BICOM

Tension in southern Israel has increased this morning following the firing of five rockets by Gaza militants into Israel yesterday, and Israeli aircrafts targeting Hamas sites in response. The targets included a Hamas training camp in the environs of Gaza City, where one person was killed and 25 wounded, according to Palestinian reports. The second target was in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. Israel’s airstrikes early this morning came in response to the firing of five rockets at southern Israel yesterday – which was itself a response to the targeted killing by Israel of two operatives from the Aksa Martyrs’ Brigade, the armed wing of the Fatah movement, who were preparing to fire rockets into Israel.

Of the five Grad rockets that were fired at civilian communities in Israel yesterday one exploded on the outskirts of the southern city of Beersheva. Two others hit at open areas between the Sha’ar Hanegev and Sdot Negev regional councils. The two others exploded in open areas near Ashkelon. No injuries or damage to property was reported.

The Palestinian Ma’an news agency has named the man killed in the airstrike near Gaza City as 38-year-old Bahajat Zaalan. Assam Subahi Ismail Batash, a senior operative of the Aksa Martyrs’ Brigade, was one of the two men killed in the first Israeli strike. Batash, according to an article today by Israeli defence analyst Ron Ben-Yishai, was in the process of putting the final touches to a terrorist attack that had been set to take place on the Israeli-Egyptian border next week.

Ben-Yishai noted that the killing of Batash was the latest in a series of targeted assassinations carried out by the IDF in recent weeks, since a terrorist attack in August claimed the lives of eight Israelis. He notes that the IDF possessed information on the planners of the August attack that could have prevented it from taking place if it had been acted upon.

Following the terrorist attack in August, a new policy of pre-emptive action to prevent any attacks emanating from Gaza was instituted, even if this resulted in an increase in tension due to rocket fire. The rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes over the last 24 hours appear to be a consequence of this new policy. However, Israel believes that the Hamas authorities in Gaza are not interested in a major escalation at this stage, and that calm can be restored.