Israeli security forces are preparing for the possibility of an explosion in the Gaza Strip following multiple rocket fire incidents from the Palestinian enclave in the past week.
Channel 12 reported on Saturday that if Israel’s decision to close its pedestrian route to Gaza did not limit missile attacks, the military is ready to resume retaliatory strikes or even launch a wider operation.
The report, without a source, says the military is preparing for the possibility of the situation escalating in a few days of fighting between Israel and the Strip.
Israel avoids military response to three missiles fired by Hamas-run coastal enclave against southern Israel late Friday – despite several strikes this week in response to similar attacks – instead chose to temporarily close its only Gaza Strip, Crossing Erez.
As Palestinian workers hired in Israel bring millions of shekels a day into the enclave, Jerusalem hopes economic pressure will persuade Hamas to quell rocket launches that it says are being carried out by other groups in the strip.
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“No one is ruling out the possibility of [rocket] starts tonight, but the ID is ready for all potential scenarios, from an accurate response to a broader offensive, “unnamed security officials told the Walla news site. “No one wants this on the Israeli side, but there is no intention of standing aside and waiting for peace to return.
According to the military’s liaison with the Palestinians, the checkpoint will not be reopened to Palestinian workers on Sunday. It has been closed since Thursday afternoon for Easter.
“The reopening of the checkpoint will be decided in accordance with an assessment of the security situation,” said the coordinator of government activities in the territories, known by his acronym COGAT.
Exceptions will be made for humanitarian and other unresolved cases, but require COGAT approval.
The number of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who can work in Israel increased to 12,000 last month, and the government said it would increase it by an additional 8,000 to a total of 20,000.
Palestinian workers see themselves at the Erez border checkpoint in the northern Gaza Strip as they wait to enter Israel for work on March 13, 2022 (Attia Muhammed / Flash90)
Two rockets were fired from the Strip on Friday night. One landed in an open field in Shaar Hanegev’s district council without causing damage, while the other fell in northern Gaza, according to the military. Hours later, a third rocket was fired from the southern part of the Gaza Strip, which landed in an open area near a city near the border.
Earlier in the week, a rocket fired from Gaza fell into the area on Thursday, one landed near a home in the town of Sderot on Wednesday and another shot down by the air defenses on Monday.
None of the Gaza-based terrorist groups immediately claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, although Monday’s attack blamed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in several media reports.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Vasem said the closure of the Erez checkpoint “aims to tighten the siege and is a form of aggression that we cannot accept.”
“It simply came to our notice then. “The policy of collective punishment against the Palestinians has always failed,” he told the Associated Press.
Mohammed al-Hindi, head of the PIJ’s political bureau, condemned the closure of the checkpoint, accusing Israel of “trying to isolate Gaza from the crimes of the occupation of Jenin and Jerusalem.”
Criticism of the move was also voiced by residents of Israel’s border communities, who expressed anger at the decision not to react more aggressively to Friday’s rocket attack, but instead to impose only civil sanctions.
A missile from the Israeli air defense system Iron Dome illuminates the sky over the Gaza Strip on April 21, 2022 (Said Khatib / AFP)
“This does not surprise us,” Albert Gabay, a resident of Sderot, told Walla on Saturday. “I am concerned not only about Sderot, but also about everything that is happening in the country these days. If you do not react, the deterrence is damaged. Now the deterrence is diminishing. They had to react so as not to continue firing. “
Gabay blamed the government’s domestic policies and a desire not to upset the Islamist party, Raam, in the coalition.
Merav Cohen, who lives in the kibbutz of Ein HaShlosha, said that despite the minimal damage caused by the rocket fire, the launches damaged Israel’s sovereignty in the border region.
“We have to return the deterrence, we have to react to every missile,” she said. “The state of Israel cannot allow rocket fire on its sovereign territory without any response. This shows that such a situation is normal. “
Cohen also said that Israel would have responded in a far harsher way if the missiles had been fired in the center of the country.
The rocket attacks this week ended a nearly four-month period of calm on the Gaza border. The rocket attack came amid a tense day in Jerusalem on Wednesday, when Israeli nationalists were prevented by police from marching through the Damascus Gate in the Old City, a popular gathering place for Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Hamas threatened to attack if the march continued.
Violent clashes between Palestinian rebels and Jerusalem Temple police have been reported in recent days, injuring dozens of Palestinians and several police officers.
Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque complex on top of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday, April 15, 2022 (AP Photo / Mahmoud Illean)
Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist groups have repeatedly referred to the holy site of ignition as a red line. The actions of the police to suppress the riots there last year were among the reasons for a 11-day Gaza war in May last year.
The Gaza Strip has been blocked by both Israel and Egypt for 15 years in an attempt to contain the rulers of the Hamas enclave and other groups. Israel says tight restrictions on goods and people are needed because of efforts by Hamas, which has vowed to destroy Israel, to arm itself en masse for attacks on the Jewish state.
Critics have complained about the impact of the blockade on ordinary Gaza residents, about 50 percent of whom are unemployed, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. High levels of poverty make employment in Israel an extremely attractive opportunity for those lucky enough to obtain permits.
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