Hamas: We'll broaden rocket targets if air strikes continue
Hamas said on Saturday it would escalate it attacks against Israel to include a wider range of targets if the IDF failed to halt its aerial assaults on the Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri blamed Israel for an escalation in violence. "If the Israeli escalation continues, amid international silence and complicity, the reactions by resistance factions will broaden," he told Reuters, saying such actions would be necessary to protect Palestinians in Gaza.
2 Grads, 25 mortars fired from Gaza explode in Israel
Fifteen Grad-model rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory overnight Friday. The Iron Dome rocket-defense system intercepted five of them in the Beersheba and Ashkelon areas, Israel Radio reported.
Saturday morning two additional Grad rockets were fired at Ofakim and 25 mortar shells were fired into the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries were immediately reported. Dozens of mortar shells were fired overnight.
Thats over 40 missiles and mortars fired into Israel in a 24 hour period. A significant escalation in the region.
And following this exchange, we see even more escalation:
Three Hamas commanders were killed in an IAF airstrike early morning Saturday on a car in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Palestinian news agencies reported a fourth Hamas man was killed in an IDF strike late Saturday morning. The IDF said it was looking into the reports.
Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that other IDF strikes took place overnight in Gaza City, a Hamas training base in the northern Strip and a neighborhood in Khan Younis.
Sa'ar: Hamas has sustained heavy damage in recent days
Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar told Israel Radio on Saturday that Hamas has sustained heavy damage from IDF operations in recent days. The IDF continue to strike Hamas, he added, "we will not permit sporadic shootings or the disruption of life" inside Israel.
Also speaking with Israel Radio, former national security adviser Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland said that if quiet cannot be reached in the Gaza Strip that Israel needs to consider a more extensive operation similar to the 2002 Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank.
Rocket War: 36,000 Missiles vs. Israel's 'Iron Dome'
Below, we see more war preparations. This sounds a lot like "wars and rumors of war":
Israel is once again under rocket attack. But the few weapons being flung at it from their enemies in the south — Hamas — could be just a preview of a much larger rocket war in the north, courtesy of Hezbollah. Israel’s response to the missile threat: a next-gen rocket-blaster and a covert program of sabotage and assassination.
To mitigate some of Hezbollah’s missile threat, Israel is expected to deploy its Iron Dome anti-rocket missiles on its northern border with Lebanon alongside its Arrow long range ballistic missile defense system.
In the meantime, Israel has rushed Iron Dome to the southern border with Gaza last month to meet Hamas’ rocket fire.
South under heavy assault; IDF hits back
Major escalation overnight, southern Israel under heavy fire: Iron Dome intercepts several rockets fired at Beersheba, Ofakim, siren activated in cities across south. Air Force bombs Rafah vehicle, three Hamas men killed
The Iron Dome anti-rocket system intercepted several Grad rockets fired at Beersheba, southern Israel’s largest city, and at the town of Ofakim early Saturday.
Five residents in both cities were lightly hurt while rushing to local bomb shelters after the anti-rocket siren was activated. Four of them were taken to hospital for treatment.
Area residents have been ordered to enter secured rooms and bomb shelters. There were no initial reports of injuries or damages.
Meanwhile, the IDF continued to target terrorists, killing three Hamas members after firing at their vehicle in the city of Rafah. Palestinian sources said two of those killed were senior members of Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Hamas’ military wing.
Earlier Saturday, Palestinian sources in Gaza said Air Force aircraft bombed a training camp in the northern Strip belonging to Hamas, as well as tunnels in the southern part of the Strip, near Rafah.
War is undeniably approaching. We know this from biblical prophecy, but all we have to do is glance at the Middle East right now and it is quite obvious.
The big question is simple: Will this escalation continue, or will it die down? These seem to be the only two scenarios approaching - either things will continue to escalate or things will spontaneously die down. Much of this depends upon what Iran wants, as they are ultimately pushing the buttons in the region.
As for now, it appears that things are escalation, and the next question becomes, "what is the ultimate goal of this current round of violence?" Is it a diversion from Iran's nuclear progress? (note that Iran's nukes have been far from "page 1" of the news). Or - more importantly, is Iran ready to begin the violence that their leadership believes will hasten the return of the Mahdi?
Only time will tell, but that time is growing short. We should watch this evolving situation very closely.
In other prophecy related news, see the following in today's news:
Two George Soros Events Aim to Remake the Financial Order and the Media -- So Where's the Reporting?
Syrian forces reportedly kill 22 as protests flare
Hunger forecast to become global reality
Palestinians attack Israeli school bus, pound southern Israel
UPDATE:
GAZA-ISRAEL VIOLENCE RAGES ON AS 4 MILITANTS KILLED
Israel killed four Palestinian militants and wounded half a dozen others as it pursued air raids in Gaza for a third day on Saturday, responding to increased rocket fire out of the territory, local medics said.
Militants in the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamist Hamas, continued striking Israel's south with rockets, wounding five Israelis at around daybreak, according to Israeli media reports.
Israeli forces killed a local Hamas commander in the southern Gaza town of Rafah bordering Egypt, as well as two of his bodyguards, in a targeted strike on a vehicle, medics said. Israel blamed the slain commander for a rocket strike on its port of Eilat launched from Egyptian Sinai some months ago
Five militants were wounded in a second air raid in northern Gaza. Another air strike at daybreak killed a further militant.
Cross-border violence has surged since Hamas militants fired an anti-tank rocket at an Israeli school bus on Thursday, wounding two people including a teenager, who was listed in critical condition.
Israel has said it wants to teach Hamas a lesson for that attack, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday amounted to "crossing a line," adding that "whoever tries to attack and murder children puts his life on the line."
At least 18 Palestinian militants and civilians, including an 11-year-old boy, have been killed in retaliatory strikes on the Gaza Strip since Thursday, and 36 since the latest round of bloodletting began in earnest on March 20.
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