Renewed Gaza rocket fire at Israel injured a small child on Wednesday night, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Twitter feed. The Israeli child is the latest to suffer injuries in Israel from rocket fire since an escalation in attacks began last week. As of early Thursday morning Israel time (August 25), the IDF said 17 rockets had been fired since the beginning of the evening. The rocket assault began again after a shaky ceasefire had seemed to take hold, following the escalation that saw more than 140 rockets fired at Israel in a little more than a weekend.
Israel has continued counterterrorism operations in Gaza, including an air strike against Islamic Jihad-affiliated terrorist Ismail Zadi Ismail Asmar. According to the IDF Spokeperson’s Blog, a direct hit on the terrorist was confirmed. The IDF Blog said Ismail Asmar was involved in weapons smuggling and “sought the execution of terrorist activity in Sinai.”
Said the IDF about the terrorist, “Ismail Asmar operated with terror elements in the Gaza strip which have recently cheap phentermine adipex made several attempts to execute terror attacks in Sinai, on the Israel-Egypt border.”
Israel has also struck multiple terrorists involved in projectile attacks against Israel. One terrorist squad was hit as it fired at Israel, and later another launching was prevented as a terror squad preparing to fire rockets was also targeted.
Said the IDF Blog, “The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians, and will not hesitate to respond with strength and determination to any element that uses terror against the state of Israel, until calm is restored. The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip.”
In addition to Israeli offensive activities in the conflict with Gaza, Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system has also been active again. The Twitter feed for IDF Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich said that a grad rocket fired at the major southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Tuesday was intercepted by the Iron Dome.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, August 24, 2011)