ISRAEL TALKS WAR AND POUNDS GAZA AFTER ROCKET HITS CITY
▶ Israeli defence minister calls for large military operation to bring ‘quiet’ after Beersheba targeted
The next 48 hours are crucial to averting a major escalation between Israel and Hamas, and salvaging hopes of a ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt, the UN envoy to the Middle East peace process said yesterday.
Israel threatened “great force” on Gaza in response to overnight rocket fire. It carried out dozens of strikes in Gaza early yesterday after a rocket landed in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, destroying the home of a family who fled to a shelter.
The strikes killed one Palestinian, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said.
Tension threatened to boil over as Israeli ministers pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch a large military operation on Gaza.
Hamas said it had no involvement in the rocket fired at Beersheba, and said it rejected “all irresponsible attempts” to undermine Egyptian attempts to seal a long-term ceasefire.
Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process, said the rocket fire was a “dangerous escalation” and “fit a pattern of provocations that seek to bring Israel and Gaza into another deadly conflict”.
Mr Mladenov said “de-escalation on the ground” in the next two days was crucial to the survival of the ceasefire attempts.
“I am afraid that there is no more time for words. Now is the time for action,” he said. “And we must see very clear action on all sides that bring the situation to a de-escalation. Otherwise, the consequences will be terrible for everyone.”
The exchange of fire again increased tension that has been simmering since March after the start of weekly rallies against Israel’s crippling siege of the territory.
Israeli snipers have killed more than 200 people, many of them unarmed protesters, at the border rallies, and maimed hundreds more.
Egypt sent a delegation to Gaza on Tuesday for the latest round of truce talks, but delayed a visit there by its intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, after yesterday’s surge in violence, Palestinian officials said.
Israel’s Iron Dome air-defence system is to be installed near the Gaza border in response to the rocket attack.
Israel closed both of its border crossings with Gaza in reprisal and cut naval restrictions to less than five kilometres off the Gazan coast, further isolating the blockaded enclave.
A day before the rocket launch, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman had already called for a military operation in Gaza. He said a “serious blow” to Hamas would result in four or five years of quiet on Israel’s border with the enclave.
After Palestinians protested several days after the delivery of fuel into the territory, Mr Lieberman called it the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and said Israel had exhausted all options for a de-escalation.
“Now is the time to make decisions,” he said.
“We need to strike a serious blow at Hamas. That’s the only way to bring back the quiet.”
Hamas has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.
Analysts predict a further worsening and believe that while both Hamas and Israel do not want war, the room for compromise is becoming smaller with every day and exchange.
“Israeli threats of a military operation against Gaza if the great march of return doesn’t stop are real threats,” said Waled Almoudala, a political science lecturer at the Islamic University of Gaza.
“Some parties want to ruin the Egyptian efforts of achieving a truce between Gaza and Israel by launching the rockets. Gaza is an undisciplined playground, so to launch a rocket is not something difficult to do.”
The next week will be crucial to preventing conflict in the territory, with another protest planned tomorrow in Gaza.
“The situation is serious. It won’t take too much to drag the sides back into a circle of escalation that leads to war. Last night’s exchange of fire is a good example,” said Hugh Lovatt, Mena policy fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations.
“We will have a good indication on Friday where things are heading, based on whether Hamas continues to escalate protests and if there is an indication from Israel that it will allow a resumption of fuel deliveries.
“Otherwise, all bets are off.”