Operation Protective Edge
Week 2 - 14-20 July 2014
Israeli airstrikes targeted the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on 14 July 2014, killing four Palestinians and bringing the death toll from the seven days of attacks to 175, including militants, women and children. Israel said there had been no deaths in the rocket attacks by Hamas. It credited its Iron Dome anti-missile defense system for the lack of casualties. A total of 138 civilians, including 36 children had been killed in Israeli attacks. Over 1360 Palestinians were injured, of whom 386 were children and 249 women.
Israel and Palestinian militants intensified attacks against each other on 15 July 2014 after the collapse of a cease-fire deal to end the conflict which began last week. Israel accepted an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire to begin on Tuesday morning, 15 July 2014, at 09:00. PM Netanyahu: "If Hamas rejects the Egyptian proposal, and the rocket fire from Gaza does not cease, and that appears to be the case now, we are prepared to continue and intensify our operation to protect our people. For this we have kept full support from the responsible members of the international community." IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner: “In according with the government directives, the IDF now holds fire. We remain alert and preserve high preparedness levels, both defensive and offensive. If the Hamas terror organization will fire at Israel, we shall respond.”
The leaders of Hamas rejected the Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire accepted earlier in the day by Israel. In addition to complaining that it was not included in discussions of the deal, Hamas called for the opening of the borders with Gaza, ( a closure that has been enforced by both Israel and Egypt to varying degrees since Hamas seized the territory in 2007) and talks between Hamas and Israel to take place in Cairo. Hamas also said it wanted the release of hundreds of its activists arrested in the West Bank while Israel searched for the three missing teens. The detainees include more than 50 Hamas men freed from Israeli jails in a 2011 prisoner exchange.
Following the continuation of rocket fire from Gaza, PM Netanyahu said: "Hamas's rejection of the cease fire gives Israel full legitimacy to expand the operation to protect our people." At 3pm the IDF Spokesperson announced: “After six hours of unilateral attacks by Hamas, the IDF has resumed operational activity in the Gaza Strip. Since 9am Tuesday, about 50 rockets were fired at Israel.” The IDF struck at Hamas tunnels, 20 concealed rocket launchers, weapons storage facilities and other operational infrastructure.
The first Israeli citizen was killed 15 July 2014 by a rocket from Gaza since the IDF began its Operation Protective Edge on July 7. A civilian in his 30s was critically injured at the Erez crossing on the Gaza border and died later of wounds. The first Israeli victim of the week-long conflict was a volunteer delivering supplies to Israeli soldiers deployed at the border with the Gaze Strip. Gazan officials said at least 180 Palestinians had been killed so far in the Israeli offensive, the majority of them civilians, while hundreds of homes had been destroyed. According to Israeli military, over 1080 rockets have been launched at Israel since the outbreak of violence between the two old foes last weeks. 845 of those rockets hit the country’s territory, while almost 200 were intercepted.
On July 16, two out of the ten high-power lines that Israel used to provide electricity to Gaza were again hit by Hamas rockets. The Israeli Electricity Corporation (IEC), which provided power to Gaza, would not be able to repair the two lines due to the immediate threat to the lives of its technicians when doing repairs in open areas subject to frequent rocket attacks.
Israel's Defense Forces intensified airstrikes in Gaza early on the 16th, a day after a possible cease-fire deal with Hamas fell through. The military said it was targeting Hamas political leaders, including senior official Mahmoud Zahar, whose home was reduced to a pile of rubble in an early morning strike. No one was inside at the time. Medical officials in Gaza said at least 204 people had been killed since operations began, most of them civilians.
The Israeli military said 16 July 2014 it would temporarily halt fire in Gaza for a five-hour humanitarian lull on 17 July. Following requests by representatives of the UN and other international organizations on Wednesday evening (July 16, 2014), the IDF declared a "humanitarian window" in Gaza on Thursday, 17 July between 10:00-15:00. The purpose of the humanitarian window was to allow the civilian population in Gaza to get needed supplies such as food and medications. During this time the IDF would not initiate military actions in Gaza, but would respond in case Israel is attacked.
Palestinian civilians received a brief reprieve from 10 days of conflict on 17 July 2014 after Israel and Hamas agreed to a UN proposal to allow for humanitarian movement. Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian militants resumed hostilities in Gaza after a temporary humanitarian cease-fire came to an end. Meanwhile, talks on a more comprehensive truce were underway in Egypt. More than 220 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, while one Israeli citizen had been killed. Israel had struck more than 2,000 targets in Gaza, while Hamas had fired almost 1,500 rockets towards Israel.
Early Thursday morning (July 17), just a few hours before the start of a humanitarian ceasefire, IDF forces thwarted an attack by Hamas terrorists who attempted to infiltrate Israel via a terror tunnel, preventing the terrorists from attacking an Israeli kibbutz.
Gazan terrorists violated the 17 July truce by firing three mortars at Israel. An IDF soldier was lightly injured by an explosion during operational activity near southern Gaza. One minute after 3pm, rocket fire from Gaza resumed against Israeli civilian areas. The IDF subsequently resumed attacks on terror targets in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 17 July 2014 instructed the military to begin a ground offensive in Gaza. An official statement from his office said. "The prime minister and defense minister have instructed the IDF to begin a ground operation tonight in order to hit the terror tunnels from Gaza into Israel". Israel had originally organized about 48,000 reserve soldiers for the operation, but on another 18,000 were called up. It's unclear how many are actually involved in the ongoing ground offensive.
"In the last 11 days we've struck about 2,100 targets and there have been over 1,500 rockets launched from Gaza. So this is the playing ground, this is [what] we are in the midst of, and this is the challenge we are facing today," Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said 18 July 2014. Officials in Gaza say 260 Palestinians have died in the conflict, most of them civilians. On the Israeli side, one civilian and one soldier have been killed.
Palestinian officials on 19 July 2014 said at least 325 Palestinians had died since July 8, when Israel expanded its airstrikes in Gaza in an attempt to stop rocket fire into Israel. Israeli authorities said a rocket from Gaza killed a man near the southern city of Dimona. He was the second Israeli citizen to die from the violence, in addition to one Israeli soldier killed in what was described as friendly fire. Israel's military says it had hit about 200 terrorist targets since the operation began, including more than 20 tunnels used to infiltrate Israel and smuggle weapons and explosives. The military said it had killed more than 20 militants in the offensive.
Two IDF soldiers were killed on 19 July 2014 when Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israeli territory through a tunnel from the central Gaza Strip and ambushed a military vehicle patrolling on the Israeli side of the border. Items found after the attack, including handcuffs and bottles containing sedatives, indicate that Hamas planned to kill and kidnap soldiers and/or civilians and take them back to Gaza. The IDF had uncovered 13 tunnels and over 30 tunnel entrances.
On 20 July 2014 at least 13 Israeli soldiers of the Golani Brigade were killed overnight in the course of the IDF operation in Gaza. In the first incident, terrorists detonated an explosive device on an armored vehicle, causing the death of seven soldiers. In the second attack, terrorists opened fire at two IDF soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip, killing one. Later, IDF soldiers were attacked by a terrorist squad in northern Gaza, leading to the death of two soldiers. Lastly, three IDF soldiers lost their lives when they became trapped in a burning building.
Israel agreed on 20 July 2014 to the Red Cross request for a humanitarian window in Sejaiya and would hold fire there from 13:30-15:30. Since July 8, Hamas had fired over 140 rockets at Israel from Sejaiya, and 10 tunnel openings have been uncovered. IDF: "Although we agreed to the Red Cross' request to extend the a ceasefire in Sejaiya until 17:30, Hamas has not stopped shooting from Sejaiya and opened fire from near Wafa Hospital". Israel opened a field hospital on the Israeli side of the Erez Crossing for Palestinians in Gaza.
Hamas proposed a multi-year truce that includes demands such as lifting the long-standing Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, opening air, sea and land entries into Gaza, and releasing Palestinian prisoners arrested by Israel in June in the West Bank. Israel pushed for an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that calls for a "cessation of hostilities" in exchange for the increased movement of people and goods between Gaza and Israel. Hamas rejected the plan, saying the offer amounted to a surrender.
On 20 July 2014 Palestinian officials in Gaza said more than 60 people were killed during Israeli military operations over the past 24 hours, making it the most deadly period since the latest conflict began July 8. More than 400 Palestinians had been killed in Operation Protective Edge, Israel's military response to Hamas rocket attacks. Israel escalated air, ground and naval assaults Sunday, targeting militant sites in northern Gaza. At least 13 Israeli soldiers were killed on Saturday night and early Sunday [19-20 July 2014] in several incidents across the Gaza Strip, bringing to a total 18 troop fatalities in less than two days.
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