The recent quiet with Gaza was shattered over the weekend, and it could get louder still if militants don’t resume the calm. After Gaza terrorists fired another round of two rockets at Israel, the IDF responded by hitting Hamas “underground infrastructure & military posts in Gaza,” the Israeli military reported in their official Twitter feed. Afterwards, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Gaza militants that further attacks would trigger a strong response.
“I warn the terrorist organizations in Gaza, even during the coronavirus crisis, do not try us,” said Netanyahu in comments released by his office. “I will never go into detail about our operational plans but I tell them, the price of continued aggression will be heavy, very heavy.”
The IDF Twitter post sent a similar message. The Israeli military tweeted that they are “conducting an ongoing situational assessment & remains prepared to operate against any terror activity.”
The rocket attacks came just days after the one-year anniversary of Israel’s assassination of senior Islamic Jihad terrorist Baha Abu al-Ata as part of Operation Black Belt. The IDF website noted that the November 12, 2019 targeted killing was to neutralize a terrorist considered to be a “ticking time bomb.” In response, Gaza terrorists fired hundreds of rockets.
The recent conflict with Gaza has been markedly calmer. The last weekend’s rocket launches followed back-to-back months of declining attacks. After 25 rockets were fired at Israel in August—the most in six months—September saw just 15 attacks and October just five, according to data on the Shin Bet website.
But as this weekend showed, any number of rockets is more than enough.
As Netanyahu said on Sunday, “We will not tolerate any attacks against the State of Israel and the citizens of Israel.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, November 15, 2020)