The firing of an Iran-made Fajr-5 missile by a Gaza based Palestinian group was apparently responsible for triggering warning sirens in Tel Aviv, which were last heard during the first Gulf war 20 years ago.
The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for firing the Fajr missile towards Tel Aviv. In a brief statement, the group said that it had “widened the range of the battle to reach Tel Aviv and what is coming will be greater". According to the Jerusalem Post, two booms were heard shortly after the sirens went off. Another Israeli daily, Haaretz reported on its website that rockets had landed in Holon, just south of Tel Aviv.
The targeting of Tel Aviv by Palestinian groups marks a sharp escalation in the fighting between Israel and Gaza based militant groups, of which Hamas is the most prominent. Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak warned that Hamas would have a price to pay for targeting Tel Aviv.
"This escalation will exact a price that the other side will have to pay," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Mr. Barak also announced that 30,000 additional reservists have been tapped “so that we can prepare for any development". Analysts say that the Palestinian attempt to strike Tel Aviv opens up the possibility of full scale Israeli ground attack on Gaza, on lines similar to the incursion in 2008.
The bold rocket strikes on Thursday, which may have indirectly drawn Iran into the picture, had earlier killed three Israelis in the town of Kiryat Malachi. The attack, which blew up the top floor of a four storey apartment, killed among others, Mira Sharef, an emissary of Chabad House in India. The Ynetnews website is reporting that Sharef was in Israel to participate in a memorial for the victims of the terror attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai four years ago. Her husband and children were injured in the rocket attack.
The spike in rocket attacks follows the assassination by Israel on Wednesday of Ahmad Al-Jabari -- a top Hamas commander. The Israelis accuse Jabari of playing a key role in the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, who was released after more than five years. He was also blamed for masterminding rocket attacks on Israel. But Israeli peace activist, Gershon Baskin says that Jabari was centrally involved in working for a long-term ceasefire with Israel.
Keywords: Iran-made Fajr-5 missile, Tel Aviv, rocket attacks, Hamas commander, Gilad Shalit, Gershon Baskin, Ehud Barak, Palestinian groups, Ahmad Al-Jabari, Kiryat Malachi, Chabad House emissary
Unfortunately, the world is watching through a gun-hole.
Western media is heavily and indiscriminately biased towards the
zionists. The idea is to make people believe israel is the victim and
the west seems to be doing a fairly good job. The attitude towards PLO
is heavily confrontational and it is only going to provoke them more.
I agree that this action was planned. I believe Hamas was timing their increase in daily rocket attacks on Israeli civilians to catch a wave of sympathy being evoked by the tragedy in Syria and the renewed effort to get U.N. status for the Palestinian people. Hamas's strategy to hide missile launchings in schools, homes, and other residential areas is not new. Their launching of missiles at civilian towns and neighborhoods in Israel is not new. Their expectation that they would experience civilian casualties and destruction in Gaza is not new. Their expectation to exploit children is not new. Finally my belief that Israel must facilitate the establishment of the State of Palestine is not new. My belief and the belief of many, many Israelis that peace can be achieved by returning land to the Palestinians is not new. Obama's increased pressure on Israel to return land will be new AND IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
This offensive looks pre-planned. This is definitely diverting world
attention from Syria to Palestine, buying time for Assad, apart from the
fact that elections are ahead in Israel. They cannot wash their hand
with blood for too long. World is watching and someday it will stand up
together against the massacre it had been carrying out since 1948.
Mr.Aneja, its better to refrain from dragging "Iran made missile" against the Israeli menace, without any substance. Its the Zionist regime which broke the truce and now hell bent on genocide of Gaza. Kindly recheck the timeline.
Politicians irrespective of nationality, all tend to play for short
term gains and care damn for long term consequences. Israeli Prime
Minister hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be gambling on the
offensive in the Gaza Strip for electoral gains of his Likud party to
score points before parliamentary elections on Jan. 22. But the
calculation is fraught with extreme risk and armed action could result
in full scale war possibly weaken Hamas resulting in emergence of more
deadly Frankenstein monster of radical groups. Also should the crisis
spiral out of hand and escalates into something of a war, it portends a
grave consequence for the volatile region.
Israel's blockade of Gaza is so tight that crayons and musical instruments for
Gaza's children cannot get through. The Fajr-5 is 6 1/2 meters long, and weighs
915 Kilograms. It requires a launcher, which is 10 1/2 meters long.
Think something that big and heavy gets smuggled in through a tunnel?
And common sense applies here. Why would Iran do such a stupid thing? All it
would take is just one of these rockets to be discovered and captured by the
Israelis to provide Israel and the US an excuse for an attack. Yet Israel claims that
the Gazans had a multitude of these rockets.
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