Editors note: In order to keep things less confusing, all time references will be EDT. Israel is 8 hours ahead of EDT.
Your Editor stayed up late last night following the rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. As of this writing, more than 160 rockets have been fired into southern Israel by the terrorists.
At first I thought this was the typical end of ramadan violence, however there is more to it this year. The Palestinians are worked up over a series of evictions planned in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem and restrictions placed on access to the al-Aqsa mosque.
After Friday prayers, notably, most Palestinian violence occurs after Friday prayers, a group of more than 10,000 surrounded the al Aqsa mosque in protest of the evictions. Inevitably, the protest devolved to rock throwing and attacks on police. The police responded with tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets. 17 police officers and around 200 Palestinians were injured, though none seriously.
Now that we have the background, lets take a look at last night’s events.
The first red alert (incoming rocket warning) occurred at 1116 EDT 10 May. Unfortunately, these red alerts are relatively common in southern Israel. There was no indication at that point that the incoming would continue for at least the next 24 hours.
Red Alerts – Cumta@CumtaAlertsEngRed Alert [10/05/2021]: 18:16: Gavim, Sapir College, Sderot, Ibim, Nir Am, Kfar Azza, Mefalsim, Nir Am Shooting Range Sent via @CumtaAlertsEng11:16 AM · May 10, 2021·Red Alert – Cumta21 Retweets4 Quote Tweets25 Likes
Since that first red alert there have been hundreds more. However, very few of the rockets have actually hit anything. The Iron Dome system has proven to be very effective at tracking and intercepting incoming rockets.
That said, the Iron Dome is not infallible. A few rockets have gotten through, with one impacting an apartment block, another hitting a school and yet another hitting what looks like an oil storage tank near Ashkelon. So far, there are two confirmed israeli deaths and a couple of dozen injuries.
Mannie Fabian is the breaking news editor of The Times of Israel.
The IDF isn’t taking these attacks laying down. The have struck several launch sites, rocket manufacturing sites and even targeted individual Hamas and PIJ leaders.
The IDF has warned of the possibility of a ground offensive and has also warned all Gazan civilians to stay away from any Hamas or PIJ storage facilities, training sites and “safe” houses as they will be conducting airstrikes.
This is a developing and continuing story, stay tuned for updates. Look for a new post if this escalates into something more.