Jerusalem, a city holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, and Tel Aviv, a bustling cosmopolitan centre, are both more than 70 kilometres from the Gaza border, a distance thought to be out of range of the rockets controlled by Hamas, the Islamist organization that governs Gaza.
But rockets landed near both cities on Friday with Hamas claiming responsibility, Reuters reported. They were not thought to have caused any injuries or deaths.
Late Friday, the Israeli government more than doubled the number of reservists activated for duty to 75,000, setting the stage for a possible invasion, Reuters reported. The move followed reports on Thursday of Israeli troops amassing along the Gaza border.
Not all the activated troops will necessarily be called into service.
Israel said the single rocket fired at Jerusalem on Friday landed in the occupied West Bank, and the rockets fired Thursday and Friday at Tel Aviv fell into the sea or outside city limits, according to Reuters.
Israeli military officials say the only rockets able to strike at that distance are Fajr-5s, manufactured in Iran, according to the New York Times. Hamas has accumulated a bigger arsenal of rockets with longer ranges in recent years, while Israel, backed by U.S. funds, has heavily invested in sophisticated anti-missile technology.
The conflict escalated on Wednesday after a series of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. One of them killed Hamas’ top military commander, Ahmed Jabari. Hamas vowed retribution.
Gaza officials said the Palestinian death toll was nearing 30 people on Friday: 13 militants and 16 civilians, including eight children and a pregnant woman, according to Reuters. Three Israeli civilians died in rocket attacks on Thursday.
On Friday, Reuters reported that 97 rockets had been fired from Gaza, hitting Israel, and another 99 were intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile system.
In Tel Aviv, the Associated Press reported, air raid sirens shocked the citizens of Israel’s biggest city and financial core, a bustling seaside metropolis whose residents have cultivated a sense of apartness.
“It’s kind of unbelievable,” AP quoted 31-year-old resident Leehee Goldenberg as saying. “In Tel Aviv we always feel like we live in a different world.”
There was also surprise that Jerusalem was targeted. Saddam Hussein spared the city from attacks in the 1991 Gulf War, and no Palestinian rocket has hit there since 1970.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also closed a highway leading into Gaza to civilians, according to Reuters.
If Israel does approve a ground assault on the Gaza Strip, it will be the first since the three-week conflict that began in December 2008, when about 1,400 Palestinians died along with 13 Israelis — a lopsided death toll that drew international condemnation.
U.S. President Barack Obama has again spoken with Netanyahu, who is up for re-election in January, about escalating violence in the Gaza Strip.
American officials have reiterated their position that Israel has a right to defend itself from attack.
Obama, re-elected to a second term less than two weeks ago, telephoned Netanyahu for the second time in two days, AP reported, telling his Israeli counterpart that he supports Israel’s right to self-defence but also expressing regret for the loss of civilian lives on both sides of the conflict.
Netanyahu reportedly expressed appreciation for American investment in the Iron Dome system.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday that the fresh outbreak of violence is a concern for Ottawa.
“Of course we’re always concerned about these kinds of hostilities,” Harper said during a visit to Quebec City. “We have been concerned obviously for some time about the presence of a terrorist group, Hamas, in charge in the Gaza Strip.”
Harper condemned the attacks, but added, “we urge all sides to take all precautions possible to spare any innocent lives.”
Canada, the U.S., Israel, and other Western countries consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Egypt’s Prime Minister, Hisham Kandil, visited Gaza on Friday and was photographed at the hospital bedside of a wounded man. He denounced Israel’s “aggression,” but nevertheless encouraged the two sides to come to a truce.
The scene marked a departure from the era of Western-leaning Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted last year during the Arab Spring. Egypt’s new President Mohammed Morsi belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that was Hamas’s spiritual inspiration. Morsi has pledged to accept Cairo’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Kate Allen
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