Israel At War With Hamas: Day 4 « News &Laquo; Articles « OneIsrael.org . . . israelstreet.org

Further update 11:00 pm Israel time Saturday:

There are sudden strong rumors that a ceasefire is in the works to take place tonight or tomorrow.

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Further update 10:00 pm Israel time Saturday:

There is every evidence tonight that this conflict will continue for some days but probably not weeks. Both sides are already talking about what they want, and there is already the sense that Egypt will, yet again, be the mediator between Hamas and Israel.

In the meantime, all of southern Israel is aghast tonight at the news that Israel is opening all crossings into Gaza tomorrow so that “humanitarian supplies can be delivered.” Lest we forget, Gaza has a border with Egypt, but bizarrely, given the bellicose stridency displayed by Morsi against Israel yesterday and today, Egypt has closed the Rafah Crossing from Gaza into Egypt. Why in the world is it Israel’s responsibility to help Hamas?

Southern Israelis are also asking why Israel has not cut off power to Gaza–the same power that is used to power the Hamas regime–and perhaps even to fire the rockets currently hitting us. The hospitals in Gaza all have generators to operate–so what humanitarian purpose is served? Making people’s lives more comfortable? Again, lest we forget, the Gazans elected Hamas to govern Gaza and by most accounts are very happy with the Islamists; in your humble servant’s opinion, the Gazans should reap what they have sown.

We come to the end of a very long day and begin what will probably be a very long night. This morning we had been hit by 29 missile attacks–as of this hour, the number stands at 39–having been hit twice within 10 minutes between 8:32 pm and 8:42 pm.

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Further update 7:30 pm Israel time Saturday:

Some official updates (as of 7:00 pm) about what has been happening in Israel and in Gaza:

Number of rockets fired at Israel: 748

Number of Hamas sites hit today: 300 (almost 1000 so far)

Number of Hamas terrorists killed: 31, including another senior Hamas commander today

According to Southern IDF commander Tal Russo, who just gave a rare press conference, the IDF is methodically following a plan–which is going absolutely according to plan. The first (and continuing steps) are to severely degrade Hamas’ store of weapons and to target everyone in the Hamas hierarchy. Beyond that, Russo wouldn’t say, except to comment again that the plan is proceeding as devised and will not end any time soon.

Meanwhile at 5:44 pm, Ashdod was hit with our 37th missile attack. Apparently the Iron Dome system “failed to fire”, but fortunately missiles hit open areas and caused no casualties.

The newest Iron Dome battery went into action this afternoon and apparently intercepted a missile headed to Tel Aviv at about 4:30 pm.

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Further update: 4:32 pm Israel time Saturday:

Missile attack number 36 at our location here in Ashdod. We heard only one explosion, but will find out later how many missiles assaulted the city.

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Further update 2:45 pm Israel time Saturday:

Missile attack number 35 at our location here in Ashdod. This time the Iron Dome intercepted all 5 incoming rockets. As to the 1:25 pm volley, at least 7 people are injured–how badly is not known.

The apartment that was hit in Ashdod in the 1:25 pm volley. The couple who lived there survived because they went to a fortified place.

In addition, a car was hit in the 1:25 pm missile barrage here in Ashdod:

Fortunately, the driver of the car had jumped out and run for cover.

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What you should be doing for Israel right now:

1. Contact your local political representatives and tell them about how you support Israel in its effort to stop the rocket fire on southern Israel.

If you are in the United States: find your Representative’s contact information here, your Senator’s information here, and President Obama’s information here. Also call your local representatives wherever you are, and let them know how you support Israel.

2. Get out into your community and demonstrate against those who are protesting against Israel.

3. Support organizations such as MADA that are dealing with the ongoing situation here in Israel.

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Further update 1:45 pm Israel time Saturday:

Missile attack number 34 on Ashdod. Apparently there were 4 incoming rockets, and the Iron Dome shot down 3. No further information.

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Further update 1:25 pm Israel time Saturday:

Missile attack number 33 on Ashdod.

You almost become used to the missiles because you know the Iron Dome is probably going to intercept them and then . . . we had another alarm here at 1:09 pm. followed by four very different explosions, much louder and seemingly on top of us. The Iron Dome did not hit any of the 4 incoming rockets–two fortunately landed in open spaces, one of the others hit a house, the other hit a truck in our subdivision. We know (from Israeli TV) there are injuries, but no other information is available, and we are not venturing outside.

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Further update 11 am Israel time Saturday:

A Hamas weapons storage in Gaza hit this morning by an IAF strike (photo: nana)

The Palestinian terrorist rocket barrages continue from Gaza. More than 675 Hamas missiles and mortars have now been fired at Israel in the last 4 days. Here are the communities that have had red sirens for incoming missiles since 10:00 am: Ashkelon, Chof Ashkelon, Nizzanim, Ofakim, Be’er Tuvia, Patish, Urim, Nahal Oz, Alumim, Hatserim, Nitzan, and Eshkolot.

An Israeli house "lightly hit" by a rocket yesterday.

Your humble servant would like for you to imagine just how surreal the situation is here. It is a warm, sunny-partly cloudy day here in Ashdod. I’m sitting on my patio behind my house watching the birds flitting about in our olive tree, listening to bombs hitting in Ashkelon, and waiting for the next volley of rockets coming our way–a volley of rockets fired Palestinian Hamas terrorists in a blatant attempt to kill Israeli civilians.

Ask yourself the questions:

How has the world ignored these rocket attacks for the last decade?

How does anyone in the world have the gall to criticize Israel for trying to stop these attacks?

Two huge explosions from an Iron Dome intercept over Ashkelon. I’m heading inside.

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Further update 9:46 am Israel time Saturday:

Missile attack number 32 has just occurred here in Ashdod with two rockets apparently intercepted. It has just been reported that in the previous attack 41 minutes ago, one missile was shot down and other scored a direct hit here in the city (location undisclosed).

Let me tell you, dear reader, that with every missile strike that occurs here, the feeling of our neighbors and ourselves is strengthened even more against the Palestinian Hamas terrorists in Gaza. There is no despair and no trauma; instead the universal mood is one of annoyance, anger, and pride–that the IDF is finally acting against the terrorists. We want the IDF to finish the job even if we have to sit in our bomb shelters for the next month!

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Further update 9:05 am Israel time Saturday:

Missile attack number 31 has just taken place here in Ashdod–we “only” counted two missiles this time.

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Further update 8:30 am Israel time Saturday:
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As I predicted 30 minutes ago in the 8:00 update, Ashdod has just experienced another missile attack. By our count (listening to the explosions overhead), there were four incoming terrorist missiles shot down by the Iron Dome system. We have just come out of our bomb shelter for the 30th time since this war with Hamas began four days ago.

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Further update 8:00 am Israel time Saturday:

Southern Israelis are looking at the skies again this morning as the Hamas terrorist rockets continue to rain down--as they have ever since Gazans chose Hamas as their government in 2006.

It appears that Hamas has regrouped and has begun firing missiles again, especially at the communities around Gaza, Ashkelon, and Beersheva. In the last 90 minutes, rockets have been fired at Chof Ashkelon (6:50 am and 7:30 am), Sderot and Sha’ar Hanegev (7:00 am), Yad Mordechai (7:05).

The sirens are currently sounding in Beersheva, Hatserim, Nevitim, and Omer. We have learned that when sirens sound in Beersheva, they soon sound here in Ashdod.

As morning has dawned, the scene of destruction in Gaza has become more apparent.

The remains of the 4 story Hamas government building in Gaza.

85 Hamas targets were attacked overnight; the Hamas government building was completely destroyed.

An Israeli strike on another Hamas facility.

Ahmed Yousef, a leading Hamas spokesman, says that there can be no ceasefire in the near future: “Rules of the game have changed completely . . . the destruction [in Gaza] is too great.”

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Update 6:30 am Israel time Saturday:

At the funeral of Itzik Amsalam on Friday. Ansalam was one of the Israelis killed by the Hamas missile strike on Kiryat Malachi (photo: Reuters/CNN).

It appears that the killing of Hamas terrorists and the attacks on Hamas installations has continued apace overnight. Israeli troops continue massing on the border for a possible ground invasion. Rocket fire out of Gaza has temporarily subsided–there has been no attack since 3:05 am this morning on the Chof Ashkelon region. The last attack here in Ashdod occurred at 10:35 pm– about 5 minutes after my last blog update last night (5 rockets were fired, 4 were intercepted by the Iron Dome).

Neither Hamas nor Israel claim to want a truce, but Hamas has already said that the cessation of attacks on its leadership must be a part of any “hudna”.

A few statistics as we begin Day 4:

Total number of rockets and mortars fired by Hamas terrorists at Israel: 625

Total number of rockets shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome system: 205

Iron Dome interception success rate: 85%

Hamas military commanders killed overnight: 2 (the head of the Hamas “anti-tank” division and a district commander within Gaza)

Most recent targets hit: the main police station in Gaza, the Hamas governmental building

An ironic note from last night: it turns out that the Hamas missile that “hit Jerusalem” yesterday evening actually hit a Palestinian neighborhood in the Gush Etzion area outside of Jerusalem. All of the celebrations last night of Arabs in the so-called eastern part of Jerusalem because of the supposed missile strike–were, in fact, celebrations that Palestinians had nearly been killed by Palestinians.

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What you should be doing for Israel right now:

1. Contact your local political representatives and tell them about how you support Israel in its effort to stop the rocket fire on southern Israel.

2. Get out into your community and demonstrate against those who are protesting against Israel.

3. Support organizations such as MADA that are dealing with the ongoing situation here in Israel.

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A daily feature of this blog is the recognition of those of you who support Israel by donating to this website. Each month, your humble servant places each name on this wall of support into the Western Wall in Jerusalem.