Gaza

Israel Hits Several Hamas Targets After Bombing Wounds 4 Soldiers

The Israeli military hit multiple Hamas targets located in the Gaza Strip in the second decisive action on Sunday after an earlier counterattack on Saturday. The Israelis were hitting Hamas in response to a bomb detonation that wounded 4 IDF soldiers and rockets, fired from Gaza which landed in Israeli territory.

The Israeli Army in a statement said the rockets hit a residential building but no one was seriously hurt.

The military said that eight of the targets it attacked were located in a Hamas military compound, where the group stores weapon, manufacturing infrastructures and carries out training.
Earlier, the army said it struck six Hamas targets in Gaza in what it described as a “large-scale attack.” The military said the targets included a Hamas attack tunnel reaching from Gaza into Israeli territory and two military compounds.
Earlier on Saturday, four Israeli soldiers were wounded – two seriously and two others moderately – when a device exploded near the troops at the fence bordering the southern Gaza Strip. The wounded soldiers were evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva with burns and shrapnel injuries.
According to the IDF, the incident unfolded when soldiers from the Golani Brigade and the Engineering Corps approached the border fence after noticing a Palestinian flag hung in its vicinity. After the soldiers approached the flag, the device exploded. Two tunnels originating in the Strip and extending into Israeli territory were found in the past near the site.
The military believes that the Popular Resistance Committee in Gaza, an umbrella group made up of militants from different armed factions, hung the flag there during Friday’s demonstration in order to attract the soldiers. The committee described the explosion as “a heroic act in response to the enemy’s infiltration into the Gaza Strip.”

With the increased Iranian presence along the border and the Israeli air strikes on their command and control facilities, the ante is going to be upped along the strip as well as with the border to Lebanon.

To read the entire article from Haaretz, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Hamas Says Relationship With Iran Repaired, Now Their “Largest Backer”

The new Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Yehiyeh Sinwar, told the media on Monday that the group has repaired its five-year old rift with Iran and now the Iranians are Hamas’ largest backer both militarily and financially. Hamas is now preparing for new hostilities toward Israel.

This announcement is hardly news to the Israelis. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained about what he called rising anti-Israel activity by Iran and its allies in the region to members of the UN.

Iran was once the top backer of Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel’s destruction. But Hamas broke with Iran in 2012 after the group refused to support Iran’s close ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, in the Syrian civil war.
“Today, the relationship with Iran is excellent, or very excellent,” Sinwar said. He added that the Islamic Republic is “the largest backer financially and militarily” to Hamas’ military wing.
It was the first time that Sinwar has met reporters since he was elected in February. The 55-year-old Sinwar, who spent two decades in Israeli prison after being convicted of masterminding the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers, has close ties with Hamas’ militant wing and takes a hard line toward Israel.

The Israelis are complaining to the U.N. that Iran is stockpiling weapons in Syria and is building up other bases in Lebanon for offensive action against Israel. As usual, it fell on deaf ears as UN officials said that they’ve encountered no evidence.

Sinwar, on the other hand, claims that Hamas is not considering a new war with Israel. Instead, he said, the government is focusing on improving the living conditions of those living in Gaza. But on the other, he said the assistance from Iran consisted of “rebuilding and accumulating” Hamas’ military powers for a larger fight against Israel that is meant to “liberate Palestine.”

“Thousands of people work every day to make rockets, [dig] tunnels and train frogmen,” he said. “The relationship with Iran is in this context.”

To read the entire article from Voice of America, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia