Israel is dealing with Hamas: Pillar of Defense

 Posted By CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA -  As you read this, over a million Israeli citizens, a lot for a country the size of New Jersey, are spending the night in bomb shelters, thanks to Hamas.

In response to the incessant rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip - more than 800 have struck Israel since the beginning of the year, and more than 120 since Saturday, Israel has begun a targeted operation called "Pillar of Defense." The goal of this operation is to deal a serious blow to the terrorist group's military command structure.

The Gaza Strip. Located Southwest of Israel, tis a small enclave  controlled by Hamas, which is categorized by the U.S. and Europe as a terrorist organization. Israel withdrew from the area in 2005, and not a single soldier or civilian resides in Gaza. It is entirely in the hands of Hamas, who are well equipped with missiles, rockets, and guns from Iran.

Pillar of Defense, has two main goals: to protect Israeli civilians and to cripple the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza

In a joint operation of the IDF and the ISA, Ahmed Said Halil Jabari, chief of the Hamas military arm in the Gaza Strip, was killed. Jabari was responsible for all Hamas terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip during the last decade.

Jabari was involved in planning and arranging funding for military activities and terrorist attacks against Israel. Jabari became the operational head of the militant wing at the height of the armed Palestinian terror war against Israel from 2000-2007, which claimed the lives of over 1,500 Israeli civilians

Israel’s Prime  Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say:

"Hamas and the terror organizations have elected in recent days to escalate their attacks on Israel's citizens. We are not prepared to make peace with a situation in which Israel's citizens are menaced by the terror of rocket fire. No country would agree to such a situation; Israel is not prepared to reconcile itself to such a situation.

Today we have damaged the strategic targets of Hamas in a precise fashion; we have substantially damaged the launch capabilities of rockets from Gaza to central Israel and we are damaging the launch capability to Southern Israel.The terror organizations hurt our citizens with premeditation, while they deliberately conceal themselves behind their own citizens. We in contradistinction refrain to the extent possible from harming civilians; this is a fundamental difference between us and them.  

They would simply like to wipe us off the face of the earth and they have no reservations about harming innocent civilians.

Today we transmitted a clear message to the Hamas organization and to other terrorist organizations and should the need arise, the IDF is prepared to expand the action. We will continue doing everything to protect our citizens."

Israel's Air Force has been surgical and restrained in its response to the Hamas missile escalations, and has not targeted the long-range missiles stored in mosques, schools, and hospitals. The Fajr-5 rockets have the longest range of all of Hamas' arsenal, of 75km.   A gift from Iran