It’s been a year and a half since the last escalation between Israel and Hamas, Operation Black Belt, took place. And as expected, in that time neither side sat around to relax and watch Netflix. Instead, they increased their capabilities, on a daily basis, in order to inflict as much damage as they could in the opening salvo of the next round.
The work put in by both Israel and terror groups in the Gaza Strip – Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – was clear for all to see in the skies above central and southern Israel on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
Large barrages of over 130 long-range missiles were fired by Hamas at just after 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. towards central and southern Israel, sending thousands of Israeli citizens to their bomb shelters.
While the areas targeted by the terror group are not new, the intensity of the salvos left many shaking. The attacks killed five Israeli civilians, two women who lived next door to each other in Rishon Lezion, a father and his 16-year-old daughter in Lod and an eldery man in his 80s who had a heart attack while running for safety.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, the former commander of the IDF’s Aerial Defense Division Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Zvika Haimovich, said the number of the rockets fired were equivalent to the final salvo of Operation Black Belt.
“Every escalation has started with how the group finished the last conflict,” he said. “We shouldn’t be surprised about the high numbers, the next round they will start with this number or even higher.”
While the salvo strategy and missiles used by Hamas and PIJ are not new, Hamas “has improved their skills,” Haimovitch said.
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“They are not sleeping. Once they finish an escalation they are trying to build back their forces,” he said, adding that both groups have strong capabilities and have ballistic missiles in their arsenal.
Seven Israeli civilians have been killed since the escalation began on Monday, five overnight on Tuesday alone.
Two of those killed were Khalil Awad, 52, and his daughter Nadin, 16, Arab-Israeli residents of a town near Lod, who were killed after a rocket scored a direct hit on a car in Lod early Wednesday morning. Two women were killed in Rishon Lezion, one by a rocket that struck right outside her home and her neighbor by a heart attack following the attack. An elderly man in his 80s suffered a heart attack while running for shelter.
While visiting the scene of the rocket attack in the city of Rishon Lezion on Wednesday morning, the neighbors of the victims were still in shock. Some of them still wearing their pajamas, some still shaking from the traumatic evening they had gone through.
And they had one question: How did the Iron Dome missile defense system miss this?
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Abba Cohen, the neighbor of the woman who was killed said that she had no time to get to her shelter and neither did he.
“I was able to get down the stairs, but not to the shelter,” he said.
Etty and Tzion, her neighbors, explained how all the houses on the block had been destroyed. They had been at a wedding at a hall in the city when the barrage started and returned to devastation.
“All of a sudden we heard booms and we were told to come inside,” her husband said. And then they heard that a rocket fell on their street.
Explaining that she’s lived on the street for over 30 years, “everyone is like family.”
“We rushed home,” Etty said. “I called everyone, to check that everyone was ok…we were good friends, she was such a good neighbor…”
It was a scene that played out in several locations in Israel on Wednesday morning and, unfortunately, will likely continue to play out for the next few days, if not weeks.
According to Haimovitch, Israel will not stop in their offensive against the terror groups. And the onus was on Hamas to decide if they want to stop the bloodshed or to continue.
“Hamas is the head and heart behind this escalation,” he said, adding that they and PIJ are coordinating since their interests have converged.
He stated that Hamas leaders already yesterday began building a narrative that they are ready for a ceasefire because its in their best interest.
“When Israel attacks hour after hour with hundreds of airstrikes against tunnels and their operatives, it’s a very hard blow for them. This is one reason why they want a ceasefire,” he said. But, he stressed “another salvo (towards the center) depends on the way Hamas decides to go forward. We need to see what Hamas chooses to do and then we will see if we are before or after the peak. And not only by their statements but by the practical acts on the ground.”
On Wednesday afternoon Defense Minister Benny Gantz extended the special situation in central and southern Israel for two weeks. That means any community within 80 kilometers of the Gaza Strip needs to watch the skies for the next two weeks.
Operation Guardian of the Walls is not close to being over.
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