I would have thought by now Israel would have started their ground campaign in Gaza, as the rockets continue to fly over Israel at almost all times of the day or night. But at this point Israel is still only using their air campaign to hit Hamas.
As Operation Protective Edge enters day 7, here are a summary by the IDF:
Since the start of the operation, over 940 rockets have been fired towards Israel, the IDF said Sunday night. Of them 740 hit Israel and nearly 187 have been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
The IDF has targeted over 1,425 terror targets, with both naval and aerial capabilities, the statement said.
The death toll in Gaza is upwards of 170 while the Iron Dome has prevented any Israeli deaths. That said, I believe two Israelis have been injured from rocket attacks, one in serious condition and one lightly injured.
It’s clear Hamas isn’t ready for any cease fire yet as they launched a UAV into Israel last night. It was quickly shot down by the IDF, but it just shows Hamas isn’t slowing down:
An unmanned aircraft launched from the Gaza Strip was shot down by Israel as it penetrated Israeli airspace on Monday morning over the coast near Ashdod.
The drone set off air raid sirens in the city before it was downed by a Patriot surface-to-air missile launched from a location near the center of the country.
Naval forces were searching the sea off the coast to try and locate the wreckage of the drone.
At this point I’m not sure when or if Israel will launch a ground campaign. The problem is if they don’t destroy Hamas or at least demilitarize them, this will simply happen again in another year or two, just as it’s happened in recent past. And if they can’t stop rockets from getting into Gaza, I’m not sure they can demilitarize Hamas.
As I type this Hamas has just launched rockets at both Ashdod and Ashkelon, which seem to take most of the brunt of these rocket attacks.
I will bring you more updates the overall conflict as they make news.
Also, if you missed it yesterday, a Hamas rocket destroyed their electricity infrastructure in Israel, leaving over 70,000 without power in Gaza.