2007–08 Israel–Gaza conflict

2007 Israel-Gaza conflict
Part of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
Date May 15 2007 - current Location Gaza Strip Result Ongoing
Belligerents
Israel (Israel Defense Forces)	Hamas File:Logoprc.jpg Popular Resistance Committees File:Flag of PIJ.gif Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Commanders and leaders
Gabi Ashkenazi	Khaled Meshaal
Casualties and losses
none	23 killed
Palestinian civilians: 8 killed Israeli civilians: 1 killed

The 2007 Israel-Gaza conflict refers to a series of battles between Palestinian militants and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that began in mid-May 2007. More than 100 Qassam rocket attacks on Israel (Sderot and the Negev) in a week were responded to by the IAF with several airstrikes. The fighting came amid serious Palestinian factional violence. Hamas said they will retaliate with more missiles and suicide bombings inside Israel.

Prelude

Since the latest truce, signed on 26 November 2006, militiamen of Islamic Jihad and Hamas have shelled the Western Negev with crude home-made rockets, called Qassam rockets. The militias, especially Hamas also have smuggled large amounts of machine guns, anti-tank missiles, granades, explosive devices and even anti-aircraft missiles into the Gaza Strip, making it very dangerous for Israeli forces to operate. In the Strip heavy fighting broke out between the Palestinian factions, especially Hamas and Fatah, called Palestinian Factional Violence. Leaders of both parties tried to stop their members fighting each other and unite them. The week before the conflict broke out, more than 30 rockets were fired each day to Israel, leaving Israel no other option than retalliate. On May 152007, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz decided, together with military leader Gabi Ashkenazi they would step up against the ongoing rocket fire.

Airstrikes

The first days of the conflict, Israel responded with airstrikes at the very mobile Qassam launching cells, vehicles carrying Hamas militiamen and buildings, which belong to the faction Hamas. The airstrikes may have been chosen because Hamas has very little AA weapons to defend themselves, so that the Israeli casualties will remain low The airstrikes, which are very inprecise have caused a lot of damage to infrastructure and civilian lifes. On May 20, Amir Peretz told the IAF to keep the pressure on Hamas. As a result of the ongoing aerial attacks, Hamas members won't use their cellphones anymore, they don't drive in a cars anymore and they don't gather in groups , to prevent further assasinations. Till so far, these airstrikes have killed over 30 Palestinians, about two-third militants and one-third civilians.[1]

Timeline

May 15

After more than 200 Qassam rockets landed on their territory, Israeli leaders Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz decide to respond against the launching of Qassam rockets with airstrikes.

May 16

The Israeli Air Force attacked a building housing the Hamas headquarters of the Executive Force in Rafah, leaving four dead and dozens wounded. The airstrike came in the middle of heavy figthing between forces loyal to Fatah and to Hamas, part of the ongoing Palestinian factional violence. Thirty Qassam rockets are fired at the Western Negev, leaving two residents of Sderot injured. Ten others suffered from shock.

May 17

Two people die in Rafah, after their vehicle was hit by a missile fired by the IAF. The Palestinians said the man were civilians while Israel says they were launching Qassam rockets. More vehicles were hit by the IAF, leaving a member of a Qassam launching cell critically injured. A headquarter of Hamas is destroyed by 2 missiles, leaving one militant dead and wounding more than thirty people, including civilians. Two people in Sderot were slightly injured by one of the 10 Qassams that landed on Israeli territory today.

May 18

Five members of Hamas are killed in an airstrike on a building in northeast Gaza. The IDF said the building was a meeting place for Hamas members. In a Qassam rocket attack on Sderot three people were injured. Twenty rockets were fired at a kibbutzim in Sderot.

May 19

The IAF killed two members of Hamas in an airstrike on their vehicle. A third passerby later died of his injuries from that airstrike. An empty school and a few houses in Jabalya were destroyed by artillery shells. No one was injured in that strike.

May 20

Ten rockets were fired from Gaza with four landing in southern Israel, but no injuries are reported, according to an Israeli spokesman. The IAF also launched an airstrike in Gaza City, killing eight people, including Hamas militiamen, and at least thirteen others were also wounded. Israel claims that five of those killed were militiamen, while Hamas claims that only two were. The airstrike was targeted at the house of Hamas politician, Khalil al-Haya, who was not home at the time.

A second air strike by Israel killed one civilian, and wounded three others, according to Palestinian medics. A spokeswoman for Israel claims that the strike was targeting militants loading ammunition onto a truck, at a location that manufactures rockets. A third air strike targeted a plant that manufactured rockets for the Islamic Jihad group, which wounded two people according to medics.

Olmert said that he will try to make a diplomatic effort with the international community to attempt to resolve the conflict. However, he has also ordered an increase in airstrikes to destroy Hamas' infrastructure, in an attempt to halt the rocket attacks.

May 21

Four members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are killed while driving in a car, after an air strike by the IAF. This air strike was made in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya. They were part of a Qassam launching cell and had just launched some Qassams into Israeli territory. An Israeli spokesman also said that Islamic Jihad members will be targeted, because they participate in the Qassam firing. A workshop used in the manufacture of Qassam rockets was bombed, killing a manufacturer.

A first round of 5 rockets were fired towards Sederot, one striking the city, two landing south of Ashkelon, and two striking western Negev. A Qassam rocket that struck Sederot killed an Israeli woman, the first fatality from a rocket attack in the country since November. Another man was moderately injured from the attack. The rocket struck a commercial center near a bakery in Sederot. Israeli civilians burned tires in the street after the attack, before a siren warned of possible rocket.

A second round of three rockets was later fired towards Israel, which landed near a kibbutz in the western Negev. A third series launched two more rockets towards Israel. No injuries were reported from these further attacks.[2][3][4]

International response

• United Nations - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon states that he believes that the Qassam rocket attacks by factions in Gaza are "completely unacceptable." He has also stated that his beliefs that the Palestinian Authority should "take the necessary steps to restore law and order, and for all factions to abide by the ceasefire." Ki-moo also stated he is "deeply concerned by the mounting number of civilian casualties from Israeli military operations in Gaza." The Secretary General also called on Israel "to abide by international law and to ensure that its actions do not target civilians or put them under risk."
• United States - After the death of a women from a rocket attack in Sederot, a representative for the U.S. government reaffirmed the position that Israel has the right to self-defense. A spokesman for the State Department Sean McCormack also stated that his country is aware of the difficulty of targeting terrorists without civilian casualties. Even though he made this statement the spokesman said for Israel to "take all possible actions in order to avoid any civilian casualties, to avoid any undue damage to the Palestinian infrastructure and always to consider the effects of their actions on the political process, the Israeli-Palestinian track and moving that forward."

See also

• 2006 Israel-Gaza conflict