Michael Cardinal, FISM News
The violence in Israel continued over the weekend as both Hamas and Israeli Defense Force barraged each other with rockets and air strikes with no reprieve in sight. The conflict has now claimed at least 197 Palestinian and 10 Israeli lives as the fighting enters its second week.
The fighting escalated quickly over the past week and is on the verge of a full-out war. What began as a clash between Israeli police forces and Palestinian residents in Jerusalem, boiled over when the Islamic terrorist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, began firing rockets into Israel last Monday. Since then Hamas has fired nearly 3,000 rockets into the Jewish state. These attacks have been largely thwarted by Israel’s “Iron Dome” defense system.
The Israeli Defense Force has responded with targeted air strikes on Hamas leader and operations locations. On Saturday, an Israeli strike destroyed a 12-story office building. This attack has been criticized by many media outlets as it also housed AP and Al Jazeera offices. Spokesman for the IDF, Hidai Zilberman, defended the attacks saying,
I want to see what would happen if one rocket was fired on Washington. They are firing salvos toward civilian populations. We are in the middle of an operation. If Hamas and PIJ think they can hide behind the media, their buildings are not something they can hide behind.
On Sunday and continuing into the early morning hours of Monday, Israel also confirmed that they had carried out successful attacks on multiple high ranking Hamas officials’ homes. The majority of the strikes have been centered around Gaza City which is the center of operations for the Hamas terrorist organization.
The continued intensification has many world leaders urging a deescalation of tensions from both sides. The UN Security Council met on Sunday to discuss how to offer support and mediate a ceasefire. The bipartisan Senate Foreign Relations panel, released a statement saying, “As a result of Hamas’ rocket attacks and Israel’s response, both sides must recognize that too many lives have been lost and must not escalate the conflict further.”
Israeli Prime Minister went on Face the Nation on Sunday to discuss Israel’s “right to self defense.” He said that Israel’s actions are done in reaction to “a terrorist organization that is targeting our civilians, and hiding behind their citizens – using them as human shields. We are doing everything we can to hit the terrorists themselves.” He also detailed how Israel has done everything they can to minimize civilian casualties, including calling areas that are in targeted zones so innocent residents can evacuate prior to any attack.
Watch the full interview here:
Watch my interview at CBS: “If Hamas thought they could just fire rockets and sit back and enjoy immunity, that’s false”.
צפו בראיון שלי לתקשורת האמריקנית, מסביר את האמת של ישראל: אם חמאס חשב שהוא יוכל לירות לעברנו וליהנות משקט – הוא טועה. https://t.co/2X7vpoarjK
— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 16, 2021