Palestinian militants barraged Israel with more than 200 rockets on Thursday, killing three people as Israel pressed a punishing campaign of airstrikes on militant targets across the Gaza Strip. Three rockets targeted the densely populated Tel Aviv area, setting off air raid sirens in brazen attacks that threatened to trigger an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.
Late in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly approved a decision to carry out a ground military operation in Gaza.
Earlier in the day, at least 12 trucks were seen transporting tanks and armored personnel carriers, and a number of buses carrying soldiers arrived. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he had authorized the army to call-up additional reservists for possible action. The army said it was prepared to draft up to 30,000 additional troops.
"I ordered the military today to widen the draft of reserve soldiers in order to be able to be ready for any development," Barak said. Military officials said the moves were to prepare for the possibility of a ground invasion, but stressed no decision had been made. Israel TV stations, however, said a ground offensive was expected Friday.
The fighting, the heaviest in four years, has also killed 15 Palestinians in two days and brought life to a standstill on both sides of the border. School has been canceled and many were huddling indoors.
Israel and Hamas have largely observed an informal truce for the past four years. But in recent weeks, the calm unraveled in a bout of rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.
The fighting showed no signs of slowing after dark. Israeli aircraft carried out dozens of attacks on militant targets in Gaza, while militants fired barrages of rockets throughout the day. The fighting began on Wednesday after Israel killed Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari in an airstrike, then attacked dozens of rocket launchers. The offensive follows weeks of rocket fire out of Gaza.
Thursday's attacks on Tel Aviv, some of the deepest rocket strikes from Gaza on record, set air raid sirens blaring and sparked panic in the streets of the normally laid-back commercial and cultural capital. Israeli Channel 2 TV showed panicked Tel Aviv residents running for cover and lying down on the ground after the sirens began wailing. Diners hid under tables in a restaurant, and traffic snarled on the city's main north-south highway. There were no injuries.
Workers and visitors at offices in a Tel Aviv skyscraper froze for a few seconds in silence as the sound of the sirens wafted through the open windows.
One of the rockets landed in an open area of Rishon Lezion, a city on Tel Aviv's southern outskirts, while police said the other two appeared to have landed in the sea. Although there were no injuries, Israel considers any attempt to disrupt life in Tel Aviv to be a major escalation.
While southern Israeli areas near Gaza have long coped with rocket fire, the attacks on the Tel Aviv area illustrated the significant capabilities that Hamas militants have developed. Gaza militants had previously hit Rishon Lezion before but never reached Tel Aviv, roughly 70 kilometers, or 50 miles, north of the strip.
Israel launched the offensive on Wednesday, killing the head of Hamas' militant wing and destroying dozens of rocket launchers. Israel has made special efforts to destroy launchers for Hamas' Iranian-made "Fajr" rockets, which are believed capable of flying even deeper into Israel.
Positions:
French President Francois Hollande has begun talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other world leaders to avert an escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Jean-Francois Ayrault said on Thursday.
"It's time to stop this escalation, which is dangerous for the security of Israel and its people and for that of the Palestinian people," Ayrault told reporters during a visit to Berlin. France had made "direct contact" with Netanyahu and Egyptian Prime Minister Mohamed Mursi, he added.
Egypt's prime minister and
security officials will make a one-day visit to Gaza on Friday in a show of
support for the Palestinian enclave after several days of shelling by Israeli
forces, a cabinet source told Reuters.
"Prime Minister Hisham Kandil will
visit, along with security officials, the Gaza Strip on Friday for a day's
visit to meet with officials there and show solidarity with the Palestinian
people," the cabinet official said, adding that details of the visit would
be released later.
Taher Nounou, spokesman for Hamas government in Gaza announced that the Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil intends to visit Gaza on Friday.
Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on
Thursday condemned the killing of military commander Ahmed al-Jaabari and vowed
to continue the "resistance" against Israel after the Jewish state
launched an offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza.
"Men and women in Palestine, we will
continue the resistance," Meshaal said at a meeting of Islamic leaders in
the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
For his part,
the spokesperson for Hamas Sami Abu Zuhri announced that Hamas Movement refuses
any truce with Israel, adding that talking about truce at this time is a trick
to cover violence and continue escalation.
Earlier today, Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi said that his country
stands by the Palestinian people to end the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
“This aggression is unacceptable and only leads to instability in the region,” he stated.
The President also revealed that he contacted US President Barack Obama
"to find ways to stop aggression and reach peace in the region." He also
announced that he will be holding an urgent cabinet session to discuss
the Gaza incidents.
This as, Egypt officially requested a meeting of the UN Security Council
to discuss Israeli aggression on Gaza, the Foreign Ministry said in a
statement.
It said Egypt's representative to the United Nations had sent formal
requests to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and to the current head of
the council, India's representative. The minister also requested that the United States immediately intervene
to stop Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people in Gaza, MENA news
agency reported, adding that Amr spoke to US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton by telephone.
Qatar also called on the UN Security Council to carry out its
responsibilities to stop the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip,
asserting that this aggression must not pass without punishment.
For its part, Russia considered that the Israeli attack on Gaza is "unequal", and Putin urged Netanyahu to avoid further "escalation" of violence. in Gaza.
On Wednesday night, the Security Council held an emergency meeting to
discuss Israeli strikes against the Gaza Strip but took no action.
Israel weathered censure from influential Arab powers Egypt and Qatar. The United States condemned Hamas, shunned by the West as an obstacle to peace for its refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel.
Hamas has said the killing of its top commander, Ahmed Al-Jaabari, would "open the gates of hell" for Israel. It also appealed to neighboring Egypt to halt the "barbaric" assault.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom opinion polls favor for victory in a Jan. 22 general election, said on Wednesday the Gaza operation could be stepped up.
His cabinet has granted authorization for the mobilization of military reserves if required to press the offensive, dubbed "Pillar of Defense" in English and "Pillar of Cloud" in Hebrew after the Israelites' divine sign of deliverance in Exodus.
The assault came after a week of surging cross-border violence and defied hopes that Egypt had brokered a truce.
Within hours of a missile destroying Jaabari's car, militants fired a slew of rockets against the Jewish state's desert south.
Israel's military reported that its Iron Dome interceptor had shot down more than 30 of the missiles.
Israel said it had destroyed much of Gaza's longer-range rocket stockpiles, an assertion seemingly confirmed when Hamas claims of hits on ambitious targets like Tel Aviv, Israeli naval craft and secret intelligence bases proved unfounded.
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REUTERS/LBCI