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As of right now, over 114 mortars and rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza in the last 24 hours and the situation continues to grow more serious. The current mortar attack is the largest assault on Israeli civilians since the 2014 Gaza war, and has forced over one million Israelis into bomb shelters.
Early this morning, as Israelis were just waking up and taking their children to school, they found themselves under attack by an initial barrage of more than 30 mortars fired into southern Israel from Gaza. Families had 15-30 seconds to get under cover after hearing the piercing Red Alert sirens warn of an incoming projectile.
Several homes and vehicles were hit by mortars as mothers tried to pull their screaming, confused babies into the closest safe room and shield the children with their bodies. Minutes before crowds of children were scheduled to arrive, an Israeli kindergarten near the Gaza border was hit with pieces of shrapnel large enough to tear chunks of concrete out of the school’s walls and entrance doorway.
For some of the youngest Israeli children under four years old, the last 24 hours of constant Red Alert sirens and explosions nearby were the most traumatizing day of their lives. They are too young to remember the last time Israelis were besieged by such massive sustained rocket fire from Gaza, during the summer of 2014. For their parents, today brought back a familiar sense of terror as they spent the entire day within steps of the closest bomb shelter or huddled inside while the firestorm continued late into the night.
The Iranian-backed terrorist groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad issued a joint statement claiming “credit” for the attack on Israel, and continued to escalate by launching more sophisticated and dangerous rockets into Israel throughout the night.
During the last eight weeks of Hamas-led violent riots along the border with Gaza, Hamas has openly bragged on Arabic television that they would “tear down their fence just like we will tear out their [the Israeli’s] hearts from their chests.” The worldwide media ignored Israel’s evidence that the riots were largely carried out for the purpose of terrorism, but today’s assault on Israeli families and children in their homes and schools proves that Hamas is determined to murder innocent Israelis.
While the American media obsesses over a controversial sitcom as the biggest news of the day, millions of Israelis are sleeping in bomb shelters and praying the Red Alert sirens stay silent. Today was a somber reminder that Iran’s proxies are growing bolder and more aggressive in their provocations. As the ruling power in Gaza, Hamas is solely responsible for maintaining the peace by controlling the radicals. If they cannot or will not prevent attacks on Israeli civilians, the IDF has every right to take whatever action necessary to protect the families trying to live peacefully in southern Israel.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday to respond “with great force” to a barrage of at least 28 mortar shells fired in the morning at communities in southern Israel, one of which landed just outside a kindergarten less than an hour before children were due to arrive.
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The IDF struck dozens of targets belonging to Islamic Jihad and Hamas across the length of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, after several mortar and rocket barrages were fired at Israeli communities.
In a major escalation, Islamic Jihad launched close to 100 projectiles at towns near the Gaza border; two exploded in towns in the Eshkol region, including one that hit the yard of a kindergarten shortly before the children were due to arrive.
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Watch IDF Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus report from the Israeli kindergarten that was hit by several mortars earlier this morning.
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Watch Erick Stakelbeck's Facebook Live Briefing on the situation on the Gaza border.
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