Fresh reports indicate that Israel has just launched airstrikes against Palestinians in Gaza. While the IDF insist that they are only retaliating against “terrorists,” it is likely that more innocent civilians will be hit as the Israeli forces wage yet another wave of military aggression against the occupied native Palestinian population in the Gaza strip.
Israeli media claims that six people were wounded by a Palestinian mortar hit a bus. In response, the Israeli military dispatched fighter jets to strike what they claim are “terror targets” throughout Gaza.
Israeli officials stated that Hamas and resistance movement Islamic Jihad ‘claimed joint responsibility’ for the rocket attacks.
It’s important to note and what so few Western mainstream outlets are admitting as yet – that the Gaza rocket attack was a retaliation for a botched Israeli raid in Gaza in which Israeli military murdered at least 7 Palestinians. Israeli military claim an officer was killed and another wounded during their poorly executed IDF incursion operation in southeast Gaza Strip, involving an exchange of gunfire.
More importantly though, this rogue act by Israel was a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement. In order to cover-up their illegal provocation, they are now waging an air war on the civilians of Gaza.
RT International breaking report on the Israeli airstrikes…
Israeli fighter jets have pounded the Gaza strip, after mortar fire from inside the Palestinian-controlled strip hit a bus in the Israeli side of the border, the Israel Defense Forces have said.
The airstrikes are the latest escalation in several days of reciprocal attacks between Israel and the Palestinian territories. Earlier on Monday, a barrage of mortar fire from Gaza hit an Israeli bus, wounding at least one person, Reuters reported.
Video from the scene showed Israel’s Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepting some of the incoming projectiles.
#BREAKING: IDF: 80 launches in 40 minutes; Hamae claims over a 100 https://t.co/xAtPTmyOjQ
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) November 12, 2018
#BREAKING: More then 20 morters launched from Gaza towards Israel; Direct hit at an Israeli bus (Credit: Rotternik network) pic.twitter.com/i2DoELtwzK
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) November 12, 2018
That attack was itself a response to an Israeli special forces raid in the Gaza strip on Sunday night that saw at least two Hamas commanders and four other Palestinians killed. One Israeli soldier was also killed, and another wounded. Israeli warplanes reportedly lobbed missiles at the area after the raid, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut his visit to Paris short to return, in light of the “security incidents.”
The IDF claims 80 mortars were fired into Israel in less than 40 minutes on Monday, while Hamas claims to have launched 100. Sirens wailed across southern Israel as the Iron Dome struggled to intercept the incoming firestorm.
(…) The latest escalation in an ongoing tit-for-tat struggle, Sunday’s raid and Monday’s airstrikes came at a time of relative calm. Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu told reporters that he was looking into the possibility of a long-term ceasefire with Hamas, and explained that he had allowed suitcases stuffed with $15 million in cash to enter Gaza from Qatar last week, to “prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
NOTE: Based on past scenarios, this present situation could easily escalate into a wider offensive by the IDF.
READ MORE GAZA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Gaza Files
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