Spent Gaza Rocket. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock
The conflict between Gaza and Israel continues to grow, as Gaza-linked terror attacks rose for the third straight month. After January saw zero rocket attacks following a ceasefire between Gaza and Israel reached last November, 17 rockets and five mortars were fired at Israel in April.
This contrasts to 14 rockets fired in one salvo in March, according to the monthly terrorism report on the Israel Security Agency (ISA) website. The upsurge in terrorism raises concerns about the risk of further conflict in the Middle East, which threatens Israel—America’s top ally in the region—and could result in higher oil prices.
Included in the April violence was a rocket attack from the Egyptian Sinai at the Israeli coastal city of Eilat, a launching which had links to terrorists in Gaza. Overall, 12 separate terror incidents were launched from Gaza and one from Sinai in April—four times the number of Gaza attacks in March.
Israel has fought two wars in Gaza over the last four-and-a-half years in efforts to halt the rocket fire against their civilians. The last campaign in November 2012 involved Israel hitting 1,500 terror targets and Gaza firing 1,500 rockets at Israel.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, May 8, 2013)