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Israel Intercepts Drone Sent From Gaza Israel Intercepts Drone Sent From Gaza
(about 5 hours later)
JERUSALEM — Israel’s military intercepted a Hamas drone sent from Gaza on Monday and blew it to “smithereens,” a spokesman said, as the unpiloted aircraft flew just offshore from the port city of Ashdod, about 14 miles north of the Palestinian enclave. It was the first drone known to have been sent into Israel from Gaza, adding a new element to a week-old conflict. JERUSALEM — The Israeli military intercepted an unmanned aircraft flown from Gaza on Monday, blowing it apart in midair just offshore from the Israeli port city of Ashdod, a spokesman said. The drone attack by Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, added a new element to a week-old conflict with Israel.
The military wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for sending a “number of drones” into Israel, describing the event on its website as one of the “surprises” it had promised over the last week and saying the drones had been dispatched on “special missions.” An Israeli military spokesman did not rule out that the possibility that the Palestinians had access to additional drones. The military wing of Hamas claimed on Monday that it had sent “a number of drones” flying into Israel on “special missions,” saying on its website that the aircraft were one of the “surprises” it had promised over the last week.
Also on Monday, Israel prepared to file formal charges against three Jews in the kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian teenager earlier this month. The killing, an apparent act of revenge for the deaths of three young Israelis last month, touched off days of protests and further inflamed tensions in Jerusalem and in the Palestinian territories. There were growing international calls for a cease-fire, including a plan for a cooling-off period and talks put forward on Monday evening by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry for discussion by the Arab League. Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday, according to officials in the region and the Egyptian state news agency.
Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said the suspects, a 29-year-old and two 17-year-olds, had admitted to abducting and killing Muhammad Abu Khdeir, 16, and had re-enacted the attack for investigators. Mr. Rosenfeld said they would be formally charged on Friday with kidnapping and premeditated murder. According to details released on Monday, the Palestinian youth was bludgeoned and set on fire. The identities of the suspects remained under a judicial gag order, partly, a judge wrote on Monday, to protect the rights of the suspects who are minors until they have formally been charged. But there was no letup in the hostilities on Monday, as Israel continued its air offensive against militant groups in Gaza and rockets continued to fly out of Gaza into Israel. One rocket struck a Bedouin encampment in the Negev desert and injured two sisters ages 15 and 10, according to the Israeli police, who said one of the girls’ injuries were severe.
The death toll in Gaza from Israeli air and missile strikes has continued to mount. Pierre Krähenbühl, the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, which assists Palestinian refugees, said in a news briefing that he was “deeply alarmed and affected by the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and the devastating human and physical toll it is taking on civilians, including Palestine refugees.” The death toll in Gaza from Israeli airstrikes continued to mount. Pierre Krähenbühl, the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, which assists Palestinian refugees, said in a news briefing that he was “deeply alarmed and affected by the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and the devastating human and physical toll it is taking on civilians, including Palestine refugees.”
He put the latest casualty numbers there at 174 killed and more than 1,100 wounded, adding that it seemed “women and children make up a sizable number of victims of the current strikes.” He put the toll at 174 killed and more than 1,100 wounded, saying it appeared that “women and children make up a sizable number of victims of the current strikes.”
According to a statement issued by his office, Mr. Krähenbühl called on the Israeli army to “put an end to attacks against, or endangering, civilians and civilian infrastructure which are contrary to international humanitarian law.” According to a statement issued by his office, Mr. Krähenbühl called on the Israeli Army to “put an end to attacks against, or endangering, civilians and civilian infrastructure, which are contrary to international humanitarian law.” He also called for an end to rocket fire from Gaza aimed at Israel, which the United Nations has described as indiscriminate.
He also called for an end to rocket fire from Gaza aimed at Israel, which the United Nations has described as indiscriminate. Israeli troops are massed at the border with Gaza, awaiting a government decision about whether to mount a ground operation, which would probably cause significantly more casualties.
Israeli military officials say they are operating with as much caution as possible to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza and have taken pains to explain what they call the challenging environment in which they are operating. They describe Hamas rockets and launchers placed in and by homes and near schools and hospitals, and accuse Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza of using the local population as a human shield. Israeli military officials say they are operating with as much caution as possible to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, and have taken pains to explain what they call the challenging environment in which they are operating. They say Hamas has placed rockets and launchers in and near homes, schools and hospitals, and they accuse militant groups of using the civilian population of Gaza as human shields.
In a telephone interview, the head of the 107 Squadron of F-16I fighters currently engaged in the aerial offensive in Gaza said the air force was working methodically and surgically and according to “a clear policy of minimum harm to civilians” but that everybody knew it was not a “sterile area.” The squadron commander could not be identified under military rules. In a telephone interview, the commander of the 107th Squadron, which is engaged in Gaza using F-16 fighters, said the air force was working methodically according to “a clear policy of minimum harm to civilians,” but that everybody knew Gaza was not a “sterile area.” Under military rules governing the interview, the squadron commander cannot be identified by name.
It was not immediately clear whether the Hamas drone that was intercepted had been carrying explosives or surveillance equipment. The Israeli military said it had downed the drone with a Patriot surface-to-air missile. It was not immediately clear whether the Hamas drone that was intercepted off Ashdod, 14 miles north of the Gaza Strip, was carrying explosives or surveillance equipment. The Israeli military said it downed the drone using a Patriot surface-to-air missile.
“It was shot to smithereens,” Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an army spokesman, said, adding that the navy was searching for remnants along the coast. Colonel Lerner said that military scanners had picked up the drone as it took off from Gaza and that it had been shot down in a location that posed the least risk to civilians. “It was shot to smithereens,” said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an army spokesman.
Israel’s defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, said in a statement on Monday that the drone was “an example of the attempts to continue to harm us by any means, and of the preparedness of the Israel Defense Forces,” and that “Hamas is trying to chalk up an achievement at any price.” The Israeli defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, said in a statement that “Hamas is trying to chalk up an achievement at any price.”
Israel claimed to have destroyed a drone-manufacturing facility in Gaza during a round of cross-border fighting, in November 2012, and has intercepted at least two drones in Israeli airspace that were dispatched by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite organization to the north, in the last couple of years. Until Monday, however, no drone from Gaza had been known to have entered Israel. Israel has intercepted other drones in recent years, including at least two flown by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group. The Israel Defense Forces claimed to have destroyed a drone-manufacturing facility in Gaza in 2012 during a round of cross-border fighting.
Despite growing international calls for a cease-fire, and alarm over the rising Palestinian death toll, Israel continued its air offensive in Gaza and rockets continued to fly into Israel on Monday. Hamas has fired about 1,000 rockets into Israel in the past week, including some that have reached as far north as the Hadera area, south of the port city of Haifa. Several have been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system over the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas, but others have struck cities in the south, causing injuries and property damage. The military wing of Hamas claimed on its website that it had mounted three drone sorties of at least two aircraft each over Israel on Monday, including one it said had hovered over the Tel Aviv headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces. Colonel Lerner said that while he could not rule out other drone flights, he was not aware of any sortie over Tel Aviv.
Israeli troops are massed at the border with Gaza, where they are awaiting a government decision about whether to embark on a ground operation — a development that would likely bring significantly more casualties. The Israeli military also found itself involved in a clash on Monday in the West Bank, where troops shot and killed a Palestinian man in the village of Samua. The official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, identified the dead man as Munir Ahmed Hamdan al-Badarin, 21. An Israeli military spokesman said initial information indicated that several Palestinians had been throwing stones and firebombs at Israeli cars and that one or more soldiers opened fire in response. The spokesman said the episode was under investigation.
Also on Monday, a Palestinian man was shot dead by the Israeli military during a clash in the village of Samua in the southern West Bank, according to Palestinian news reports and the military. The official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, identified the dead man as Munir Ahmed Hamdan al-Badarin, 21.
An Israeli military spokesman said initial information indicated that several Palestinians had been throwing stones and firebombs at Israeli cars and that a soldier or soldiers opened fire. The spokesman added that the episode was under investigation by the military authorities.
The West Bank has been particularly restive since the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers there last month and the subsequent revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem. As part of a broad search for the missing Israeli teenagers, the military carried out the harshest clampdown in the West Bank in a decade aimed against Hamas, which Israel blamed for the kidnappings. Scores of institutions were raided and hundreds of Palestinians, many of them said to be affiliated with Hamas, were arrested.
The tensions in the West Bank spread to the Gaza border, where the hostilities escalated into military confrontation.
Majdi Khaldi, a diplomatic adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, said Mr. Abbas was in contact with many leaders in the region and beyond, and was expected to meet soon with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt as part of an effort to halt the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Israel and Hamas have begun laying out their conditions for a cease-fire deal, but officials on both sides said on Sunday that there was no firm proposal or active mediator in place yet.
Israeli military officials say that Hamas is looking for an “image of victory” before it gives up. They have also suggested that the militants are frustrated by the lack of Israeli fatalities so far in the fighting, something that has been largely attributed to Israel’s sophisticated Iron Dome missile defense system, which has intercepted most of the rockets heading for built-up areas, and to Israelis quickly seeking shelter after hearing warning sirens. In addition, the rockets are largely inaccurate, many falling in open ground outside cities.