The skirmishes in the south of Israel between IDF and Hamas come to a creshendo after the assassination of Ahmed Jabari. He was one of the organization's top heads, responsible for the military of Hamas. In response to this, Hamas had officially delcared war on Israel in its news channels. It began mobilizing forces and now I'm just waiting to see how the PLO and Egypt will react to this. I figured this would die down eventually but I didn't know the IDF could have pulled off such a move.
I'll update the thread with more details. Expect to see casualties mounting in Hamas does go on the full offensive. Need I remind you that Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza? I'm curious to see what will happen with Egypt.
(This is an hour or two after the event.)
Comments below, let me know your opinions.
Sources:
Jabari dead. The BBC article will update itself in a few minutes with more details. This initial information is from Palestinian media in Gaza that was translated into Hebrew.
UPDATE: More information flowing from the strip. Hamas demands Egypt to respond to this act - they implore the 'new Egypt' to cut relations with Israel and null the 'camp david' treaty.
Hamas asks the PLO's Abbas to come to the UN and instead of asking for recognition as a non-member state in the '67 borders, ask for protection for the Gaza strip from Israel.
Source: Israeli Press, translated from Arabic.
UPDATE2: Quick succession of rocket launches at 'Negev Gate' District and the city of Ashkelon. Waiting for details on the attacks from media. Things heating up while the head of the IDF and Aman are at work in their secret bunker (no, seriously).
UPDATE3: First steps of raising reserves units mean that the IDF is preparing for a ground operation. They are weighing their options and waiting for the response from Hamas and Egypt. More rockets launched from Gaza, but the air-force manages to catch many squads before they can launch their missiles. Over a dozen missiles hit Be'er-Sheva, Iron Dome manages to intercept most if not all of them. Expect more details soon.
Egypt hasn't given a formal response yet, but it released another response supporting its minister of foreign affairs and saying that it condemns Israel and its aggression very much. Egypt's leaders are currently debating whether or not to go to war in Cairo. This is getting tense.
UPDATE4: It looks like Egypt had officially responded.
The Egyptian ambassador in Israel who had been in office for a few weeks is immediately withdrawn. The Israeli ambassador is going to get a stern talking to in Egypt, it seems.
Egypt calls the Arab league to a meeting of their representatives to discuss this issue.
Egypt wants to bring Israel's aggression to the UN security council.
That's it so far... lots of condemnations.
UPDATE5: I was asleep but the south wasn't. Waves of missiles bombard Israeli cities, mostly Be'er-Shevah. UNSC emergency meeting... not a lot of action. All agree both sides should try and stop hostilities. Does not discourage Israel from continuing the systematic destruction of Hamas's military infrastructure.
The IDF is drafting more men to the fray. I think that we'll see a ground operation soon if this continues.
UPDATE6: I looks like Turkey is condemning this strongly... I'm not surprised. Lets see how the EU reacts and if this affects the PLO's bid for statehood in the UN.
EDIT: OH SHIT. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood calls for 'a day of outrage' in the Arab world in response to what's happening in Gaza. We might see another wave of violence.
Response from Russia to stop this operation at once... USA keeps backing Israel up.
UPDATE7: Oh man... I feel like shit. Direct missile strike at a house in Kiryat Malakhi. Three dead civilians, two badly injured. I first hoped they could save them, but they didn't make it...
UPDATE9: A GRAD Rocket had reached the outskirts of Rishon LeZion, the furthest any missile from Gaza had gone to so far. This is speculated to be the limit for this kind of missile. No Iranian made missiles fired yet.
UPDATE10: Egypt's PM is coming to Gaza with an entourage of ministers. What will Israel do? What will Hamas do? Is this Egypt's last attempt to stop hostilities before other drastic measures?
UPDATE11: Tel-Aviv is hit. I repeat, Tel-Aviv is hit. I'm looking out for more details as to what went there. Expect more in an hour. No casualties there.
UPDATE12: A "pipe-bomb"(This is what the press is reporting so far) had been found in Jerusalem's tram system. The passengers in one of the trams saw the bomb, they evacuated and a bomb squad defused it. Luckily nobody was hurt. Hamas&friends are now officially trying to move terror attacks within Israel that aren't missiles.
UPDATE13: Egypt fails in its role as a mediator as it stands next to Hamas. The USA looks to recruit Turkey in their efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel. They're surely neutral. Perhaps this will be the beginning of normalizing the relationship between Israel and Turkey?
UPDATE14: They hit JERUSALEM. I repeat, they hit Jerusalem. I think it hit a house. Right now we are awaiting conformation on where it hit and if any damage occurred, or any casualties sustained. This is escalating FAST.
EDIT: Two rockets, it looks like no casualties.
UPDATE15: Since there isn't much talk about the Palestinian side here, I apologize, here's a summary:
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/15/world/meast/gaza-israel-strike/index.html
Approx. 20 Palestinian dead, number of injured around 150, rising.
Neither side is safe from rocket fire. Hamas had shot over 500 rockets at Israel in the operation, IDF hit approx. 400 military targets (launching pads, etc.)
IDF Ground forces waiting outside of Gaza. 16K troops already called from reserves in the IDF.
Two rockets hit Jerusalem for the first time, approx. 5-6 rockets hit the Tel-Aviv area.
UPDATE: Last two days been the bloodiest in Gaza, with the IDF switching from 'safe' targets with low-risk of civilian casualties to higher risk targets and assassinating military officers. Not a lot of damage on the Israeli side, with a handful of injured. The number of rockets&mortars fired at Israel today is significantly lower than it had been in previous days. The hits the IDF did on those military targets in the first 5 days have destroyed some of their launching capabilities.
Negotiations in Cairo are going somewhere, with a first draft of what Hamas wants going to Israel. Israel replies, says that it will agree to a negotiation under two terms - first a truce of 24 hours with no rockets fired at Israel and Hamas not firing at Israel. Plus a guarantee from Hamas and the others that participate in the negotiations that Hamas will not re-arm itself. If the truce works for the day, then more issues can be talked about between the two sides as the violence stops.
EDIT: Woo, forgot about the first draft itself. The Israeli cabinet is discussing the conditions as we speak. ATM there's only an Lebanese news channel telling us Hamas' offer - ((loosely translating here, don't crucify))): 1- Israel stops all actions in Gaza, 2 - Israel lifts restrictions on going near the border fence of Gaza (they can't go near 100 meters. IDF fires a warning shot in the air, etc.) and the territorial sea of Gaza. Both sides will promise they will keep to the agreement to Egypt.