"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
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Selective murder threatens to unleash a new spiral of violence in the Strip
In a selective murder operation with few precedents in recent years, the Israeli Army killed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al Ata on Tuesday, whom he considered primarily responsible for recent rocket attacks fired from Gaza. Al Ata, 42, in the north of the Al Quds Brigades enclave, armed arm of the organization, was at dawn in his home in the Shejaia district, east of the capital of the Strip. In the operation that cost him his life, his wife died and two other unidentified people were injured. The Army attacked militants from Islamic Jihad from noon, at least five of whom died, in the vicinity of rocket-launching ramps.
The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu , authorized the unusual operation against a Gazette militia leader who had been designated in recent weeks as Israel's number one enemy . The president said that Al Ata had been attacked in the face of an alleged "imminent action" of Islamic Jihad and acknowledged that "it will take some time" to restore normalcy to Gaza and bordering areas of Israel. The chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Aviv Kochavi, blamed the Islamist commander for sabotaging the truce in Gaza. "We are not interested in a military escalation, but we are prepared if it occurs," General Kochavi warned.
The selective murder - in which the Shin Bet (internal security) has also intervened - threatens to unleash a new spiral of violence in the coastal enclave, which has suffered three wars in the last decade. Despite the periodic escalation of clashes, the Islamist Hamas movement, which de facto governs in the Strip since 2007, has maintained a ceasefire with Israel since the end of the conflict that devastated the Palestinian territory five years ago.
“Al Ata was responsible for most of the Islamic Jihad armed actions launched from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilians and soldiers. It was like a time bomb, ”said the military statement in which his death was reported. The Israeli intelligence services argue that this Palestinian Islamist group acts under the influence of Iran, the main regional enemy of the Hebrew State. Al Ata's house had already been bombed during the 2014 war in Gaza, and in the 2012 contest the commander survived a selective killing operation. This Islamic Jihad commander had direct command over several hundred militiamen and controlled an arsenal of dozens of rockets.
The launch of nearly 200 projectiles from Gaza against Israeli populations triggered anti-bombing alarms in cities near Gaza - such as Sderot, Ashdod and Ashkelon - as well as in Tel Aviv, and the central area of the country, a military spokesman said. Half a hundred Israeli civilians suffered minor injuries. The television networks showed images of houses, factories and roads where rockets had fallen.
"An important number of launches are being registered towards Israel," said the same military source, before announcing that "the Army is preparing to respond to a wave of several days of fighting." In several reprisal attacks, Israeli fighter jets and tanks destroyed Islamic Jihad targets, such as a military training center, arsenals and warehouses, as well as tunnels under the border in the north and the center of the Palestinian Strip.
"Our reprisals are going to hit the foundations of the Zionist entity," Islamic Jihad warned in a statement confirming the death of Al Ata. Hamas attributed to Israel all responsibility "for the consequences of the escalation" and announced that it would also respond to the "crime committed" in Gaza.
The Army Civil Defense Center has ordered the opening of anti-bomb shelters so that citizens can protect themselves and has declared the suspension of school and agricultural activities in large areas of southern and central Israel. Concentrations of more than 100 people have been banned in the south, and more than 300 in the central Israeli area, where half of the country's population is concentrated. Images spread on social networks showed the intervention of the interceptors of the defensive system Iron Dome while shooting rockets launched from Gaza. At least 60 projectiles were intercepted by the missile shield.
Israel resorted to the selective killings of Palestinian militants in the past and in particular during the Second Intifada. The death in 2004 of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, killed by a missile while in his wheelchair in Gaza, is one of the best known actions. In recent years, these types of attacks have been almost unusual. Last May, Hamed Judari, owner of a foreign exchange house in the Strip, died from the direct impact of an Israeli missile while driving with his car. Judari had been accused of channeling funds transfers from Iran to Islamic Jihad.
In Syria, meanwhile, several missiles destroyed the house of Islamic Jihad leader Akram al Ajuri, exiled in Damascus, on Tuesday morning, state news agency SANA reported. At least two people died - including one of Al Ajuri's sons - and six others were injured in the Mezah district, where several embassies are based in the Syrian capital.
https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/11/12/actualidad/1573538052_936391.html
**Selective murder threatens to unleash a new spiral of violence in the Strip**
In a selective murder operation with few precedents in recent years, the Israeli Army killed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al Ata on Tuesday, whom he considered primarily responsible for recent rocket attacks fired from Gaza. Al Ata, 42, in the north of the Al Quds Brigades enclave, armed arm of the organization, was at dawn in his home in the Shejaia district, east of the capital of the Strip. In the operation that cost him his life, his wife died and two other unidentified people were injured. The Army attacked militants from Islamic Jihad from noon, at least five of whom died, in the vicinity of rocket-launching ramps.
The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu , authorized the unusual operation against a Gazette militia leader who had been designated in recent weeks as Israel's number one enemy . The president said that Al Ata had been attacked in the face of an alleged "imminent action" of Islamic Jihad and acknowledged that "it will take some time" to restore normalcy to Gaza and bordering areas of Israel. The chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Aviv Kochavi, blamed the Islamist commander for sabotaging the truce in Gaza. "We are not interested in a military escalation, but we are prepared if it occurs," General Kochavi warned.
The selective murder - in which the Shin Bet (internal security) has also intervened - threatens to unleash a new spiral of violence in the coastal enclave, which has suffered three wars in the last decade. Despite the periodic escalation of clashes, the Islamist Hamas movement, which de facto governs in the Strip since 2007, has maintained a ceasefire with Israel since the end of the conflict that devastated the Palestinian territory five years ago.
“Al Ata was responsible for most of the Islamic Jihad armed actions launched from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilians and soldiers. It was like a time bomb, ”said the military statement in which his death was reported. The Israeli intelligence services argue that this Palestinian Islamist group acts under the influence of Iran, the main regional enemy of the Hebrew State. Al Ata's house had already been bombed during the 2014 war in Gaza, and in the 2012 contest the commander survived a selective killing operation. This Islamic Jihad commander had direct command over several hundred militiamen and controlled an arsenal of dozens of rockets.
The launch of nearly 200 projectiles from Gaza against Israeli populations triggered anti-bombing alarms in cities near Gaza - such as Sderot, Ashdod and Ashkelon - as well as in Tel Aviv, and the central area of the country, a military spokesman said. Half a hundred Israeli civilians suffered minor injuries. The television networks showed images of houses, factories and roads where rockets had fallen.
"An important number of launches are being registered towards Israel," said the same military source, before announcing that "the Army is preparing to respond to a wave of several days of fighting." In several reprisal attacks, Israeli fighter jets and tanks destroyed Islamic Jihad targets, such as a military training center, arsenals and warehouses, as well as tunnels under the border in the north and the center of the Palestinian Strip.
"Our reprisals are going to hit the foundations of the Zionist entity," Islamic Jihad warned in a statement confirming the death of Al Ata. Hamas attributed to Israel all responsibility "for the consequences of the escalation" and announced that it would also respond to the "crime committed" in Gaza.
The Army Civil Defense Center has ordered the opening of anti-bomb shelters so that citizens can protect themselves and has declared the suspension of school and agricultural activities in large areas of southern and central Israel. Concentrations of more than 100 people have been banned in the south, and more than 300 in the central Israeli area, where half of the country's population is concentrated. Images spread on social networks showed the intervention of the interceptors of the defensive system Iron Dome while shooting rockets launched from Gaza. At least 60 projectiles were intercepted by the missile shield.
Israel resorted to the selective killings of Palestinian militants in the past and in particular during the Second Intifada. The death in 2004 of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, killed by a missile while in his wheelchair in Gaza, is one of the best known actions. In recent years, these types of attacks have been almost unusual. Last May, Hamed Judari, owner of a foreign exchange house in the Strip, died from the direct impact of an Israeli missile while driving with his car. Judari had been accused of channeling funds transfers from Iran to Islamic Jihad.
In Syria, meanwhile, several missiles destroyed the house of Islamic Jihad leader Akram al Ajuri, exiled in Damascus, on Tuesday morning, state news agency SANA reported. At least two people died - including one of Al Ajuri's sons - and six others were injured in the Mezah district, where several embassies are based in the Syrian capital.
https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/11/12/actualidad/1573538052_936391.html
(post is archived)