What is Going on With Hamas in Gaza? By Anna Ahronheim - Jerusalem Post
The attack comes as tensions run high with the Gaza Strip ahead of Land Day and the one year anniversary marking the beginning of the Great Return March border riots.
It was the third long-range rocket fired towards central Israel from the Gaza Strip in two weeks, catching Israel by total surprise and this time striking its target – a civilian home.
Incoming rocket sirens blasted through communities in Israel’s Sharon and Emek Hefer regions at around 5:20 a.m., sending thousands of sleepy Israelis into their bomb shelters.
They had a minute and a half from the launch in the Gaza Strip before the J-80 long range rocket with a range of 120 kilometers struck a home, setting off a fire which completely destroyed it.
According to the IDF, the rocket carrying a warhead containing dozens of kilograms of explosives was launched from a Hamas launchpad in the southern Gazan city of Rafiah and – similar to the rockets fired towards Tel Aviv in early March – it was not intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis said in a phone call with reporters that the Iron Dome system is deployed to areas according to “operational priorities,” likely meaning that the Iron Dome was not in an area which covered the Sharon and Emek Hefer regions.
Unlike the rockets fired towards Tel Aviv which the army said was fired “by mistake” Manelis rejected that option, stating that it was “a serious incident and we will treat is as such.”
But the activation of the Iron Dome missile system – or lack thereof – is just one of the questions in this incident.
What is going on with Hamas in Gaza?...