[TWITTER]
Paleostinian bully boyz on Friday fired rockets toward Jerusalem for the first time since fighting across the Israel-Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
border intensified this week while Israel kept up Arclight airstrike
 ...KABOOM! ...
s on Gaza amid Egyptian efforts to forge a ceasefire.
Rocket sirens sounded in the town of Beit Shemesh and elsewhere in the hills outside Jerusalem, ending a 12-hour lull in fighting. Brief explosions could be heard in Jerusalem, possibly from Israeli missile defenses intercepting the rockets.
The Israeli military did not immediately confirm any interceptions near Jerusalem. Local media reported Israeli air defenses shot down two longer-range rockets.
Israeli towns near the Gaza border also came under renewed rocket fire.
Shortly afterward, Israel renewed air strikes against the Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
bully boy group in the Gaza Strip.
No injuries were reported in Friday’s violence, the latest setback in Egyptian attempts at engineering a truce.
Israeli forces launched an airstrike campaign against the Islamic Jihad leadership in the early hours on Tuesday, accusing them of planning attacks on Israel. Islamic Jihad, the second largest gang in Gaza after the ruling Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,, has since fired almost 1,000 rockets, some deep into Israel.
At least 31 Paleostinians in densely populated Gaza, including women and kiddies, have been killed in the past three days, while one person in Israel was killed when an apartment was struck by a rocket in a Tel Aviv suburb.
In Gaza, a small impoverished coastal territory blockaded by Israel and Egypt since 2007, people woke up to empty streets, and many were keen for a respite after days of explosions.
The latest flare-up caps more than a year of resurgent Israeli-Paleostinian violence that has killed more than 140 Paleostinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners since January in a seemingly never-ending cycle.
Islamic Jihad spurns co-existence with Israel and preaches its destruction.
| It turns out that choice is expensive in terms of men (and anyone near them and materiel. |
Top ministers of Israel’s current religious nationalist government rule out any state sought by Paleostinians in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
As Egypt pressed on with mediation efforts, two Paleostinian officials familiar with the talks said the sides were debating a draft proposed by Cairo.
Among truce terms, Islamic Jihad wants Israel to commit to ending strikes against its leaders. Israel has rejected that. Israel appeared to be hoping that Islamic Jihad, if depleted of rockets and commanders, would halt hostilities unilaterally.
At least 80 people have been injured in the Israeli airstrikes that destroyed five buildings and damaged more than 300 apartments Gaza, where residents have been experiencing decades of a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Israel’s military said that almost 200 Paleostinian rockets had misfired, and that such failed launches had killed four people inside Gaza, including a 10-year-old girl. Islamic Jihad denied that its rockets had misfired or caused deaths in Gaza.
Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in the 1967 war, as well as East Jerusalem which Paleostinians want for their capital. Israeli forces and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Statehood talks between Israel and the mainstream Paleostinian Authority, based in the West Bank, have been frozen since 2014.
| Compare to this report from Israel several hours later, at 7:39 p.m. local time: |
Israel kills another top Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza City airstrike
[IsraelTimes] Terror group confirms death of Iyad al-Hassani, head of terror group’s operations department; Israel expects more long-range rocket launches in coming hours
An Israeli Arclight airstrike
 ...KABOOM! ...
in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
Strip on Friday afternoon killed a senior Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
member, the sixth since the latest round of hostilities began earlier this week.
The strike in the Gaza City neighborhood of Nasser that killed Iyad al-Hassani, along with another man the military said was his assistant, dealt yet another blow to the terror group and further dampened hopes for a ceasefire.
In a joint statement, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security agency said al-Hassani was a top official in the group’s military council, in charge of its operations department. In recent days, he had also replaced the head of Islamic Jihad in northern Gaza, Khalil Bahtini, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday morning.
A spokesperson for Islamic Jihad confirmed al-Hassani’s death to AFP and other outlets.
According to the Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw,-run health ministry, another five people were maimed in the airstrike targeting the top floor of an apartment building.
"He was involved in all the decisions concerning the rocket fire and rocket barrages carried out by the group toward Israel," the IDF said.
Speaking to news hounds after the strike, IDF front man Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the military had identified al-Hassani traveling in several vehicles over the past day. "Our ability to track using aircraft has improved in the operation, giving us the ability to track [commanders] between apartments," he said.
"What is important is that he received an appointment two days ago to replace Bahtini, after two days he is no longer with us, the most senior PIJ figure today in the Gaza Strip, managing combat, in contact with overseas [officials]," Hagari said.
Hagari said "the thing that affects [Islamic Jihad] the most is the assassinations."
"We are continuing as hard as we can in attacking those who are planning to launch rockets at us, while also keeping a strong defense," he added.
Islamic Jihad was expected to respond to the latest assassination.
Hagari said there would likely be more long-range rocket fire after the liquidation. "As has been the case in recent days, including today when two rockets flew toward Jerusalem and were intercepted, we could be met by such fire even in the coming hours," he said.
MORE ROCKETS, MORE STRIKES
The IDF renewed strikes on the coastal enclave just before noon Friday, after Islamic Jihad bandidos Death Eaters launched large barrages of mortars on communities near the Strip, and also fired long-range rockets toward the Jerusalem area for the first time in this round of fighting.
The rocket attacks shattered several hours of calm that had raised hopes overnight for a deal to end the hostilities, amid efforts by Egypt, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
and the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
to broker indirect talks.
Israel in response cut off talks for a ceasefire agreement with Islamic Jihad, Israeli officials said. Ceasefire efforts had at any rate been held up by Islamic Jihad’s demand that Israel permanently end liquidations, a proposal Jerusalem has rejected outright.
Israel generally avoids confirming ceasefire agreements with terror groups, but several previous rounds of fighting between the IDF and Gaza have come to a close with international mediation and indirect talks.
The IDF said it had carried out strikes on Friday against four Islamic Jihad command centers, used by the terror group’s rocket array to plan and carry out attacks on Israel. It also struck several underground rocket launchers and mortar launching positions across Gaza.
Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues...
the IDF extended restrictions on movement and gathering for residents living up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Gaza Strip, to Saturday at 8 p.m. The IDF said the extension of the restrictions came following an assessment held by military officials, following renewed rocket fire from Gaza at Israel.
The Home Front Command rules mandated school closures, work closures — unless employees have a bomb-safe room they can reach in time — and limited outdoor gatherings to no more than 10 people.
Indoor gatherings in towns near the Gaza border were restricted to 50 people, while those up to 40 kilometers from the border with the Strip were limited to 100 people.
Additionally, special education schools were permitted to operate, provided there is a bomb-safe room that school kids and teachers can reach in time.
This week’s clash began after Israel launched Operation Shield and Arrow with simultaneous airstrikes early Tuesday that killed three Islamic Jihad commanders along with some of their wives and children as they slept in their homes. Israel said it was retaliating for a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad following the death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, from a hunger strike while in Israeli custody.
Talks were also set back on Thursday after Israel assassinated the commander of Islamic Jihad’s rocket division and his deputy. That came before a rocket slammed into a Rehovot home, killing an Israeli woman — the country’s first fatality in the current conflict.
At least 33 people in Gaza have been killed since Israel launched the offensive, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, and at least 111 more injured.
Military officials have said Israel has killed at least 18 terror operatives but admit the IDF was responsible for the deaths of 10 civilians during the initial strikes, which destroyed residential structures where families were sleeping. Officials believe some Gaza civilians have been killed by Paleostinian rocket misfires.
Gazook fighters, who only began firing rockets in response to the bombing on Wednesday afternoon, launched at least 937 projectiles during the conflict, as of Friday afternoon.
According to the military, at least 761 of the projectiles crossed the border, while 181 fell short in Gaza — with some of them believed to have killed four Paleostinians.
The IDF said air defense systems — Iron Dome and the medium-range David’s Sling — intercepted 296 of the rockets, marking a 91% interception rate of projectiles heading for populated areas. Several rockets have landed within towns, killing one and injuring several others, as well as causing extensive damage.
The rest landed in open areas without causing damage, according to the IDF. Most rockets targeted towns in southern Israel, but some reached as far north as Tel Aviv.
The military also said it had carried out strikes against 254 targets belonging to Islamic Jihad during the campaign.
Israeli officials have insisted that they are keeping the fight limited to Islamic Jihad and not the larger and better-armed Hamas terror group, which rules the Strip, hoping to avoid widening the conflict.
A security bigshot warned that as the fighting continues, the chances of Hamas joining the fray grow.
"The rope we’re walking on will be even thinner and the odds grow. We’re ready for the possibility," the unnamed source told the Ynet news site.
Another Israeli official said the liquidations of top Islamic Jihad members send "a message" to other terror groups such as Hamas, in an apparent warning to the Gaza Strip’s rulers.
"The high-quality assassinations that harm the PIJ’s chain of command are also a message to Hamas and other terror organizations that threaten to harm Israel," the official said in a statement to news hounds.
Hagari stressed on Friday that the campaign was still focused on Islamic Jihad, as it has been the terror group leading the rocket fire on Israel. "I have seen statements about what Hamas is doing. [it’s] not involved in the fighting, not taking part, not assisting logistically, and therefore we are focusing on the one who is trying to harm us, the PIJ," he said.
Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues...
an official in the Hamas government in Gaza warned Friday that Gaza’s only power plant was running out of fuel, and would need to stop operating if it does not get new supplies from Israel through the Kerem Shalom Crossing in the next 72 hours.
"We warn against the continued closure of the crossings and preventing the entry of fuel needed for the power plant, as the station’s management was forced to stop one of the three power-generating turbines to prolong its operation, as it is expected to stop completely within 72 hours," Salama Maarouf said.
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[Jpost] As soon as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fired rockets from Gaza about two and a half weeks ago towards Sderot, as a sign of solidarity with the death of security prisoner Khader Adnan, the IDF's OC Southern Command Col. Liron Batito was asked to pull out the secret attack plan: "Black Cloak" - a booklet of dozens of pages that included quality targets for the attack including photos on PIJ senior officials and terrorist infrastructures.
...
[ALMANAR.LB] The Zionist authorities overnight released a Paleostinian prisoner who staged a 56-day hunger strike while being detained for a year without charge, a spokeswoman said Sunday.
International Criminal Court