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Subscribe to RSSIsraeli leaders indicate that a new offensive against Islamic militant commanders is underway. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports.
Updated at 10:46 p.m. ET: TEL AVIV -- The head of the militant wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement and seven others were killed as Israel launched a series of airstrikes in Gaza Wednesday, officials said.
Hamas spokesman Fauazy Brehom told NBC News that Ahmed Jabari was killed in the attack by Israeli forces. Jabari was the most senior commander of Hamas' military wing, the Ezzidine Al-Qassam Brigades.
A statement from the Al-Qassam Brigades said that Israel had “opened the gates of hell.”
President Barack Obama spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday, urging him to avoid civilian casualties. The president reiterated the United States' support for Israel's right to self-defense following rocket attacks launched from Gaza.
Obama also spoke Wednesday with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi because of the country's central role in preserving regional security. Obama condemned the rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and reiterated Israel's right to self-defense. The two leaders agreed on the importance of working to deescalate the situation quickly and they agreed to stay in touch in coming days.
In a frequently updated live blog chronicling the attacks, the Israel Defense Forces claimed it had targeted "dozens" of Hamas’ medium-range underground rocket launch sites and other weapons storage facilities. The report said Israel had also intercepted 17 rockets fired from Gaza.
"If I were a senior Hamas activist - I would look for a place to hide," IDF spokesman Brgi. Gen. Yoav (Poly) Moredechai said in a statement published online.
Moredechai said the possibility of a ground invasion would not be ruled out, and emphasized that all options remain on the table. "Infantry brigades have been shifted in preparation for the operation," his statement read. "All options that allow us to cause seriously damage to Hamas and the other terrorist organizations are on the table."
A statement from the Israeli embassy blamed Hamas for launching 150 rockets at Israel's south over the past week.
Darren Whiteside / Reuters
Smoke rises after Israeli air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip on Nov. 14. Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander of Hamas in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave that the Islamist group vowed would "open the gates of hell."
"Israel has the right and duty to defend itself from terrorist attacks designed to kill thousands of its citizens," Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren said. "We are sending an unequivocal message that our citizens will not be hostage to terrorist missile fire and cross-border attacks. The scope of the IDF's defensive operation depends on Hamas and whether it takes the decision to cease firing missiles on our neighborhoods and homes."
Jabari is the most senior Hamas official to have died due to Israeli military action since the killing of Saeed Seyam four years ago.
Sources at the Kamal Adwan and Al-Shifa hospitals said a total of eight people had been killed and 80 injured.
A statement on the IDF website said that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz had “approved an expansive strike against terrorist organizations in Gaza.”
Ali Ali / EPA
Emergency services extinguish the burned out destroyed car of Qassam top leader Ahmed Jabari after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012.
“As a part of the program, a short while ago, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck Ahmed al-Jabari and other senior officers of Hamas' Military Wing, who were involved in planning and implementing dozens of attacks, including the kidnapping of SFC [Israeli soldier] Gilad Shalit,” it said.
The airstrike took place in central Gaza, according to the statement, which was headlined "Chief of Hamas' Military Wing Ahmed al-Jabari assassinated." The headline was later changed to "Senior Hamas operative targeted," and the statement dropped the reference to Shalit.
The statement quoted IDF spokesman Mordechai as saying military action began following the "intolerable situation in the south of the country, and seeks to harm terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip."
'Forward base for Iran'
The IDF later announced it had begun "Operation Pillar of Defense." Israel confirmed there had been several airstrikes.
Hamas Office via Reuters, file
Ahmed Al-Jabari, top commander of Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam brigades, poses for a picture after a prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Cairo, in this October 18, 2011 file photo.
In another update, the statement said the IDF had "targeted a significant number of long range rockets sites ... owned by Hamas. This deals a significant blow to the terror organizations' underground rocket launching capabilities and munitions warehouses that are owned by Hamas and other terror organizations."
"The Gaza strip, has turned it into a forward base for Iran, firing rockets and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. The IDF will continue to target terrorist sites that are used to carry out terror attacks against Israeli citizens," it said.
"The IDF will continue to target sites that are used for carrying out terror attacks against the citizens of Israel while improving their daily security," it added.
An IDF statement Monday said more than 120 rockets fired from Gaza had hit Israel since Saturday and that the Israeli air force had responded with airstrikes on a number of sites.
Jabari had survived numerous assassination attempts in the past and had served close to a decade in an Israeli jail, according to NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin.
He was widely considered the second most important figure within Hamas' overall structure after Khaled Mishaal, the head of the organization’s political bureau.
Uriel Sinai / Getty Images
Israeli children play games at a bomb shelter on Nov. 14 in Netivot, Israel. Israel Defense Forces launched aerial attacks on targets in Gaza that killed the top military commander of Hamas.
Jabari was instrumental in negotiations about the release of Shalit, Mohyeldin said. Jabari was rarely seen in public and even more seldom filmed but he was seen accompanying Shalit to the border crossing with Egypt ahead of his handover.
US reacts; Israeli ambassador leaves Egypt
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States "strongly" condemns the rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel.
"There is no justification for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organizations are employing against the people of Israel," Toner's statement read. "We call on those responsible to stop these cowardly acts immediately. We support Israel's right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to take every effort to avoid civilian casualties."
Egypt's foreign minister called Israel's airstrikes on Gaza a dangerous escalation at a critical time for the region, and called on the Israeli government to quickly halt the offensive.
Egypt's ruling Freedom and Justice Party condemned the killing of Jabari, and said Israel was using the military operation as a card in its own political game, ahead of elections in January. The party called on the international community and Arab states to act immediately to stop the massacre against the Palestinian people, adding that Israel's attacks were meant to create instability in the region.
Airport sources in Egypt confirmed to NBC News that the Israeli ambassador and other Israelis were leaving Cairo Wednesday night.
The U.N. chief also called on Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants to prevent an escalation of hostilities, urging both sides to ensure civilians will be protected, a U.N. spokesman said Wednesday.
"The Secretary-General calls for an immediate de-escalation of tensions," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said, adding that it was a reiteration of Ban's already-stated position.
"Both sides should do everything to avoid further escalation and they must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilians at all times," he told reporters.
A Palestinian rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a house in southern Israel today, causing damage but no injuries. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
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NBC's Ian Johnston, Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
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I'm not taking sides; hard to agree with any of the comments here - so much hate. But I will say this in response to the blanket assumption: Israel = good guys; Gaza = terrorists. Imagine being born in a prison. You didn't commit any crime other than being born. You didn't choose to be born in a prison. How could you, possessing the natural human desire to be free and move as you please, not resent your captors? Regardless of the history of how that prison came to be, you would want to be free and hold those that prevent that in contempt. So guards are shanked (rockets are fired) and the warden raids the cells (airstrikes) and the onlookers say, well they shanked a guard, they should just be happy in their cells and the warden wouldn't have to send in the stormtroopers. Remove the labels and think about how you would feel being born in Gaza.
Noam,
The Palestinians had an option and voted for Hamas who refuses to accept a state of Israel which has led to the wall. Please also note that the Palestinians do not have free entrance into Egypt yet they do not send missiles in that direction.
If you look at the West Bank which has much better relations with Israel you will see that things are better yet far from perfect. They have one of the highest GDP growth rates in the world and the people there are seeing a better quality of life.
So the maximum security prisoners should look to the minimun security prioners and envy them. I get it.
Noam, I would work my way out of it. It is not a prison, it is their own making. It is not Israel's place to take care of them, it is their Arab brothers who DO NOTHING FOR THEM. What do you expect Israel to do, throw them a party, give them welfare and feed and cloth them? Tell them to stop shooting and embrace peace then it wouldn't be a prison to them. They are making their own bed.
Joe, how exactly would you work your way out of the prison? How is the prison you were born into of your "own making"? It is the prison administrators job to take care of the inmates. No party or welfare needed, just open the gates. Embrace the peace of your prison cell? Maybe let you out first and you might start pursuing other endeavors.
Hate and violence. Sad indeed. All of us talking monkeys have a lot in common when you take away the flags and labels. You can always point to something in the past to justify further agression. But that only leads to more resentment and violence. Humans need to start thinking about the immediate causes behind the resentment, and move towards thinking about solutions. The human spirit freed from oppression and resentment strives for understanding and cooperation. The desire or not to work towards or against that understanding and cooperation defines the good guys and the bad guys.
For every rocket fired into Israel, one air-strike against the palestine's.
We know this. If some terrorist nation attempted to fire 150 rockets into our Nation by the time the 2nd one hit we would have closed them down forever. You have a right to defend yourself in any attacks. Hamas tries to hide with the Palestinian peoples therefore they are the ones responsible for civilian deaths. They fired the rockets day after day knowing full well that Israel would respond. This will never stop until folks decide to get along with one another instead of hatred and bigotry. You want no Peace you get no Peace. Stop murdering one another and live in Peace.
Alan, so if you are a slave you should just live in peace? Maybe if your captors let you free someday you'd forgive them and feel peaceful. Justice then peace. No justice, no peace.
Yeah your right. People should just fire on other people's because of hatred. Carry bombs on back in to crowded restaurants killing whomever might be inside (tourist of other nations or just anyone). Or group called Hamas which proposes never ever ever ever ever Peace with Israel. Just kill them all. Where are all the other so called brothers (nations) of Palestine. You chose to side with Hamas I would never. I guess you would just sit still while someone fired upon you with rockets when you could respond and end it? I would rather have Peace any day instead of turmoil, hatred, bigotry. That's why I don't try to kill my neighbor because they are of color, race or Religious beliefs. Live your life and don't trod on others. If they can not sit down and talk Peace then their is no hope in any Peace. Since Hamas refuses under any conditions it's not happening.
Yup, I agree. The color of your oppressors skin matters not. Just sit quietly in your cell and everything will be ok. Never ever ever ever wish you were free. What would you do if you born into a prison, even if your parents commited some crime? And what is all this about "so called brothers"? You "don't try to kill" your neighbors because they aren't keeping you in bondage. What if they were? Would you be content to "sit still" like a good inmate? Any argument that rests on the idea that innocent incarcerates should just be happy is seriously lacking in insight.
We can agree on one thing. There is to be no peace whatever the reason you or I give. The World has been like that for 10,000 years because folks just refuse to get along with one another. Everyone has their own God and agenda how everyone else should live their lives. There is absolutely no common sense to any of it. Like I said the best advice with out being a Religious fanatic is just to live your life and NOT trod on others. Too bad everyone does not feel that way. Justice is only what a person believes it to be. It can vary from one extreme to another. You and I may be able to sit down and agree to stop hating one another because guess what we are both human and it makes no sense. Israel and Palestine on the other hand can not because of inside forces like Hamas and Government of Israel. It's not going to change until people make it change. Justice in your eyes or mine there is to be no Peace.
It's about time! I admire Israel for exercising such patience. But at some point enough BS is enough, and it becomes time to kick some Muslim asses!!!
I also highly agree with and applaud astounding, who I quote here:
"astounding
To Israel, I say apply for statehood or completely take Israel for yourselves. Send in the tanks, helicopter and jets, reduce Gaza to rubble, and claim your country once and for all. Rebuild your temple, as is prophecy. Remove Islamic Jihadists and extremists once and for all from your country. Give evacuation orders to every single Muslim living in Gaza, take them out of the country, those who stay, let them face what our Crusading ancestors knew, "Kill them all, God will recognize his own."
Rebuild the Temple Mound, and destroy that desecration that is on it now. Your enemies are at contention now, civil wars and arab spring mounting all around you, what better time than now.
To Muslims: You wanted a war, you hear the sound of bombs growing distant. You had your chance for the last thousand years to prove you were a peaceful religion and yet you have attacked every nation whose religion is different than your own, and worse yet, you've incited civil wars within your own country with people whose beliefs differ only slightly. We cannot have a peaceful earth when one of the major religions is war mongering (as barbaric as beheading non believers) and so fanatical they believe strapping a vest full of explosives, walking on a bus and killing a couple dozen innocent people, will get them into heaven. Stop reading your Quran, it was founded by a pedophile (documented in the Quran as having consummated the marriage around 8 years old) and who took his first city (mecca) and beheaded all people who wouldn't convert to his new religion. This is why it is wrong. This is the difference."
Yeah, lets all listen to the devil horns guy. He sounds rational. Thank God the leaders on all sides (flawed and constrained by politics tho they may be) are way less reactionary and way less stupid.
It is time for Israel to move to eliminate the scum of the earth. Use a neutron bomb on them in Gaza; Egypt; Lebanon; Syria and another country that believes Israel should not exist. Then there would be plenty of for sale signs for redevelopment.
That's very cruel..do you know how many poor camels would be killed and its not their fault?
Yes I know..collateral damage.
Oh yes! Neutron bombs! Spare me. Any human being that wishes for the detonation of an atomic device should go hang themselves post-haste for the sake of all mankind.
Hmmm Sounds very familiar son !!!! Oh, that's about the same thing the Muslims and other hate groups around the world are saying !!! So I guess you and them are one in the same.
It's really honorable to pit guns against sticks.
Gotta love the world....give it a few weeks all be happy/merry with the up coming holidays..then after all over back to normal hating everything that lives.
Israel is calling up reserves; they're not playing anymore.
It is time to defang Hamas, and let them concentrate on taking care of their own people, instead of lobbing rockets indiscriminately into Israel.
Act like a legitimate government in Gaza, not a terrorist organization.
WWIII on the horizon. We finally made it people!
The headline should have read: "Israeli terror attack kills Gaza leaders". Of course, the US corporate weasel-media is just another Goebbels-like propaganda machine - servicing the hardline Zionist regime which is a neofascist entity practicing hardcore nationalism, illegal territorial expansion, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, defies the international community, flouts the Geneva Conventions, possesses weapons of mass destruction and is a general blight on the civilized world.
I think the headline should read, Israel retaliates for 150 missles shot at it. Top Hamas murderous rat eliminated. The world rejoices, one less murder.
Let the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt take care of Gaza. Then they will want the Israeli's back.
The Muslim Brotherhood wants nothing to do with Palestine. They don't want the people and especially not the Hamas anywhere inside their territory. That should tell you something right there. Until Hamas is rid of there will never ever ever ever be any Peace. Everyone has tried around the World and there is no Peace. Would you want Peace with some country that states "We want every Israel person dead and never Peace?". I didn't think so.
The arabs, MB or not, don't want the palestinians. That is why they instigate the fight, seat back and watch the show. Iran also uses palestinians as political pawns. That is sad, but that is the reality in the muslim world, from Qatar to Egypt.
Great Work! Too bad there were not 7000 of them taken out!
Noam, muslims and some other minimally functioning people -
I perfectly understand how happy you were when terrorists attacked us in Libya and killed 4 Americans. You were even happier when Obama did NOTHING about it. Nothing at all.
Well, Israel is not like that. They don't have an ocean between themselves and their enemies surrounding them with millions of acres, billions in wealth and billion in population. They must act, and they sure did.
And THAT is what bothers you.
Okay, now hear me out. #1 This is not a religious issue. The European Colonialist has attacked the people of whatever land they TRIED to occupy with the same excuses. We heard the same things said about Geronimo & Chief Crazy Horse. We heard the same said about the people of India and Algeria and Haiti and South Africa, etc., etc., etc. I can be wrong, but I believe this to be the last group of EUROPEANS (Jews are from Russia & Poland) to TRY to take someone's land. The other European colonialists got the same type of support at first, but eventually it will run dry and they will fail.
I will believe you only when you will give Bosnia back to Yugoslavia. Remember that was carved out of an existing country to give it to muslims in Europe? It was just under 20 years ago. If you go by ethnicity or religion and say jews are from Europe (garbage) and don't belong in the middle east, by the same token your beloved peace loving muslims don't belong in the middle of Europe either.
Unless of course, you have selective memory.
Okay, now tell me WHO'S land got "taken" in this instance?
The Jews ORIGNINATED in the Holy Land.
Jesus was a JEW.
AND There were no such thing as Palestinians, these people are just an offspring of pissed off muslims who
USED to live side by side with Jews AND Christians.
There never was and STILL IS not a place on the map called Palestine.
Read history junior.
Israel should treat Hamas like the bedbugs they are. Exterminators have been known to greatly increase the heat levels in a home to kill off bedbugs that hide in the walls. Well.....that translates nicely to a solution that Israel may want to consider, a low yield tactical nuke. They can run, but they cannot hide.
Oh, and screw Egypt too.
The Arab Spring has only produced more haven for terrorist there.
Israel has every right to defend itself.
AND has EVERY right to be pissed.
Like the man said, if your are Hammas, you might want to find a rock to crawl under.
This is poetic justice.
Hammas fires 150 or so bottle rockets into Israel and expects no response.
I bet the driver of the car was a little shocked for a second when he saw an F-16 flying down main street behind
him when he looked in the rear view.
And For a brief second, he got to see what a REAL missile is.
An AIM-9.
The average Palestinian gets no justice from the thugs who are in control. They don't want peace even at the expense of their own kinsmen. Someday the young and students will revolt against this insane status quo.
HearYeeNews.weebly supports Israel.
Here we go again Israeli Animals again start killing women and children with their precise guided missiles.It all started when Israeli went to Gaza with bulldozer to steel more land and through the families out from their homes killing 12 years old. They called Hamas terrorist.Palestinian have no right to defend themselves,their land or their homes.Israel has all the right.Shame on the civilized world.Very soon they will be burning Palestinian children with Phosphorus Bomb and civilized world will say,Israel has right to defend itself. Visit Here we go again Israeli Animals again start killing women and children with their precise guided missiles.It all started when Israeli went to Gaza with bulldozer to steel more land and through the families out from their homes killing 12 years old. They called Hamas terrorist.Palestinian have no right to defend themselves,their land or their homes.Israel has all the right.Shame on the civilized world.Very soon they will be burning Palestinian children with Phosphorus Bomb and civilized world will say,Israel has right to defend itself.
www.ifamericansknew.org/
Palestinians HAD land allotted to them.
They got greedy and wanted more.
They started wars and they lost.
Under all the rules of war, if you lose a war you started, you forfeit what you thought you owned.
The Palestinians WANTED a state, (and almost had one), Hammas screwed that up for them all.
Take your bullsh!t elsewhere.
I hope the United States stands by Israel all the way!!! In fact I wonder what we can do as citizens to help Israel? We could always take away the Obama phones from people and give that money to Israels efforts... MSN / NBC might be funded by terrorists with their hatred towards Israel.... Do not worry about their threats Israel, God said he would never leave you!!!
God Bless Israel....
Question:
If God is all pro-Israel, why doesn't he just make all the Palestinians vanish into thin air? Why does he require people to engage in all this violence, eh? Could it be, possibly, just possibly, that people like you are totally full of @!$%#, and are invoking an imaginary monster fashioned in your own image to justify violence? Nah, that couldn't be it, could it?
God curse stupidity...
Seems God is almost always on the side with the biggest guns.
Once the Jews, the Muslims, and the Christians are done annihilating one another, the Wiccans will inherit the earth...
How's that for a fulfilment of prophecy?
martin fart, miller doug, cassandra, steve b, chefaz, basil romeo, eli100, troy1101, farideh kashanian..........the list gets longer by the day.
The aftermath of israeli murderous act saw her trolls coming out in force to her defense. There is no exception, it happens each and every time.
The world becomes more aware of the barbaric and genocidal nature of the zionist regime in her dealing with her neighbours.
good morning, hvd. go back and recheck your list. you missed a few of us.
☺
What NBC news does not tell you is that the firing power that Israel has is far more than Hamas, they are firing missiles from land and the ships in the Med and have a very well trained ground army, which I may add trains with the US and no doubt that Israel is allowed to arm themselves to the teeth and with the support of the US.
Reasonable force for 11 Palestinians dead there are 3 Israeli.
The Arab League must arm Hamas with weapon, it is also the right of the Palestinians to arm themselves against Israel. Arab league to help the Palestinians to blow Israel, these Israeli are not innocent people and they have a huge inferiority complex and the support the US gives them is unacceptable.
Hamas has been launching rockets into Israel for weeks. Firing indiscriminately into civilian areas.
Israel has every right to defend her people and her territory.
Only a terrorist supporter supports terrorists.