Israel Bombards 29 Sites in Gaza, Tensions Escalate

New Delhi: UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has called for restraint from all sides as tensions escalate in the Gaza Strip and Israel following Israeli bombardment of 29 sites in the besieged territory. Israel claims that it responded to 60 rockets that were fired into southern Israel.

The rocket attacks, from which no casualties were reported, were claimed by the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigade and came a day after Israel killed three of its members in an air strike. The Israeli military called the rocket attack “the most substantial attack” in two years against the country. This escalation in tensions are in the wake of United States-led efforts to broker a peace deal between Israel and Palestine.

“In today’s attack, 41 rockets struck in Israel, five hit populated areas and three were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system. This is the most substantial rocket attack from the Gaza Strip since Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012,” said the military statement.

Israel launched air strikes in three areas in occupied territory – Rafah, Khan Younis and Jabalia – with the Israeli military tweeting that “29 terror sites” in Gaza had been targeted and “direct hits were confirmed.” Sources have been quoted in the international media as saying that the Islamic Jihad group and Hamas evacuated military and civilian institutions in expectation of the strikes.

Hamas issued a statement warning Israel against escalating the confrontation. “We hold the occupation responsible, we warn of the consequences of any escalation and we reiterate that resistance is the right of the Palestinian people to defend itself,” Ihab al-Ghassin, a spokesman for Hamas, said, as quoted in Al Jazeera. Hamas run Al-Aqsa TV displayed a banner stating: “The occupation bares the full responsibility regarding this wave of aggression and the ongoing escalation.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stated that Israel must stop “military escalation on the besieged Gaza Strip, considering that this escalation will put the isolated residents in the danger of the war and destruction,” according to a statement issued by presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh through the official Wafa news agency.

Abu Ahmad, spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, defending the group, said the rocket fire came “after a long series of violations to the truce with the Palestinian resistance since November 2012.” “This operation, dubbed ‘Breaking the Silence,’ comes as a response to the ongoing and continued Zionist Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza,” Ahmad said as quoted in CNN.

The UN condemned the rocket attacks, calling for actors to exercise “maximum restraint” following the incident. “The Secretary-General strongly condemns the multiple rocket attacks today on Israel from Gaza, for which Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility. While reports of damage and injuries are still being ascertained, (Ban) deplores the severe escalation of violence. He urges all actors to exercise maximum restraint to prevent further incidents that could bring greater escalation and destabilisation in the region,” the Secretary General’s press office said in a statement.

The escalation of tensions in the region comes at a time where efforts are being made in response to a US backed peace process, which has a nine-month target date set at April by Washington. The peace process has faced roadblocks from the start. Palestians consider Israeli incursion beyond the pre-1967 territorial lines to be illegal and an obstacle to peace, whereas Israel refuses to recognise what has been termed as the ‘Green line’ as a starting point for negotiations. The talks faced another setback recently as Israel’s demand that it be recognized as a “Jewish state” was rejected by a resolution released at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo on the grounds that it will undermine the rights of Palestinian refugees who are integral to the peace process. The statement backed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas who refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state despite facing international pressure.

The unwillingness of Israel to compromise on the situation is evinced in a statement by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in the wake of the rocket attacks and Israeli bombardment. Lieberman told Israeli radio that, “the position of my party is that we support the full occupation of the whole of Gaza in any possible future action.” “I am against a limited occupation,” he said.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked about Lieberman’s statement at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, he said, “”If it is not quiet in southern Israel, it will be very noisy in Gaza.”

Courtesy: thecitizen.in

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