SOUTHERN ISRAEL ATTACKED BY ROCKETS

BREAKING: Southern Israel Attacked By Rockets, IDF Retaliation Expected

Yochanan Visser May 26, 2015 at 1:52pm - WESTERN JOURNALISM

One hour ago, sirens went off in southern Israel, causing people to seek shelter in their security rooms and in public shelters. In Israel, most houses have a specially built security room that can survive chemical attacks and all sorts of conventional attacks.

A short time later, a rocket – probably a home-made M-75 missile with a range of 75 km or a Grad missile – landed in the city of Gan Yavne, east of the coastal city of Ashdod.

This was the first time in weeks that a rocket exploded in southern Israel, but it marked the first time since the war with Hamas in the summer of 2014 that a missile was launched at a city deep in Israel. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries after the attack.

On April 24, terrorists in Gaza fired a Katyusha rocket at the Sderot area, ending four months of quiet and triggering air raid sirens in the area.

A spokesman for the IDF said Israel holds Hamas responsible for the attack since Hamas is responsible for everything that occurs in the Gaza strip. It is still unclear how many rockets were fired from Gaza. Initial reports said one rocket was fired, but other reports put the number as high as five. Many residents in southern Israel reported hearing multiple blasts.

Hamas immediately ordered the evacuation of military headquarters in Gaza in anticipation of the expected retaliation by the Israeli Air Force.

The Times of Israel reported that the attack was staged by Islamic jihadists after an internal dispute about the appointment of a new commander. The appointment was opposed by supporters of the outgoing commander and sparked clashes.

The new commander’s men then kidnapped two operatives working under the former commander and, in retaliation, the predecessor’s followers decided to fire rockets at Israel.

The situation in the Gaza strip is extremely explosive because of the dire state of the economy and society. Unemployment and poverty figures are among the highest in the world. Unemployment soared to more than 60% by the end of 2014. Nearly 80% of the Gaza population receives some kind of social assistance and nearly 40% of the population lives below the poverty line.

While 43% of the Palestinian Authority’s budget is spent in Gaza, little is done to improve the situation of the population. Most of the money goes to the salaries of PA civil servants who have not shown up for work since Hamas violently took control of the Gaza Strip in 2006.

Hamas is one of the richest terror organizations in the world, but it has spent most of its money building rockets and terror tunnels underneath the Israeli border.

Despite the fact that Israel is providing all sorts of aid and transfers tens of thousands of tons of goods to Gaza each day, it is still blamed for not lifting “the blockade of Gaza.” In fact, the only country that has imposed a real blockade on Gaza is Egypt; they have destroyed thousands of smuggling tunnels underneath the Gaza border and only occasionally open the border crossing in Rafah to allow people in or out.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/breaking-southern-israel-attacked-by-rockets-idf-retaliation-expected/