Bombs on Gaza to cease for Egyptian prime minister visit
November 16, 2012 -- Updated 0723 GMT (1523 HKT)
Palestinians extinguish a fire after Israeli airstrikes targeted the Interior Ministry building in Gaza City Friday.- NEW: IDF says campaign has reduced rocket fire from Gaza overnight
- NEW: Israel is planning a cease fire Friday for Egyptian PM's visit to Gaza
- The "Iron Dome" has stopped 130 Gazan rockets
- Egyptian PM, delegation head to Gaza on Friday morning
Are you there? Share your story with CNN iReport, but please stay safe. Read more at CNNArabic.
Gaza City (CNN) -- Explosions have rumbled through Gaza all night into Friday, a day after Palestinian officials reported 19 deaths and Israeli officials said three had died from rocket fire.
But Gazans may be getting a respite from the ongoing bombings, as Egypt's prime minister arrived for a visit to Gaza, and Israel has planned a cease-fire Friday to accommodate him, a senior Israeli official said.
The move is contingent on Gazan militants also doing the same. The visit is expected to last three hours.
Israel's military confirmed striking "approximately 150" targets from darkness into dawn.
The military campaign has stifled the launching of rockets out of Gaza, Israeli authorities said. Palestinian officials have yet to give their account of damage and death wrought on the ground by the night's sorties.
But Gazan militants from the Qassam Brigade contradicted Israeli reports their attacks had lightened up, claiming to have hit multiple Israeli targets Friday with Grad and Qassam rockets.
Shortly after sunup Friday, two detonations just 500 to 600 yards away from CNN's team sent it running for cover inside its Gaza City hotel.
A litany of bombardments provided for a sleepless night of hearing and feeling incoming ordinance exploding and watching some rockets leaving Gaza for Israel.
Falling bombs made doors clatter and sometimes even one's bones. Clouds of smoke sprouted into the sky paralleling the repetition of thunderous booms.
Fresh destruction awaits Egypt's Prime Minister Hesham Kandil, and fears of a ground invasion by Israel seemed to firm up, when the Israeli Defense Forces announced Friday they are recruiting 16,000 reservists in a Twitter post by spokeswoman Avital Leibovich.
Many Israeli airplanes passed by overhead in Ashkelon, Israel, and once a civil defense alarm sounded to warn of possible incoming fire. The bomb clouds in Gaza could be seen from Askelon in the morning light, the rumble of their explosions loudly heard.
The Israel Defense Forces said the 150 targets struck were militarily relevant and had the desired effect of reducing the threat to areas in Israel vulnerable to Gazan rockets.
"As a result of the continuous IDF targeting rocket launching capabilities, rocket fire at Israel overnight was significantly decreased, with only a few hits landing in open areas," the IDF statement read.
Israel's air force also struck Hamas command and control positions in southern Gaza, the IDF said.
On Thursday, Israel reported three people were killed, and Palestinians reported 19 deaths. Hamas gave conflicting information as to how many of them were Hamas militants.
Since the start of Operation Pillar of Defense, the Israeli Air Force has targeted over 450 terror activity sites in the Gaza Strip.
At least 422 rockets from Gaza have been fired into Israel since "Operation Pillar of Defense" began Wednesday, the Israeli military said. Israel's Iron Dome defense system has intercepted 130, the Israel Defense Forces said. The al-Qassam Brigade, Hamas' military arm, said on its Twitter feed that it had shot 527 projectiles at Israel in that time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment