BACKGROUND
Rockets slammed into Israeli homes, forcing residents to flee to safety. Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israel, killing two civilians, while many Palestinians were killed by missiles that fell short. The ruling regime in Gaza, Hamas, avoided the conflict in an apparent turf war between rival factions.
Israeli Defense Forces launched Operation Shield and Arrow on May 9 when its air force killed three senior Islamic Jihad commanders. This came one week after Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) launched more than 100 rockets at Israel. The Israeli government responded to threats from PIJ by ordering residents in southern Israel to stay near bomb shelters – closing schools, beaches and roads in anticipation of rocket fire. The IDF continued to strike terrorist infrastructure.
Islamic Jihad launched 1,468 rockets toward Israel – targeting even Jerusalem and Tel Aviv – over the next five days before Egypt mediated a ceasefire. PIJ rockets killed two civilians in Israel: an 80-year-old Israeli Jew helping her paralyzed husband to their shelter and a Palestinian laborer working on an Israeli farm. Israel has recognized him as a terrorist victim, entitling his family to compensation.
Misfired rockets smashed into Gazan residential neighborhoods, killing at least four, including one as young as 10. One out of every five rockets landed short in Gaza. Terror organizations do not protect their civilians, while Israel is known for warning Palestinian residents before its airstrikes.
Israel has developed multiple defense systems to help prevent civilian casualties. The most well-known – jointly developed and funded by the U.S. – is the Iron Dome, a strategic missile-targeting defense system that destroys enemy rockets mid-air. Its success rate was 95.6%. Israel also successfully deployed its “David’s Sling” defense system for the first time which is designed to shoot down short-range rockets.
Israelis are alerted to incoming rockets by sirens and the Red Alert: Israel phone app. Residents living near Gaza have only 15 seconds to seek shelter. Personal accounts reveal the intense fear and stress Israelis face on a regular basis. One of hardest-hit Israeli towns was Sderot. Resident Etti Kramer shared her heart-wrenching decision: “You have to choose which of your children you save. I grabbed the baby and the two-year old and ran to the shelter.” Many Israelis, particularly children, suffer post-traumatic stress as a result of these attacks.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad: Another Iranian Proxy
PIJ’s primary objective is wipe out the Jewish state and establish in its place an Islamic Palestinian state based on Sharia law. Islamic Jihad rejects any negotiations or compromises with Israel. It is classified as a terrorist organization by several countries, including the US, UK and EU.
Islamic Jihad has a decades-long track record of attacking Israeli civilians. It took credit for the first Palestinian suicide attack in 1989 when a terrorist grabbed the wheel of a crowded commuter bus and ran it off a cliff, killing 16 civilians – including one American. In 2003, 21 Israelis – 18 Jews and 3 Arabs – were killed when a female law student, strapped with an explosive belt, detonated it when she walked into the beachfront restaurant, Maxim, an iconic site of Arab-Jewish coexistence.
While Iranian-backed Hamas did not take an active role in the recent fighting, its leaders did not restrain PIJ from launching repeated rocket barrages. PIJ and Hamas are in competition with each other for control of Gaza and with the PA in the West Bank; Hamas sees Israel’s elimination of PIJ commanders as a favor.
History of a Sliver of Land
The Gaza Strip’s complex history spans several millennia. The earliest inhabitants date back to the 15th century BCE, including the Canaanites. The area was conquered by Babylonians, Persians and then Greeks. Gaza became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the early 1500s until the end of World War I, when it was incorporated into the British Mandate for Palestine.
Egypt ruled Gaza until it lost the area to Israel in 1967’s Six Day War. The Israeli government withdrew all of its civilians there in its 2005 unilateral withdrawal. The Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists seized Gaza and its two million residents after a violent coup against the Palestinian Authority in 2007. Since then, Hamas has initiated numerous wars against Israel.
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