range Fajr-5 rockets used to target Tel Aviv, a military leader from the Islamic republic said.

"Gaza is under siege, so we cannot help them. The Fajr-5 missiles have not been shipped from Iran. Its technology has been transferred and (the missiles are) being produced quickly," the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted as saying by the semiofficial ISNA news agency on Wednesday.

Israel has long accused Iran of supplying Hamas with its Fajr 5 missile, which has been used to target Tel Aviv and Jerusalem since the Israeli Defense Force's (IDF) ongoing military operation in Gaza was launched one week ago.

Iranian lawmaker Ali Larijani said on Wednesday his country was “proud” to defend the people of Palestine and Hamas according to remarks published on the Islamic Republic’s parliamentary website.

Larijani stressed the assistance had been both “financial and military." On Tuesday, Larijani lauded the Palestinian missile capability, saying it had given them a “strategic [source] of power.”

 Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ramadhan Abdallah Shalah also told Al-Jazeera TV on Tuesday: “the weapons that are fighting the Israeli aggression and arrogance in Palestine come mainly from Iran, as the entire world knows. This is no secret. These are either Iranian weapons or weapons financed by Iran.”

On Thursday two Fajr rockets struck on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, marking the first time the metropolitan area had been targeted with missiles since the Gulf War. Two more Fajr-5 missiles launched towards the city were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defense system on Saturday, while another  pair of rockets exploded on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Two more errant rockets targeting Jerusalem landed in the West Bank on Tuesday. No casualties have been reported from any of the strikes.

The Iranian produced Fajr-5 missile has an approximate range of 75 kilometers, which far exceeds the more mobile Palestinian-made Qassam rockets which came into use following the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2001.

The introduction of long-range missiles into Hamas’ arsenal came as a surprise to the Israeli military, who had initially viewed Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as out of play in the run up to Operation Pillar of Defense.

The IDF was forced to revise infographics enumerating the Hamas rocket threat following the introduction of the Fajr rockets into the conflict. Israel’s Iron Dome system has mostly neutralized this Hamas’ newly acquired threat, however, with the periodic air raid sirens having more of a psychological impact than a material one.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was highly critical of other Muslim states for not standing behind Gaza during the week-long Israeli military operation that has seen at least 140 Palestinians killed following a thousand-plus IDF airstrikes.

"Some of them sufficed with words, and some others did not condemn [Israel],"  the official Islamic Republic News Agency cites  Khamenei as saying.

Israel launches massive airstrikes on Gaza after Tel Aviv bombing

Israeli forces have launched numerous missile attacks on Gaza, killing at least 6 after a bomb struck a bus in Tel Aviv, injuring 16. It is the eighth day of Israel’s ‘Pillar of Defense’ campaign, which has killed over 130 Palestinians so far.

Israeli war jets pummeled Gaza’s Al-Yarmouk football stadium with more than 10 consecutive attacks, Al Jazeera reports. Several casualties were reported following the assault.

The IDF claimed they are striking key Hamas targets, while the Palestinian Authority criticized the attacks for killing civilians.

The escalation of attacks comes off the back of a bomb attack on a Tel Aviv bus that left 16 people injured. Israel’s government called an emergency meeting in response to the first terrorist bombing in the city since 2006.

Israeli authorities have raised security in the area to a level 4 alert and have begun a manhunt for the two suspects.

Hamas spokesperson, Sami Abu Zuhri praised the Tel Aviv bus bombing to the press, but did not say Hamas was behind it. He said that Hamas viewed the explosion as “a natural response to the Israeli massacres…in Gaza.”

"Palestinian factions will resort to all means in order to protect our Palestinian civilians in the absence of a world effort to stop the Israeli aggression," Abu Zuhri said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Israel and the West Bank in order to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Gaza.

Clinton also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on her diplomatic trip to the region, where she vowed that US support for Israel is “rock solid,” and that “the rocket attacks from terrorist organizations inside Gaza on Israeli cities and towns must end.”

The US blocked a UN Security Council proposal by Morocco for a ceasefire on Tuesday evening, calling it “unbalanced.” US officials argued that the proposal failed to identify “the root cause of the current escalation,” which they claim is the continuing barrage of rocket attacks from Gaza directed against Israel.

The statement would have been adopted automatically had the US not blocked it. Other members of the Security Council criticized America for blocking the statement, with Russia accusing Washington of attempting to “filibuster” negotiations.

Bus explodes in central Tel Aviv, first terror attack in the city since 2006

Twenty-eight people have been injured in a bus bombing in central Tel Aviv at the corner of of Shaul Hamelech and Henrietta Szold Streets. Police say the blast was a terrorist attack.

IDF Spokesperson Leibovitz confirmed on twitter that the bomb went off near the Israel Defence Ministry’s offices.

Authorities raised security in the area to a level-4 alert. Bystanders were ordered to stay away from the scene as police closed off the nearby Azrieli Center compound, though no additional terror plots are suspected.

Police have been checking all bags in the area, but children are now allowed to go home after initially being ordered to stay inside their schools.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson also confirmed the bombing was a terrorist attack.

The bomb was triggered remotely. Another explosive that did not detonate was reportedly found on the bombed bus.

Police are searching for two people involved in the attack, contradicting previous reports of a single suspect. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the bomber flee the scene, Israeli radio said.

They say they took a man into custody about half an hour after the explosion, but have since released him.

Conflicting accounts of the culprit behind the attack have emerged. The Group of the Martyr Jihad Jibril, a wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades, considered Fatah's military wing, both claimed responsibility, according to media reports.

Hamas “blessed” the attack in Tel Aviv and called it a natural response to the Israeli killing of the Al-Dalou family and other civilians in Gaza, Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa TV reported.
This bombing is the first one in Tel Aviv since 2006.

Netanyahu postpones ground operation in Gaza for 24 hours – reports

Israel’s PM has reportedly pushed back by 24 hours an IDF ground invasion into Gaza, RT’s Middle East bureau chief said. The announcement precedes a series of critical international negotiations pushing for a ceasefire between the two sides.

The postponement of the military ground offensive coincides with UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s peace talks in Cairo, which lobbied for an immediate ceasefire. Ban is expected to arrive in Jerusalem on Tuesday before traveling into Gaza to assess the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to arrive in Israel for emergency talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. She is also scheduled for talks with Palestinian authority figures, but will not meet with any representatives of Hamas. Washington regards the organization as a terrorist group.

A delegation of Arab League representatives arrived in Gaza on Monday in a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians who have been under Israeli bombardment since last Wednesday.

They discussed a truce that is set to be announced on Thursday, which Hamas has already agreed to in principle, an Egyptian official knowledgeable on the matter told Ahram Online. He added that the “details were still being worked out.”

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US, Russian stalemate in UN Security Council

The UN Security Council was deadlocked by a stalemate over the Gaza crisis during a meeting in New York on Monday night. Russia warned it may call for a resolution vote if an Arab League proposal to end hostilities is not approved by Tuesday morning.

If the resolution goes to a vote, it could lead to a diplomatic clash between Moscow and Washington reminiscent of Russia’s repeated vetoes of UN resolutions on the Syrian conflict.

Following the meeting, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin intimated that the US was trying to "filibuster" progress towards a ceasefire.

"One member of the Security Council, I'm sure you can guess which, indicated quite transparently that they will not be prepared to go along with any reaction of the Security Council. Somehow, allegedly, that would hurt the current efforts carried out by Egypt in the region," Churkin said.

Hamas and Israel reportedly made progress during negotiations over the weekend, but both parties have yet to reach an agreement.

Tel Aviv has demanded that Hamas cease all attacks on Israel for the next 15 years, and the right to target terrorists in Palestinian territory. Hamas refused those terms, and called on Israel to lift its longstanding blockade of Gaza.

Hamas says Egyptian-brokered ceasefire finalized, Israel denies claim

Arabic news sources cite Hamas official Ayman Taha as saying an Egyptian brokered truce is set to be declared in Gaza at 19:00 GMT, and will go into effect at 22:00 GMT. Israel says that a ceasefire deal has yet to be finalized. 

A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is yet to be cemented, and the "ball is still in play", Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told CNN on Tuesday. "Until you're there, you're not there," he said.

Regev's statement conflicts with a previous statement by Hamas official Ayman Taha, who claimed that that an Egyptian-brokered truce had been finalized. An Egyptian source close to the negotiations confirmed that "up to this point there is no final decision," Sky News cites him as saying.

However, further clouding the nature of the uncertain ceasefire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to a cessation of hostilities after being significantly pressured from Washington, Israel’s Channel 10 news reports government sources as saying.

Hamas’ political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal and his negotiators met with Egypt’s intelligence chief Raafat Shehata in Cairo in an effort to hammer out the final details of the cease-fire agreement on Tuesday.

Israel’s delegates were scheduled to return to Cairo to present Israel’s response to demands being made by Hamas. Senior Egyptian officials told Haaretz that a solution was near, but more flexibility was needed from the Israeli side.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi announced earlier in the day that the “farce” of Israeli aggression would end on Tuesday.

“The efforts to reach a ceasefire between the Palestinians and Israelis will produce positive results within a few hours," state news agency Mena cited him as saying.

Egypt has played an integral part in ongoing efforts to bring about a cessation of hostilities between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip.

The conflicting reports of a ceasefire deal come amidst international efforts to prevent a further escalation of violence in the region.

UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  after a two-day stopover in Cairo. Netanyahu had early said Israel would be a “willing partner” in cease-fire. Ki-moon is also scheduled to hold talks with Palestinian officials Ramallah – in the West Bank.

Since the US has labeled Hamas a terrorist organization, Clinton is prohibited from engaging in direct contact with the movement’s officials. Washington has therefore been forced to rely on Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to act as go-betweens with the Hamas leadership in Gaza.

US President Barack Obama dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Middle East on the same day to aid in the peace efforts. Clinton is set to meet with the Israeli PM in Jerusalem, Palestinian officials in Ramallah and Egyptian leaders in Cairo.

Obama, who is returning from a diplomatic tour in Asia, has personally spoken to Morsi three times in the last 24 hours. He commended the Egyptian president’s efforts to ease hostilities between the two sides. 

On Monday Netanyahu reportedly pushed back an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) ground invasion of Gaza by 24-hours in light of his scheduled meeting with Ki-Moon.

Fears that an imminent ground operation was being prepared were stoked after the IDF dropped flyers warning Gaza residents to evacuate “immediately” to Gaza City’s center. The IDF claims the Hamas interior ministry spokesman had urged his listeners to ignore the warnings.

After speaking with ki-Moon, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said that any ground incursion into Gaza would not be limited as it was during the 2008-2009 Gaza War.

"This would not be "Operation Cast Lead 2," but "Operation Defensive Shield 2," The Jerusalem Post cites Liberman as saying. 

Despite the potential breakthrough, the violence showed no signs of abating after at least six Palestinians were killed in an airstrike that hit two cars, bringing Tuesday’s death toll to 13.,

At least 125 people have been killed in Gaza, including around 27 children, and four Israelis have also died since Israel began Operation Pillar of Defense with the assassination of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari on Wednesday.

Fajr-5 missile gives Palestinians rare advantage - Use of Iran-made rocket that can reach Israel heartland points to scale of smuggling

In a straight fight between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip there is no question who has the upper hand. Israel’s armed forces are among the world’s most sophisticated. Their ability to mount a drone strike of the kind that killed the Hamas military leader Ahmad Jabari on Wednesday attests to a deadly combination of precise weaponry and accurate intelligence. 

But in the latest round of the conflict the Palestinians have used a weapon which gives them a rare if short-lived advantage — a rocket which can strike at Israel’s civilian heartland. This is the Fajr-5, developed by Iran and also supplied to Hezbollah, Tehran’s Lebanese ally. It has a range of up to 75km, which means it can hit Tel Aviv and elsewhere in the heavily populated conurbation in central Israel. 

 

Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, announced on Wednesday that Israel had destroyed most of these missiles in air attacks during the first hour of its continuing offensive. But Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian faction, said on Thursday that it had launched a Fajr-5 at Tel Aviv, triggering the city’s first air raid alert since it was hit by Iraqi Scuds during the 1991 Gulf war. Barak went on TV to warn that Gaza would pay “a heavy price for this escalation”. 

The missile is not a game-changer, but it does even out the stakes.

Firing those that remained, suggested the global intelligence analyst Stratfor, was a “use it or lose it” strategy. 

The Fajr (“dawn” in Arabic) is in a different league from shorter-range rockets like the homemade Qassam built in workshops in Gaz with ranges of up to a dozen or so kilometres. Qassam variants have repeatedly hit towns in southern Israel since 2005. Missiles that hit Tel Aviv and occupied Jerusalem on Friday were described as Qassam M75s. Grad missiles, also thought to have been supplied by Iran, have a range of up to about 20km. 

Exactly how the Fajr-5 reached Gaza is not known. But its parts were probably smuggled in through the tunnels that link the blockaded enclave to the outside world. In October 2011 international observers in Sinai reported that one had been test-fired in the desert. 

Israel has made no secret of its concern that weapons have also flowed from Libya, via Egypt and Sudan, into Gaza, since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi last year. These are mostly SA-7 anti-aircraft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades, less significant militarily than the Fajr-5. 

In May the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, Yoram Cohen, called Libya “a new gate to hell”, because of the weapons reaching Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Gaza. Israel has tried in recent months to persuade Egypt, far less friendly since Mohammad Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood government replaced Hosni Mubarak, to choke off these supplies.

Hamas Tried to Develop a UAV

Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers have been trying to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reveals.

A video published by the IDF Spokesperson shows Hamas conducting a test flight of the drone it was building. Over the past week, during the IDF’s Operation Pillar of Defense, IAF aircraft struck a stockpile of such UAVs.

Reports on Friday evening indicated that the Hamas developers of the UAV acquired the knowledge required to develop it in Iran and Syria.

The UAVs that the IDF destroyed can reportedly reach a distance of tens of kilometers from Gaza, including to Tel Aviv and north of it.

Channel 1 News reported that Hamas’s desire was to have a UAV similar to one flown by Hizbullah over Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Last month, Israel shot down an Iranian-made drone that penetrated Israel's airspace. Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah later boasted that his group sent the unmanned drone over Israel. The group’s Al-Manar television network also broadcast a video which the network claimed simulates the route made by the unmanned drone.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi subsequently confirmed that Iran had provided Hizbullah with the drone, claiming his country’s “capabilities are very high and are at the disposal and service of Islamic nations.”

Israel gives Hamas 36-hours ultimatum before starting

Israel has warned Hamas it will step up its offensive in the Gaza Strip in 36 hours if they do not cease rocket fire. Israel's Finance Minister told IDF radio the time left before Israel escalates its attacks can be measured in “hours, not days.”

­"We are at a junction," said Minister Yuval Steinitz. "Either we go toward a calm or toward a meaningful widening of the operation… including a possible move to achieve complete military decision."

Israel has demanded that Hamas cease firing rockets into Israel for a period of “several years”

and that they stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. The conditions are part of a six-part proposal put forward by the Israeli government at negotiations with Hamas in Cairo.

In addition, the proposal asked that Israel be allowed to hunt down terrorists in the event of an attack or if it obtains information on an imminent attack.

Hamas’ official Moussa Abu Marzuk said Hamas would not accept the creation of an Israeli "security belt" in eastern Gaza.

For their part, the Palestinians have demanded the immediate lifting of the Israeli blockade on Gaza and the cessation of IDF targeted killings.

Fears of an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza have heightened following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Sunday that the IDF was “prepared for a significant expansion of the operation.” 

Additionally, the Israeli cabinet has doubled the troop reserve quota for the Gaza offensive and called up a total of 16,000 reservists.

The IDF provoked international ire and accusations of a massacre following the accidental bombing of a civilian household during air strikes on Sunday night. Eleven civilians, four of them children, perished in the military blunder. Israel says it is investigating the incident and that the misfire was due to a technical hitch in their targeting equipment.

Meanwhile the conflict shows no signs of letting up, with both sides using bellicose rhetoric. The death toll at present stands at over 80 Palestinians, while three Israelis were killed in rocket fire on Thursday, a day after the IDF assassinated the head of the Hamas military wing, Ahmed Jabari.

Proof That Russian Missiles Are In Gaza

On October 12th Israeli surveillance cameras spotted the distinctive contrail of an anti-aircraft missile being fired from Gaza at an Israeli helicopter. The missile missed, either because the missile was defective or because of the anti-missile systems carried by all Israeli aircraft operating over Gaza worked. The media reported that it was an older SA-7 Russian type missile but no one could be sure.

Earlier this year Israel spotted, in Gaza, some of the 480 Russian Igla-S (SA-24) shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles that had been sold to Libya and stolen from military warehouses during the rebellion there last year. Older SA-7s were taken as well. Some SA-7s and SA-24s have shown up in Gaza in the hands of Islamic terrorist group Hamas. Most Israeli and NATO helicopters and aircraft are equipped with missile detection and protection (lasers or flares) systems. Such systems on Israeli AH-64 helicopter gunships operating over Gaza are thought to have defeated several SA-24 attacks in the last year but, unlike the recent attack, there was no photographic proof.

Last year Russia supplied Libyan missile serial numbers, which were distributed to counter-terrorism officials worldwide with the admonition to be vigilant. Apparently the SA-24 thieves sold many of the SA-24s to Iran, which in turn gave some to Hamas and Hezbollah (another Iran backed Islamic terror group in Lebanon).

The SA-24 entered service eight years ago and is considered one of the most dangerous Russian portable anti-aircraft missiles. The SA-24 is a post-Cold War upgrade of a design that was introduced at the same time as the American Stinger. SA-24 weighs 19 kg (42 pounds) and fires a 11.7 kg (26 pound) missile for up to 6,000 meters (19,000 feet). The 14.3 kg Stinger fires its 10.1 kg missile out to 8,000 meters, but both systems have similar resistance to countermeasures and a warhead of about the same size (2-3 kg/4.4-6.6 pounds). The SA-24 in the hands of terrorists could bring down helicopters and airliners taking off. The SA-24 is a heat seeker but it does not just go for the engine exhaust but rather any part of the aircraft. This makes the SA-24 more dangerous because if they just go for the engine exhaust these missiles often do little damage.

Against jet fighters or large transports with powerful engines, the missiles that just home in on heat cause some damage to the tailpipe but usually fail to bring down the jet. This was first noted during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war where the Egyptians fired hundreds of SA-7s at Israeli A-4 light bombers. Most of the A-4s, with their 11,187 pounds of thrust engines, survived the encounter. Larger jets, like the F-4 and its 17,000 pound thrust engines, were even more difficult to bring down when only the engine exhaust was targeted. Smaller commercial jets, like the 737 or DC-9 (each using two 14,000 pounds of thrust engines) have proved vulnerable. But a 757 has much larger engines with 43,000 pounds of thrust and the 747 is 63,000. Moreover, the rear ends of jet engines are built to take a lot of punishment from all that hot exhaust spewing out. Put a bird into the front of the engine and you can do some real damage. But these older missiles homed in on heat and all of that is at the rear end of the engine. Since the 1970s, about 40 commercial aircraft have been brought down by Russian portable anti-aircraft missiles (usually older SA-7s), killing over 500 people. But more recent missile designs go for any part of the aircraft, although engine heat is still used to find the aircraft.