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| Palestinian men react at hospital after the body of Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing, was brought, in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. The Israeli military said its assassination of the Hamas military commander marks the beginning of an operation against Gaza militants. |
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israel carried out a blistering offensive of more than 20 airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, assassinating Hamas' military commander and targeting the armed group's training facilities and rocket launchers in Israel's most intense attack on the territory in nearly four years.
Israel said the
airstrikes, launched in response to days of rocket fire out of
Hamas-ruled Gaza, were the beginning of a broader operation against the
Islamic militants codenamed "Pillar of Defense." Israeli defense
officials said a ground operation was a strong possibility in the coming
days though they stressed no decisions had been made and much would
depend on Hamas' reaction. There were no immediate signs of
extraordinary troop deployments along the border.
The
attack came at a time when Israel seems to be under fire from all
directions. Relations have been deteriorating with Egypt's new Islamist
government, Egypt's lawless Sinai desert has become a staging ground for
militant attacks on Israel, and the Syrian civil war has begun to spill
over Israel's northern border. Earlier this week, Israel fired back at
Syria - for the first time in nearly 40 years - after stray mortar fire
landed in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
With
at least 10 Palestinians dead, including two young children,
Wednesday's offensive was certain to set off a new round of heavy
fighting with Gaza militants, who have built up a formidable arsenal of
rockets and missiles.
It also threatened to
upset Israel's relations with neighboring Egypt and shake up the
campaign for Israeli elections in January. In a preliminary response,
Egypt recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest.
In
a nationwide address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel
could no longer stand repeated attacks on its southern towns. Days of
rocket fire have heavily disrupted life for some 1 million people in the
region, canceling school and forcing residents to remain indoors.
"If
there is a need, the military is prepared to expand the operation. We
will continue to do everything to protect our citizens," Netanyahu
declared.
The Israeli military said it was
ready, if necessary, to send ground troops into Gaza. The defense
officials who said a ground operation was likely in the coming days
spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive
military plans.
"We are at the beginning of
the event, and not the end," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, in a
joint appearance with the prime minister. "In the long run I believe the
operation will help strengthen the power of deterrence and to return
quiet to the south." In a sign that the operation was expected to
broaden, the military was cleared to call up reserve units.
Residents
in both Israel and Gaza braced for prolonged violence. Gazans rushed to
stock up on food and fuel. After nightfall, streets were empty as the
sounds of Israeli warplanes and explosions of airstrikes could be heard
in the distance.
Israel declared a state of
emergency in its south and canceled school across the area for Thursday.
Calling it a "special situation," Barak sought permission to call up
special reserve units for the operations. Israeli police stepped up
patrols around the country, fearing that Hamas could retaliate with
bombing attacks far from the reaches of Gaza.
Hamas
has in the past staged dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis and
while its capabilities to do so today have been curtailed by Israeli and
Palestinian crackdowns, it still has a network in the West Bank.
More
than 65 rockets landed in southern Israel late Wednesday. One
projectile struck a shopping mall in the southern city of Beersheba,
causing heavy damage but no casualties, police said.
The
Israeli military said 25 rockets were intercepted by the "Iron Dome"
rocket-defense system. Israeli media said the rockets had been headed
toward Beersheba. Israeli aircraft continued to pound Gaza into the
night with some 50 airstrikes, with no reports of casualties.
The
deadly attack on Hamas mastermind Ahmed Jabari marked the resumption of
Israel's policy of "targeted killings," or assassinations of senior
Hamas men. Israel has refrained from such attacks, which have drawn
international condemnations, since a fierce three-week offensive in Gaza
that ended in January 2009.
The earlier Gaza
offensive killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of
civilians. Israel has blamed Hamas for the heavy civilian casualties,
accusing the group of using schools and residential neighborhoods as
cover. Nonetheless, Israel was harshly criticized internationally for
the heavy civilian death toll.
Jabari was the
most senior Hamas official to be killed since that war. He had long
topped Israel's most-wanted list, blamed for masterminding a string of
deadly attacks that including a bold, cross-border kidnapping of an
Israeli soldier in 2006. He also was believed to be a key player in
Hamas' takeover of Gaza in 2007 from a rival Palestinian faction, the
Western-backed Fatah movement.
"I would call
him the No. 1 terrorist in the Gaza Strip, whose hands are stained with
blood," said Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, Israel's chief military
spokesman.
Israel and Hamas have largely observed an informal truce for the past four years.
But
in recent weeks, the calm has unraveled in a bout of rocket attacks out
of Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. From Israel's perspective,
Hamas escalated tit-for-tat fighting in recent days with a pair of
attacks: an explosion in a tunnel along the Israeli border and a missile
attack on an Israeli military jeep that seriously wounded four
soldiers.
Israeli defense officials warned earlier this week that they were considering resuming the assassination policy.
Even
so, the Jabari killing, carried out in broad daylight, was shocking.
Hamas officials had brushed off the Israeli threats, illustrated by
Jabari's decision to drive in public. Hamas leaders typically go into
hiding at times of rising tensions. Over the past two days, the fighting
had shown signs of petering out as Egyptian mediators tried to broker a
truce.
The Israeli military released a
black-and-white video of the airstrike, showing a sedan moving slowly
along a road before going up in flames in an explosion so powerful that a
large chunk of the vehicle flew high into the air.
Crowds
of people and security personnel rushed to the scene of the strike,
trying to put out the fire that had engulfed the car and left it a
charred shell. Plumes of black smoke wafted into Gaza City's skies
following other airstrikes. Ambulance sirens blared as people ran in
panic in the streets and militants fired angrily into the air.
The
Israeli military also released footage of its strikes against weapons
depots and rocket-launching grounds. Barak said these airstrikes hit
"terror infrastructure" and launchers used to fire Iranian-made Fajr
rockets. The rockets, capable of reaching Tel Aviv, are among Hamas'
most powerful weapons.
The military said it
hit dozens of medium-range rocket launch sites, many of which are
located in residential buildings, military officials said. They spoke on
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the
operation. The military also said the navy was striking Hamas targets
located by the shore. Hamas denied that any of its weapons stores were
hit.
Hamas announced a state of emergency in
Gaza. It evacuated all its security buildings and deployed its troops
away from their locations.
Outside the
hospital where Jabari's body was taken, thousands of Gazans chanted
"Retaliation!" and "We want you to hit Tel Aviv tonight!"
"I
was sitting on my bed with my grandson when suddenly the wall collapsed
on both of our heads," said Mahmoud Bana, a 62-year-old man who was
slightly wounded along with his 11-year-old grandson. "We don't know
what happened but we know it is going to be a few hard days ahead."
In a statement, Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, eulogized Jabari and vowed revenge.
"We
mourn our late leader who walked the path of jihad while he knew the
end, either victory or martyrdom," Haniyeh said. "There is no fear among
our people and our resistance, and we will face this vicious attack."
The
airstrike bore many similarities to the start of Israel's previous
offensive in December 2008. That operation also began with an air raid
on Hamas buildings, and also took place in between American presidential
elections and Israeli parliamentary elections.
Hamas
accused Netanyahu of launching Wednesday's operation to win votes in
the Jan. 22 parliamentary election. But major Israeli parties, including
the dovish opposition, all lined up behind Netanyahu.
Still,
the region has changed greatly over the past four years. Most
critically for Israel, Egypt is now governed by Hamas' ideological
counterpart, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Israel
and Egypt signed a peace accord in 1979. Relations, never warm, have
deteriorated since longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted
in a popular uprising last year. The assassination threatened to further
damage those fraying ties.
On its official
Facebook page, the Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim Brotherhood's
political arm, called Jabari's assassination a "crime that requires a
quick Arab and international response to stem these massacres against
the besieged Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."
It accused Israel of trying to "drag the region toward instability."
In
Washington, the United States lined up behind Israel. "We support
Israel's right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to
take every effort to avoid civilian casualties," said State Department
spokesman Mark Toner. He denounced Hamas rocket attacks.
Netanyahu spoke to Obama and thanked him for the support, said a statement from his office.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for calm and urged both sides to respect international humanitarian law.
Israel's use of targeted killings is one of the most contentious policies used against militants.
Advocates
say targeted killings are an effective deterrent without the
complications associated with a ground operation, chiefly civilian and
Israeli troop casualties. Proponents argue they also prevent future
attacks by removing their masterminds.
Critics
say the killings invite retaliation by militants and encourage them to
try to assassinate Israeli leaders. They complain that the strikes
amount to extrajudicial killings.
During a
wave of suicide bombings against Israel a decade ago, the country
employed the tactic to eliminate the upper echelon of Hamas leadership.
During
that period, Israeli aircraft assassinated the previous commander of
Hamas' military wing, Salah Shehadeh, the movement's founder and
spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi,
and dozens of other Hamas military commanders.
The
practice set off a wave of criticism from rights groups and foreign
governments, particularly the strike that killed Shehadeh - a one-ton
bomb that killed 14 other people, most of them children.
Pro-Palestinian
groups have attempted, unsuccessfully, to arrest Israeli officials
involved in the Shehadeh killing on war crimes charges. While charges
have never been filed, fears of arrest have forced a number of Israeli
officials to cancel travel to Europe over the years.
