Israel has announced that an early morning strike targeted and killed Hamas’s senior military leader, Ahmed Jabari. Palestinian officials claim six people in total have been killed by the Israeli airstrikes.
The Israeli airstrikes were a response to rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip, which was targeting Israeli civilians. Hamas security officials claim two Hamas training facilities were among the targets of the Israeli airstrikes.
Rather than the single-action responses from the Israeli military prior to the 2012 US presidential elections, this morning’s actions indicate a new attitude on the part of Israeli leaders.
Targeting Hamas and terror leaders for assassination, and larger campaigns after rocket attacks, were minimized or unseen leading up to the US elections. Now that the US elections are over, and Israel is facing a less than supportive US attitude towards their defense, Israel apparently decided their former more aggressive tactics are needed to ensure their survival.
After today’s assassination of the senior Hamas military leader, Israeli leaders announced these airstrikes are just the beginning of a larger and broader new operation to stop Palestinian rocket fire from killing Israeli civilians.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.