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Gaza War 2012: Operation Pillar of Defense |
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Arab-Israeli
Wars: Gaza
War 2012: Gaza
War 2012 Images and
Pictures
| Gaza War 2012 Casualties | Gaza
War 2012 Sources and
Links In 2008 and 2009, Israel and the
Hamas-ruled Gaza Stip waged a war
which Israel refers to as Operation
Cast Lead. While immediately
following the conclusion of that
war, a semblance of peace settled
over Gaza and southern Israel, 2011
and 2012 saw a resumption of major
rocket attacks on southern Israel
from Gaza. Most of those Israeli
targets were civilian population
centers. While Israel often
responded to these attacks with
occassional airstrikes on those
launching the rockets and missiles,
the Israeli military largely stayed
away from the large-scale
bombardments and ground assaults
that marked the 2008-2009 Gaza
War. This changed in November, 2012,
when, in response to several hundred
Hamas rocket and missile launches
onto Israeli territory over the
course of a four-day period, the
Israeli military launched a massive
offensive against Hamas titled
Operation Pillar of Defense
on November 14, 2012. Prime Minister
Netanyahu authorized a call-up of
Israeli military reservists as the
Israeli air forces pounded dozens of
terrorist targets in Gaza. Over 90 Hamas rockets exploded
across southern Israel on the night
of November 13, Israeli schools
within 40 kilometers of the Gaza
Strip were closed, and residents
were urged to follow directives from
the IDF Home Front Command. Israel's
Iron Dome rocket defense
system intercepted 29 rockets.
Israel's first wave of airstrikes
killed the Hamas
military leader, Ahmed al-Jabari,
and at least eight other Hamas
members. Al-Jabari was the man who
coordinated the abduction of Israel
Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit
in 2006, which was a precursor to
the 2008-2009
Gaza War. Israeli
airstrikes on
Gaza The Israeli Defense Force (IDF)
said via Twitter, that “We
recommend that no Hamas operatives,
whether low level or senior leaders,
show their faces above ground in the
days ahead.” Israeli leaders
stated that major goals of Operation
Pillar of Defense included the
ability to destroy Hamas' rocket
infrastructure and to establish
deterrence against future attacks.
Presumably, the deterrence would
take the form of causing enough
damage and pain in Gaza to keep
Hamas leaders from resuming their
rocket offensives against
Israel. Hamas responded with a message
that what they termed the
"assassination" of al-Jabari was a
declaration of war. With recent cross-border
tensions
and shooting along the Israel-Syria
cease-fire line in the Golan
Heights, as well as the ongoing
threat of war with Iran (a major
supporter and supplier of Hamas),
the possibility of an escalation
into a major Middle Eastern War
remains very high. As of the second day of the war,
Palestinian sources in Gaza reported
thirteen dead and nearly 100
wounded. Four of those killed were
civilians. In Israel, nearly one
million Israelis were living within
range of the attacks, and a rocket
attack on the civilian town of
Kiryat Malachi killed three adults
and wounded a 4-year old boy and two
infants. Hamas rocket and missile attacks
on Israel increased on the second
and third days of the war, with one
missile hitting in a suburb of Tel
Aviv, Israel's largest city, while
two others landed in the sea near
that city. On November 16, Hamas
rockets reached the Israeli capital
of Jerusalem. Israeli strikes
largely targeted rocket and missile
launch sites, especially sites for
the Iranian-made Fajr-5 rocket,
which are capable of reaching Tel
Aviv. As of Novembe 16, over 400
rockets and missiles from Gaza had
hit Israel. Gaza
War Map Gaza borders on Egypt, which is
under starkly different leadership
during the 2012 war compared to the
2008-2009 Gaza War. Before, Hosni
Mubarak was in power, and he closed
the Gaza border in silent aid of
Israel. Now, Mubarak is gone due to
the "Arab Spring" uprisings, and the
Muslim Brotherhood is the ruling
party, having won power in free
elections. Hamas has its origins as
an offshoot of the Muslim
Brotherhood, and the Egyptian wing
of the Brotherhood has organized
anti-Israel rallies and protests in
Egypt over the war. However,
Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham
Kandil made a visit to Gaza, and
Israel declared a three-hour truce
during his visit. Hamas (and its
ally in Gaza, Islamic Jihad),
ignored the truce, with Israel
reporting that during Kandil's
visit, 35 rockets launched from the
Gaza Strip hit Israel while another
86 were launced from Gaza but
intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome
anti-missile system. Kandill's
comments while in Gaza reflect the
dichotomy of Egypt's position.
Whether for internal political
reasons, or as a reflection of his,
and his party's true feelings toward
Israel, even while claiming that
Egypt can act to mediate a
cease-fire between Israel and Hamas,
Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham
Kandil also decried the Israeli
attacks on Hamas, declaring that the
Israeli actions constituted
"aggression." On the fourth day of the war,
Israel expanded the airstrikes to
include targets related to the
civilian infrastructure of the Hamas
regime, and not just the military
sites initially targetted. The Prime
Minister's office in Gaza was
leveled, as well as police and
homeland security headquarters for
Hamas. The homes of several Hamas
military commanders were also hit.
Hamas continued to launch rockets
and missiles at Israeli population
centers, including Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem. Israel's call-up of over 75,000
reservists and visible signs of a
buildup of ground forces near the
Gaza border made many analysts
beleive that a ground offensive was
coming soon, but the November 21
ceasefire took effect prior to any
ground invasion. On November 21, the Egyptian
Foreign Minister, Mohamed Kamel Amr,
and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, announced a that a
ceasefire between Hamas and Israel
had been reached. The ceasefire,
which took effect on November 21,
ended the fighting and set Israel
and Hamas to negotiate. According to
the text of the ceasefire agreement,
both sides will negotiate "opening
the crossings and facilitating the
movements of people and transfer of
goods and refraining from
restricting residents’ free
movements and targeting residents in
border areas and procedures of
implementation" after the ceasefire
holds for 24 hours. In the hours
after the agreement, a dozen rockets
were launched from Gaza, but all
landed in open, unpopulated
areas. During this short 8-day war,
Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired 1,456
Iranian Fajr-5, Russian Grad
rockets, Qassams and mortars into
Israel. The IDF records more than
1,450 air, tank, and warship strikes
against targets in the Gaza Strip
during the Operation Pillar of
Defense. Images
and Pictures of the 2012 Gaza
War: Israeli Casualties: (as of
11.16.12) 6 dead (2 soldiers, 4
civilians) 240 wounded Palestinian (Gaza)
Casualties: (as of 11.17.12) 133 dead (79 Hamas fighters, 53
civilians, and one policeman) 840 wounded * Not included in the official
casualty list are 8 Palestinians
executed by Hamas without trial for
alleged collaboration with
Israel Israel
Broadens Bombing in Gaza to Civilian
Sites--NYTimes, Nov. 17,
2012 LIVE
BLOG: Israel launches military
operation in Gaza--Haaretz
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