From CBS News:
According to the Israeli Army, over 11,000 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into Israeli in the past 8 years; for many this has created a siege mentality. Richard Roth reports.
(Communicated by the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson)
The Israel Foreign Ministry today instructed its Ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, to submit a letter to the UN Secretary General and the President of the Security Council in the wake of the firing of rockets from Lebanon this morning. continue reading…
This YouTube video (below) seems to address some of the questions we’ve received lately:
For the answers, see the following:
Throughout the current operations, the IDF has worked to minimize the hardship to Gaza’s civilian population. One of the ways of doing so has been through direct appeals, which have taken three forms: leaflets dropped over Gaza, phone calls, and radio messages.
Copies of the leaflets and recordings of the messages can be found on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement regarding Israel’s operations in Gaza:
“For months – even before it officially violated the so-called cease-fire – the terrorist organization Hamas has been relentlessly firing missiles into Israel from Gaza, spreading terror, inflicting damage, and killing innocent civilians. No country would be expected to sit on its hands and simply allow its citizens to endure these kinds of vicious attacks without retaliating against the responsible party. I strongly support Israel’s right to self-defense and its decision to go after Hamas in response to the unyielding and increasingly far-reaching missile attacks. We all want peace in Gaza and hope that it will come very soon, but peace cannot be achieved so long as Hamas continues missile attacks. If a just and lasting cease-fire is to occur, it is incumbent upon Hamas to immediately and permanently halt all attacks against the Israeli people. As for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, I believe the United States and other countries can and should play a role in helping civilians in Gaza meet their basic needs through international assistance – without interference from Hamas – and I believe Israel has taken the right action with temporarily halts in military operations and creation of a humanitarian corridor to allow civilian aid into Gaza.”
The UN Security Council has been discussing Gaza in recent days in an attempt to find a means of addressing the situation through diplomatic channels. Below is a statement from the Israeli Ambassador, Gabriela Shalev, to the Security Council, given on Tuesday, 06 January. continue reading…
Terrorists fired rockets at the northern Israeli town of Nahariya this morning, injuring several senior citizens eating breakfast in the dining hall of their retirement home. While no group has yet taken responsibility for the rocket fire, there are relatively few options. Yoav Stern analyzes those possibilities in Haaretz today, and discusses the option that Iran is trying to widen the war on Israel.
An excerpt:
Several days before Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called several of his European counterparts and warned that Israel would face additional fronts if it attacked.
The rocket fire on Thursday morning from Lebanon into northern Israel can be seen as the realization of the Iranian threat.
The rest of the article can be found here.
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