Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel
Encyclopedia
Palestinian rocket
and mortar
attacks on Israel
from the Gaza Strip
have occurred since 2001. Between 2001 and January 2009, over 8,600 rockets had been launched, leading to 28 deaths and several hundred injuries, as well as widespread psychological trauma and disruption of daily life.
The weapons, often generically referred to as Qassams
, were initially crude and short-range, mainly affecting the Israel
i city of Sderot
and other communities bordering the Gaza Strip. However, in 2006 more sophisticated rockets began to be deployed, reaching the larger coastal city of Ashkelon
, and by early 2009 major cities Ashdod and Beersheba
had been hit by Katyusha and Grad rockets.
Attacks have been carried out by all Palestinian armed groups, and, prior to the 2008–2009 Gaza War, were consistently supported by most Palestinians, although the stated goals have been mixed. The attacks, widely condemned for targeting civilians, have been described as terrorism
by United Nations
, European Union
and Israeli officials, and are defined as war crime
s by human rights
groups Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch
.
Defenses constructed specifically to deal with the weapons include fortifications for schools and bus stops as well as an alarm system named Red Color. Iron Dome
, a system to intercept short-range rockets, was developed by Israel and first deployed in the spring of 2011 to protect Beersheba and Ashkelon, but officials and experts warned that it would not be completely effective. Shortly thereafter, it intercepted a Palestinian Grad rocket for the first time.
The attacks were a stated cause of the Gaza blockade, the Gaza War (Dec 27, 2008 – Jan 21, 2009) and other Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, including Operation Rainbow
(May 2004), Operation Days of Penitence
(2004), the 2006 Israel-Gaza conflict
, Operation Autumn Clouds (2006), and Operation Hot Winter
(2008).
in August 2005. The range of the rockets has increased over time. The original Qassam rocket has a range of about 10 km (6.2 mi) but more advanced rockets, including versions of the old Soviet Grad or Katyusha have hit Israeli targets 40 km (24.9 mi) from Gaza.
Some analysts see the attacks as a shift away from reliance on suicide bombing, which was previously Hamas's main method of attacking Israel, and an adoption of the rocket tactics used by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
, Islamic Jihad
, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
, the Popular Resistance Committees
, Fatah
, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
. Hamas is the de-facto governing authority in the Gaza Strip, while Fatah holds the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority
.
Islamic Jihad has involved other Palestinians in the activities, running summer camps where children were taught how to hold a Qassam rocket launcher. One Islamic Jihad rocket maker, Awad al-Qiq, was a science teacher and headmaster at a United Nations school.
Palestinian security forces say that they do little or nothing to prevent rocket attacks or to hold responsible the militants who launch them, according to a 2007 report by Human Rights Watch
The Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
estimated that in 2007 the proportions of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip were:
, an Israeli city on the border of the Gaza Strip. Sderot's population density is slightly greater than that of the Gaza Strip. Due to this, and despite the imperfect aim of these homemade projectiles, they have caused deaths and injuries, as well as significant damage to homes and property, psychological distress and emigration from the city. Ninety percent of the city's residents have had a rocket exploding in their street or an adjacent one.
On March 28, 2006, while Israelis went to general elections, the first Katyusha rocket from Gaza was fired at Israel. The rocket fell near the Itfah kibbutz
on the outskirts of Ashkelon and caused no damage or casualties. Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility. Several months later, On July 5, 2006, a rocket hit the center of Ashkelon for the first time, striking an empty high school. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
called the attack, which was claimed by Hamas
, an "escalation of unprecedented gravity", but the event was quickly overshadowed by the 2006 Lebanon War.
region in the northern Gaza Strip, traveling about 17 kilometers before reaching its target. No one was hurt in the Katyusha attack. Israel killed in response at least 9 people. On October 7, 2007 the Popular Resistance Committees
claimed responsibility for a Grad-type Katyusha that hit Netivot
. However, during this period Katyusha attacks from Gaza remained rare.
Two premature Palestinian babies, admitted to the Barzilai Medical Center's NICU unit, were among the civilian targets of Iranian Grad rockets launched by Hamas at Ashkelon. Their mother Beit Lahiya was told by Palestinians doctors in Gaza that two embryo
s out of the four she carried died in her womb, and if she wants to save two other babies, she had to go to Israel. Israeli official granted her entrance in 24 hours after it was requested. She gave the birth to a boy and a girl in Barzilai Medical Center
on February 25, 2008. On the second day after the birth, Grad rocket hit the hospital ground only 200 meters away from Palestinian mother and her new born twins.
In the first half of 2008, the number of attacks rose sharply, consistently totaling several hundred per month. In addition, Ashkelon was hit many times during this period by Grad rockets.
From June 19 to December 19, 2008, an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
was in effect. During this time, only several dozen rockets were fired at Israel, a marked decrease from the pre-ceasefire period. Hamas imprisoned some of those firing rockets.
During the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
, Palestinian militants began to deploy improved Qassam
and factory-made
rockets with a range of 40 kilometers. Rockets reached major Israeli cities Ashdod, Beersheba
and Gedera
for the first time, putting one-eighth of Israel's population in rocket range and raising concerns about the safety of the Tel Aviv
metropolitan area, Israel's largest population center, as well as the Negev Nuclear Research Center
. According to Isaeli authorities, 571 rockets and 205 mortar shells landed in Israel during the 22 days of the conflict.
On January 18, 2009, following a unilateral ceasefire declaration by Israel, Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced that they would cease rocket attacks for one week. After that, rockets and mortar attacks continued almost daily through February.
to determine targets. Rocket fire is often timed for the early morning when children head to school.
A source close to Hamas described the movement's tactic of launching projectiles from between homes during the 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict: "They fired rockets in between the houses and covered the alleys with sheets so they could set the rockets up in five minutes without the planes seeing them. The moment they fired, they escaped, and they are very quick." Videos released by Hamas in 2011 show Qassam rockets being fired from residential areas and mosques. According to Yedioth Aharonoth journalist Elior Levy, "Gaza terror cells choose to fire from urban areas knowing that the Israel Defense Forces refrain from intercepting them for fear of hurting civilians. The killing of civilians in Gaza also serves the terrorists' purposes who claim Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza."
Residential buildings and homes in Israel are generally equipped with bomb shelters. However, as of February 2009, approximately 5,000 residents of southern Israel, mostly elderly immigrants from the former Soviet Union, lacked proper reinforced rooms or reasonable access to public shelters. Many Sderot families sleep together in a single fortified room in their homes.
In March 2008 the Israeli Government placed 120 fortified bus stops in Sderot, following a Defense Ministry assessment that most qassam-related injuries and fatalities were caused by shrapnel wounds in victims on the street. As of January 2009, all schools in Sderot have been fortified against rockets; fortifications consist of arched canopies over roofs. However, on January 3, 2009 a Grad rocket penetrated the fortification of a school in Ashkelon.
In March 2009, Sderot inaugurated a reinforced children's recreation center built by the Jewish National Fund
. The purpose of the center, which has "$1.5 million worth of reinforced steel", is to provide a rocket-proof place for children to play. Sderot also has a "missile-protected playground," with concrete tunnels painted to look like caterpillars.
" (צבע אדום) alarm system to warn citizens of impending rocket attacks, although its effectiveness has been questioned. The system currently operates in a number of southern Israeli cities within rocket range. When the signature of a rocket launch is detected originating in Gaza
, the system automatically activates the public broadcast warning system in nearby Israeli communities and military bases. A two-tone electronic audio alert (with a pattern of high, 2 second pause, high-low) is broadcast twice, followed by a recorded female voice intoning the Hebrew words for Red Color ("Tzeva Adom"). The entire program is repeated until all rockets have impacted and no further launches are detected. In Sderot
, it gives residents approximately 15 seconds warning of an incoming rocket. The system was installed in Ashkelon between July 2005 and April 2006.
s with a range less than 70 km. In February 2007, the system was selected by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak
as the Israeli Defense Force's defense system against short range rockets. On July 7, 2008, the first test of the system was completed successfully, and the first operational test is expected to take place at the end of 2009. The system was scheduled to be operational in 2010, but it temporaly delayed. In March, the system was deployed in several strategic sites near major Israeli southern cities. On April 7, 2011, the system successfully intercepted a Grad rocket launched from Gaza
for the first time.
The system is composed of a radar
, a control center, and interceptor missiles. Very limited information has been made available about the system in the Israeli media, but from this information it is known that the interceptor missile (named Tamir) is equipped with electro-optic sensors and several steering fins, providing it with high maneuverability. The system's radar identifies the rocket launch, extrapolates its flight path and transfers this information to the control center, which then uses this information to determine the projected impact location. If the projected target justifies an interception, then an interceptor missile is fired.
Rockets and mortars have killed 16 people within Israel up to 2008. Most of those killed were civilians, including four children. In addition, hundreds of Israelis have been injured. Injuries have also occurred mainly among civilians, several of whom were injured very seriously.
The projectiles have also killed six Palestinians and injured dozens more. On June 8, 2005, rockets fired at the Israeli settlement of Ganei Tal
killed two Palestinian workers and one Chinese worker in a packing plant. On August 2, 2005, a rocket apparently launched by Islamic Jihad killed a 6-year-old boy and his father in Beit Hanoun
. On December 26, 2008 a mortar aimed at Israel killed two Palestinian girls in the Gaza Strip, aged 5 and 12.
Fatalities and rockets fired
Precisely counting the number of rockets fired is impossible, and differing estimates have been given. The figures below are attributed to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to September 4, 2005, the majority of attacks were against Israeli targets within the Gaza Strip.
During the 2008–2009 conflict, a large section of the residents of Ashkelon, a southern coastal city put in range of Grad-type rockets since the beginning of the conflict, fled the city for the relative safety of central and northern Israel. On January 10–11, according to Israeli media, 40 percent of the residents fled the city, despite calls by the Mayor to stay.
In February 2009, the BBC reported that 3,000 of Sderot's 24,000 residents had "upped and left."
Israeli media reported on May 28, 2007 that only 800 out of a total of 3000 pupils in Sderot had turned up to schools.
During the 2008–2009 conflict, schools and universities in southern Israel closed due to rocket threats. Hamas rockets landed on Israeli educational facilities several times (such as empty schools in Beersheba
) from 2008 to 2009, with no casualties as of January 15, except for cases of shock. Studies resumed starting January 11, with IDF Home Front Command representatives stationed at schools. Only schools with fortified classrooms and bomb shelters were allowed to bring in children. Israeli Education Minister Yuli Tamir said she hoped a return to school would provide a little structure and routine in a time of great stress and uncertainty for the children. However, students were reluctant to return, with students at Sapir College in Sderot reporting less than 25 percent attendance.
In March 2009, the Ashkelon urban parent committee decided to keep children out of schools following a surge in the number of rocket attacks on southern Israel and a qassam hit on an empty school in the city. As a result, only 40 percent of school students and 60 percent of kindergarten children attended, though the municipality had decided to keep schools open.
(PTSD). The co-director of the study emphasized the distinction between post-traumatic stress symptoms, such as problems sleeping and concentrating, and PTSD itself, which can interfere seriously with daily life.
An American Psychiatric Association
study published in 2010, headed by Professor Yair Bar-Chaim of Tel Aviv University
, found that incidence rate for post-traumatic symptoms among Israeli civilians was correlated with proximity to the Gaza Strip. Civilians who lived in areas where rockets frequently exploded, and where there was less warning time in advance of strikes, had a higher chance of developing post-traumatic symptoms than those living far enough from Gaza to have one minute or more in which to seek shelter after rockets were launched. The study also found that life under rocket fire sometimes led to cognitive disengagement from threat. Cognitive disengagement was positively correlated with the likelihood of developing pathologies such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
During the Gaza War, when rockets were falling on the city of Ashdod, the municipality opened a treatment centre for those with shell shock.
According to a 2009 Amnesty International
report,
On February 9, 2009, Palestinian Authority foreign minister Riad Malki accused Hamas of trying to influence the outcome of the 2009 Israeli general election
by keeping up the rocket fire on southern Israel.
Hamas co-founder Mahmoud Zahar has said that the goal of the attacks is to force mass migration in Israel and disrupt the daily life of its citizens. Explaining why his group had moved from suicide bombing to rocket attacks, he said:
According to the BBC, Hamas views the attacks as legitimate because it regards the whole of historic Palestine (roughly coterminous with Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jordan) as Islamic land, and thus sees the state of Israel as an occupier.
Hamas has given other explanations concerning various attacks. Salah Bardawil, a Palestinian legislator who serves as spokesman for the Hamas faction in parliament, has said "We know we can't achieve military equality, but when a person suffers huge pain he has to respond somehow. This is how we defend ourselves. This is how we tell the world we are here." Regarding specific strikes in 2007, Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal called the attacks self-defense and retaliation against Israeli killings of Hamas supporters. In January 2009 Mashaal called the rockets "our cry of protest to the world"
An attack in November 2008 was said by Hamas officials said to be in revenge for the recent deaths of its militants and increased Israeli closing of Gaza crossings. A barrage in December 2008 was described by the group as retaliation for the deaths of three of its fighters in combat with Israeli troops.
(PFLP), on January 17, 2009, called the rockets a "representation of our resistance", stressing that as long as rockets were launched, "our cause is alive".
The PFLP claimed responsibility for a April 3, 2010 mortar attack on Israel's Shaar Hanegev region, saying that it was carried out "in response to Zionist crimes". The group did not elaborate further.
party, published a statement listing its claimed attacks on Israel, including claimed rocket and mortar attacks on Sderot and Ashkelon. The group stated that the attacks were carried out "to defend our people in the Gaza Strip" and "to defend the Gaza Strip in the face of Zionist arrogance", but did not elaborate further.
The Popular Resistance Committees
claimed that a January 7, 2010 mortar barrage was in "revenge" for an Israeli air strike several days earlier that killed two of the group's fighters.
Ansar al-Sunna, a small, al-Qaida-inspired Salafist militant group, claimed responsibility for an March 18, 2010 Qassam rocket attack on Netiv Haasara
that killed 33-year-old Thai national
Manee Singmueangphon, calling it a response to Israel's "Judaization" of Islamic holy places. The group did not clarify which acts or which Islamic holy places it was referring to. Further obscuring the motivation for the attack, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, independently claimed responsibility later.
(PCPSR) showed consistently high levels of support for the rocket attacks among the Palestinian public.
Conversely, polls conducted after the Gaza War indicated weaker support for the attacks and relatively broad support for attempts to prevent them.
Palestinian National Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas
(of Fatah) has condemned the attacks several times, "regardless of who is responsible for them", on one occasion calling them "absurd", and on another saying that "they do not go in the direction of peace." On at least one occasion in 2009, Hamas itself criticized rocket attacks by an unknown group, apparently out of fears that new rocket fire could disrupt reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah which were then underway.
The firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip
into Israel
has been opposed by those living closest to the firing location due to Israeli military responses. On July 23, 2004 a family attempted to physically prevent the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
from setting up a rocket launcher outside their house. Members of the brigade shot and killed one boy wounded 5 others.
said in an address to the nation: "for approximately seven years, hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens in the south have been suffering from rockets being fired at them. Life in the south under rocket barrages had become unbearable. Israel did everything in its power to fulfill the conditions of the calm in the south and enable normal life for its citizens in the communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip. The quiet that we offered was met with shelling."
sparked rage in Egypt at Hamas and Iran
. The Egyptian press stated that the firing of the rockets from Egyptian territory by Hamas or by organizations cooperating with it constituted the crossing of a red line. The Egyptian position is that Iran is employing local proxies, such as Hamas, to escalate violence in the Middle East and to sabotage the Palestinian reconciliation efforts, as well as efforts to renew Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.
Later that year, the Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhouriyya slammed Hamas's firing of "primitive" rockets at Israel that, according to the writer, serve only to prompt a deadly response from Israel. He blamed Hamas for turning the Gaza Strip into a big prison isolated from the world, where the residents suffer poverty while the leaders live in luxury.
said "for the sake of the people of Gaza, I urge in the strongest possible terms Hamas to stop firing rockets." On January 20, while visiting Sderot, the Secretary General called the rocket attacks "appalling and unacceptable". He added that the projectiles are indiscriminate weapons, and that Hamas attacks are violations of basic humanitarian law. Earlier, in November 2007, Ban had condemned a rocket attack launched from a UN-run Gaza school.
On February 17, 2008, John Holmes
, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said while visiting Sderot, "The people of Sderot and the surrounding area have had to live with these unacceptable and indiscriminate rocket attacks for seven years now. There is no doubt about the physical and psychological suffering these attacks are causing. I condemn them utterly and call on those responsible to stop them now without conditions".
Following a July 30, 2010, Palestinian Grad missile attack on the heart of Ashkelon
, United Nations Middle East envoy Robert Serry said that indiscriminate rocket fire against civilians was completely unacceptable, and constituted a terrorist attack.
said: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." On December 28, 2008, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
said in a statement: "the United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel". On March 2, 2009 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attacks.
, condemned the firing of rockets by Palestinians at Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip and against Sderot. In January 2009, European Union Aid Commissioner Louis Michel
said "Launching rockets at civilians is a terrorist action, which has to be strongly denounced."
s, both because they usually target civilians and because the weapons' inaccuracy would disproportionately endanger civilians even if military targets were chosen. Human Rights Watch
has also condemned the attackers for firing from near residential structures, thus putting Gazan civilians at unnecessary risk. According to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem
,
There have been several attempts by Palestinian groups to fire rockets at Israel from the West Bank
, though none of these have been successful. Such an attack could easily strike one of Israel's most densely populated areas.
In December 2005, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
fired a Qassam rocket at Israel from the West Bank city of Jenin
. The rocket landed within the West Bank, in proximity to the Israeli border village of Ram-On
. The attack marked the first time a Qassam fired at Israel from the West Bank and came close to hitting a Jewish community.
In July 2006, a ranking member of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank said his group had the ability to produce rockets in the northern West Bank and that major Israeli cities as well as Ben Gurion International Airport
would eventually become Palestinian rocket targets. "Every day our rockets in Gaza become more accurate and do more killing and this is exactly what will happen in the West Bank", he said.
In November 2006, A West Bank Fatah cell named Jondallah (God's soldiers) threatened to fire rockets at Israeli targets. At a news conference in Nablus
, a group of 20 masked militants of the cell brandished four rockets. One of the projectiles, which was 1.5 metres (five feet) in length, was claimed by the group to have "a range of five kilometres (two miles) and a three kilogram payload". "We have a certain number of these rockets and we are going to use them when the time is right," said one of the armed militants.
In February 2010, Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank arrested a Hamas cell preparing to test-fire a Qassam rocket near Ramallah
and handed the rocket over to Israel. Hamas later stated that "Having a Qassam rocket in the West Bank is a demand that must be achieved".
On June 20, 2010, senior Hamas official Mahmoud a-Zahar called on Palestinian residents of the West Bank
to fire rockets into Israel.
On October 22, 2010, the Palestinian Authority seized a large cache of arms, including mortar shells, which it said were meant to be used by Hamas terrorists targeting Palestinian Authority officials or attempting to sabotage Palestinian Authority security enforcement in the West Bank. Hamas denied this, stating that any weapons would be used against "the occupation", apparently referring to Israel.
carried out two rocket attacks on Israel from the Sinai Peninsula
in Egypt
. On April 22, three 122 mm Grad rockets were fired from the Sinai Peninsula at the Red Sea
resort town of Eilat in the extreme south of Israel. The projectiles landed in the Red Sea and the neighboring town of Aqaba
in Jordan
, causing some property damage. Again on August 2, six or seven Iranian-made 122 mm Grad rockets were fired from the Sinai Peninsula at Eilat. The rockets fell in Eilat, Aqaba, Egypt and the Red Sea. A rocket that landed in Aqaba killed a Jordanian civilian and wounded several. The investigation into the attacks involved cooperation between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. The attacks severely damaged relations between Hamas and Egypt, which viewed them as a challenge to its sovereignty.
have launched fatal rocket attacks on towns in northern Israel at least since the 1970s, but these incidents lie outside the scope of this article, as the topic of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel typically refers to attacks on southern Israel since 2001 and the Second Intifada. Rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanese territory are discussed in the article List of Lebanese rocket attacks on Israel.
and United States Senator John Kerry
. Israel Police
spokesman Micky Rosenfeld
said, "those rockets are in fact rockets that kill, and it's a nice idea to turn them into flowers."
Science and security
Human rights groups
Advocacy
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
and mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
attacks on Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
from the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
have occurred since 2001. Between 2001 and January 2009, over 8,600 rockets had been launched, leading to 28 deaths and several hundred injuries, as well as widespread psychological trauma and disruption of daily life.
The weapons, often generically referred to as Qassams
Qassam rocket
The Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. Three models have been produced and used between 2001 and 2011....
, were initially crude and short-range, mainly affecting the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i city of Sderot
Sderot
Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...
and other communities bordering the Gaza Strip. However, in 2006 more sophisticated rockets began to be deployed, reaching the larger coastal city of Ashkelon
Ashkelon
Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...
, and by early 2009 major cities Ashdod and Beersheba
Beersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
had been hit by Katyusha and Grad rockets.
Attacks have been carried out by all Palestinian armed groups, and, prior to the 2008–2009 Gaza War, were consistently supported by most Palestinians, although the stated goals have been mixed. The attacks, widely condemned for targeting civilians, have been described as terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
by United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and Israeli officials, and are defined as war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s by human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
groups Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
.
Defenses constructed specifically to deal with the weapons include fortifications for schools and bus stops as well as an alarm system named Red Color. Iron Dome
Iron Dome
Iron Dome is a mobile air defense system in development by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells. The system was created as a defensive countermeasure to the rocket threat against Israel's civilian population on its northern and southern...
, a system to intercept short-range rockets, was developed by Israel and first deployed in the spring of 2011 to protect Beersheba and Ashkelon, but officials and experts warned that it would not be completely effective. Shortly thereafter, it intercepted a Palestinian Grad rocket for the first time.
The attacks were a stated cause of the Gaza blockade, the Gaza War (Dec 27, 2008 – Jan 21, 2009) and other Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, including Operation Rainbow
Operation Rainbow
Operation Rainbow is a controversial military operation which began on May 18, 2004 and ended on May 23, 2004 in Rafah , the Gaza Strip...
(May 2004), Operation Days of Penitence
Operation Days of Penitence
Operation Days of Penitence was the name used by Israel to describe an Israel Defense Forces operation in the northern Gaza Strip, conducted between September 30, 2004 and October 16, 2004...
(2004), the 2006 Israel-Gaza conflict
2006 Israel-Gaza conflict
The 2006 Israel–Gaza conflict refers to the series of battles between Palestinian militants and the Israel Defense Forces . Large-scale conventional warfare beyond the peripheries of the Gaza Strip began when Israel launched Operation Summer Rains , the codename for an IDF military operation in the...
, Operation Autumn Clouds (2006), and Operation Hot Winter
Operation Hot Winter
Operation Hot Winter, also called Operation Warm Winter was an Israel Defense Forces military campaign in the Gaza Strip, launched on February 29, 2008 in response to Qassam rockets fired from the Strip by Hamas...
(2008).
Overview
Attacks began in 2001. Since then, nearly 4,800 rockets have hit southern Israel, just over 4,000 of them since Israel withdrew from the Gaza StripIsrael's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...
in August 2005. The range of the rockets has increased over time. The original Qassam rocket has a range of about 10 km (6.2 mi) but more advanced rockets, including versions of the old Soviet Grad or Katyusha have hit Israeli targets 40 km (24.9 mi) from Gaza.
Some analysts see the attacks as a shift away from reliance on suicide bombing, which was previously Hamas's main method of attacking Israel, and an adoption of the rocket tactics used by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Participating groups
All the Palestinian armed groups carry out rocket and mortar attacks, with varying frequency. The main groups are HamasHamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, Islamic Jihad
Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine known in the West as simply Palestinian Islamic Jihad , is a small Palestinian militant organization. The group has been labelled as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel...
, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
, the Popular Resistance Committees
Popular Resistance Committees
The Popular Resistance Committees are a coalition of various armed Palestinian factions that oppose the conciliatory approach adopted by the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Israel...
, Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist, secular political and military organization. It is also frequently referred to as the Democratic Front, or al-Jabha al-Dimuqratiyah...
. Hamas is the de-facto governing authority in the Gaza Strip, while Fatah holds the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
.
Islamic Jihad has involved other Palestinians in the activities, running summer camps where children were taught how to hold a Qassam rocket launcher. One Islamic Jihad rocket maker, Awad al-Qiq, was a science teacher and headmaster at a United Nations school.
Palestinian security forces say that they do little or nothing to prevent rocket attacks or to hold responsible the militants who launch them, according to a 2007 report by Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
The Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
Not to be confused with the California-based "Terrorism Information Center".The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center is an Israeli-based non-governmental organization with close ties to the Israel Defense Forces....
estimated that in 2007 the proportions of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip were:
- 34% – Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Al Quds)
- 22% – HamasHamasHamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
(QassamQassam rocketThe Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. Three models have been produced and used between 2001 and 2011....
) - 8% – FatahFatahFataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
(Kafah) - 6% – Popular Resistance CommitteesPopular Resistance CommitteesThe Popular Resistance Committees are a coalition of various armed Palestinian factions that oppose the conciliatory approach adopted by the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Israel...
(al Nasser) - 30% – unknown
2001–06
Rockets were originally fired mainly on SderotSderot
Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...
, an Israeli city on the border of the Gaza Strip. Sderot's population density is slightly greater than that of the Gaza Strip. Due to this, and despite the imperfect aim of these homemade projectiles, they have caused deaths and injuries, as well as significant damage to homes and property, psychological distress and emigration from the city. Ninety percent of the city's residents have had a rocket exploding in their street or an adjacent one.
On March 28, 2006, while Israelis went to general elections, the first Katyusha rocket from Gaza was fired at Israel. The rocket fell near the Itfah kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
on the outskirts of Ashkelon and caused no damage or casualties. Islamic Jihad
Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine known in the West as simply Palestinian Islamic Jihad , is a small Palestinian militant organization. The group has been labelled as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel...
claimed responsibility. Several months later, On July 5, 2006, a rocket hit the center of Ashkelon for the first time, striking an empty high school. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
called the attack, which was claimed by Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, an "escalation of unprecedented gravity", but the event was quickly overshadowed by the 2006 Lebanon War.
2007
On January 5, 2007 Palestinian militants fired a Katyusha rocket at Ashkelon. The Katyusha has a range of 18–20 kilometers, and the rocket was fired from the al-AttaraAl-Attara
al-Attara is a Palestinian village in the Jenin Governorate in the Western area of the West Bank, located 15 kilometers Southwest of Jenin. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 1,072 inhabitants in mid-year 2006....
region in the northern Gaza Strip, traveling about 17 kilometers before reaching its target. No one was hurt in the Katyusha attack. Israel killed in response at least 9 people. On October 7, 2007 the Popular Resistance Committees
Popular Resistance Committees
The Popular Resistance Committees are a coalition of various armed Palestinian factions that oppose the conciliatory approach adopted by the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Israel...
claimed responsibility for a Grad-type Katyusha that hit Netivot
Netivot
Netivot is a city in the Southern District of Israel in Israel. At the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 26,700. It was founded in 1956 as a development town along with Sderot to the north, and Ofakim to the south...
. However, during this period Katyusha attacks from Gaza remained rare.
2008–09
In January 2008 the border between Gaza and Egypt was breached by Hamas. It allowed them to bring in Russian and Iranian made rockets with a larger range.Two premature Palestinian babies, admitted to the Barzilai Medical Center's NICU unit, were among the civilian targets of Iranian Grad rockets launched by Hamas at Ashkelon. Their mother Beit Lahiya was told by Palestinians doctors in Gaza that two embryo
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
s out of the four she carried died in her womb, and if she wants to save two other babies, she had to go to Israel. Israeli official granted her entrance in 24 hours after it was requested. She gave the birth to a boy and a girl in Barzilai Medical Center
Barzilai Medical Center
Barzilai Medical Center is a 490-bed hospital in Ashkelon in southern Israel. The Hospital serves a population of 500,000, including a large number of Ethiopian and Russian immigrants. It has 100,000 admissions annually.-History:...
on February 25, 2008. On the second day after the birth, Grad rocket hit the hospital ground only 200 meters away from Palestinian mother and her new born twins.
In the first half of 2008, the number of attacks rose sharply, consistently totaling several hundred per month. In addition, Ashkelon was hit many times during this period by Grad rockets.
From June 19 to December 19, 2008, an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire
-Background: After its victory in the 2006 municipal legislative elections, Hamas assumed administrative control of Gaza. Hamas consolidated this control over Gaza after a military conflict with Fatah. Israel and Egypt then partially sealed their border crossings with Gaza, on the grounds that...
was in effect. During this time, only several dozen rockets were fired at Israel, a marked decrease from the pre-ceasefire period. Hamas imprisoned some of those firing rockets.
During the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
The Gaza War, known as Operation Cast Lead in Israel and as the Gaza Massacre in the Arab world, was a three-week bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel, and hundreds of rocket attacks on south of Israel which...
, Palestinian militants began to deploy improved Qassam
Qassam rocket
The Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. Three models have been produced and used between 2001 and 2011....
and factory-made
BM-21
The BM-21 launch vehicle , a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher, and a M-21OF rocket were developed in the early 1960s. BM stands for boyevaya mashina, ‘combat vehicle’, and the nickname means ‘hail’. The complete system with the BM-21 launch vehicle and the M-21OF rocket...
rockets with a range of 40 kilometers. Rockets reached major Israeli cities Ashdod, Beersheba
Beersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
and Gedera
Gedera
-External links:** *...
for the first time, putting one-eighth of Israel's population in rocket range and raising concerns about the safety of the Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
metropolitan area, Israel's largest population center, as well as the Negev Nuclear Research Center
Negev Nuclear Research Center
The Negev Nuclear Research Center is an Israeli nuclear installation located in the Negev desert, about thirteen kilometers to the south-east of the city of Dimona. The purpose of Dimona is widely assumed to be the manufacturing of nuclear weapons, and the majority of defense experts have...
. According to Isaeli authorities, 571 rockets and 205 mortar shells landed in Israel during the 22 days of the conflict.
On January 18, 2009, following a unilateral ceasefire declaration by Israel, Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced that they would cease rocket attacks for one week. After that, rockets and mortar attacks continued almost daily through February.
Tactics
Khaled Jaabari, Gaza commander of the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, said that the group uses Google EarthGoogle Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
to determine targets. Rocket fire is often timed for the early morning when children head to school.
A source close to Hamas described the movement's tactic of launching projectiles from between homes during the 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict: "They fired rockets in between the houses and covered the alleys with sheets so they could set the rockets up in five minutes without the planes seeing them. The moment they fired, they escaped, and they are very quick." Videos released by Hamas in 2011 show Qassam rockets being fired from residential areas and mosques. According to Yedioth Aharonoth journalist Elior Levy, "Gaza terror cells choose to fire from urban areas knowing that the Israel Defense Forces refrain from intercepting them for fear of hurting civilians. The killing of civilians in Gaza also serves the terrorists' purposes who claim Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza."
Fortifications and bomb shelters
In March 2008 the Israeli Government placed 120 fortified bus stops in Sderot, following a Defense Ministry assessment that most qassam-related injuries and fatalities were caused by shrapnel wounds in victims on the street. As of January 2009, all schools in Sderot have been fortified against rockets; fortifications consist of arched canopies over roofs. However, on January 3, 2009 a Grad rocket penetrated the fortification of a school in Ashkelon.
In March 2009, Sderot inaugurated a reinforced children's recreation center built by the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
. The purpose of the center, which has "$1.5 million worth of reinforced steel", is to provide a rocket-proof place for children to play. Sderot also has a "missile-protected playground," with concrete tunnels painted to look like caterpillars.
Red Dawn
The Israeli government has installed a "Red ColorRed Dawn (alert)
The Red Color is an early warning radar system installed by the Israel Defence Forces in several towns surrounding the Gaza Strip to warn civilians of imminent attack by rockets ....
" (צבע אדום) alarm system to warn citizens of impending rocket attacks, although its effectiveness has been questioned. The system currently operates in a number of southern Israeli cities within rocket range. When the signature of a rocket launch is detected originating in Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
, the system automatically activates the public broadcast warning system in nearby Israeli communities and military bases. A two-tone electronic audio alert (with a pattern of high, 2 second pause, high-low) is broadcast twice, followed by a recorded female voice intoning the Hebrew words for Red Color ("Tzeva Adom"). The entire program is repeated until all rockets have impacted and no further launches are detected. In Sderot
Sderot
Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...
, it gives residents approximately 15 seconds warning of an incoming rocket. The system was installed in Ashkelon between July 2005 and April 2006.
Iron Dome
Iron Dome is a mobile system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems designed to intercept short-range rocketRocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
s with a range less than 70 km. In February 2007, the system was selected by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
as the Israeli Defense Force's defense system against short range rockets. On July 7, 2008, the first test of the system was completed successfully, and the first operational test is expected to take place at the end of 2009. The system was scheduled to be operational in 2010, but it temporaly delayed. In March, the system was deployed in several strategic sites near major Israeli southern cities. On April 7, 2011, the system successfully intercepted a Grad rocket launched from Gaza
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
for the first time.
The system is composed of a radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
, a control center, and interceptor missiles. Very limited information has been made available about the system in the Israeli media, but from this information it is known that the interceptor missile (named Tamir) is equipped with electro-optic sensors and several steering fins, providing it with high maneuverability. The system's radar identifies the rocket launch, extrapolates its flight path and transfers this information to the control center, which then uses this information to determine the projected impact location. If the projected target justifies an interception, then an interceptor missile is fired.
Casualties
The projectiles have also killed six Palestinians and injured dozens more. On June 8, 2005, rockets fired at the Israeli settlement of Ganei Tal
Ganei Tal
Ganei Tal was an Israeli settlement in the south of the Gaza Strip. Located in the Gush Katif settlement bloc, it was established as a moshav in 1979 with a primarily agricultural purpose; exporting geraniums and tomatoes to Europe. It had a population of some 75 families, or 500 people.Lined...
killed two Palestinian workers and one Chinese worker in a packing plant. On August 2, 2005, a rocket apparently launched by Islamic Jihad killed a 6-year-old boy and his father in Beit Hanoun
Beit Hanoun
Beit Hanoun is a city on the north-east edge of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 32,187 in mid-year 2006. It is administered by the Palestinian Authority...
. On December 26, 2008 a mortar aimed at Israel killed two Palestinian girls in the Gaza Strip, aged 5 and 12.
Fatalities and rockets fired
Precisely counting the number of rockets fired is impossible, and differing estimates have been given. The figures below are attributed to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to September 4, 2005, the majority of attacks were against Israeli targets within the Gaza Strip.
| Year | Fatalities | Number of Rockets fired | Number of Mortars fired | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1 | 4 | 4+ | |
| 2002 | 1 | 35 | 35+ | |
| 2003 | 1 | 155 | 155+ | |
| 2004 | 5 | 281 | 281+ | |
| 2005 | 6 | 401 | 854 | 1,255 |
| 2006 | 4 | 1,722 | 55 | 1,777 |
| 2007 | 2 | 1,276 | 1,531 | 2,807 |
| 2008 | 8 | 2,048 | 1,668 | 3,716 |
| 2009 | 0 | 569 | 289 | 858 |
| 2010 | 1 | 150 | 215 | 365 |
| 2011 | 1 | 173 | 195 | 368 |
Refugees
In May 2007, a significant increase in rocket attacks from Gaza prompted the temporary evacuation of thousands of residents from Sderot. According to the United Nations, 40 percent of the city's residents left in the last two weeks of May. During the summer of 2007, 3,000 of the city's 22,000 residents (comprising mostly the city's key upper and middle class residents) left for other areas, out of rocket range.During the 2008–2009 conflict, a large section of the residents of Ashkelon, a southern coastal city put in range of Grad-type rockets since the beginning of the conflict, fled the city for the relative safety of central and northern Israel. On January 10–11, according to Israeli media, 40 percent of the residents fled the city, despite calls by the Mayor to stay.
In February 2009, the BBC reported that 3,000 of Sderot's 24,000 residents had "upped and left."
Education
During the 2008–2009 conflict, schools and universities in southern Israel closed due to rocket threats. Hamas rockets landed on Israeli educational facilities several times (such as empty schools in Beersheba
Beersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
) from 2008 to 2009, with no casualties as of January 15, except for cases of shock. Studies resumed starting January 11, with IDF Home Front Command representatives stationed at schools. Only schools with fortified classrooms and bomb shelters were allowed to bring in children. Israeli Education Minister Yuli Tamir said she hoped a return to school would provide a little structure and routine in a time of great stress and uncertainty for the children. However, students were reluctant to return, with students at Sapir College in Sderot reporting less than 25 percent attendance.
In March 2009, the Ashkelon urban parent committee decided to keep children out of schools following a surge in the number of rocket attacks on southern Israel and a qassam hit on an empty school in the city. As a result, only 40 percent of school students and 60 percent of kindergarten children attended, though the municipality had decided to keep schools open.
Psychological
In 2008, Natal, the Israel Center for Victims of Terror and War, conducted a study on the city of Sderot based on representative sampling. The study found that between 75 percent and 94 percent of Sderot children aged 4–18 exhibited symptoms of post-traumatic stress. 28 percent of adults and 30 percent of children had post-traumatic stress disorderPost-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...
(PTSD). The co-director of the study emphasized the distinction between post-traumatic stress symptoms, such as problems sleeping and concentrating, and PTSD itself, which can interfere seriously with daily life.
An American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
study published in 2010, headed by Professor Yair Bar-Chaim of Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
, found that incidence rate for post-traumatic symptoms among Israeli civilians was correlated with proximity to the Gaza Strip. Civilians who lived in areas where rockets frequently exploded, and where there was less warning time in advance of strikes, had a higher chance of developing post-traumatic symptoms than those living far enough from Gaza to have one minute or more in which to seek shelter after rockets were launched. The study also found that life under rocket fire sometimes led to cognitive disengagement from threat. Cognitive disengagement was positively correlated with the likelihood of developing pathologies such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
During the Gaza War, when rockets were falling on the city of Ashdod, the municipality opened a treatment centre for those with shell shock.
According to a 2009 Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
report,
Also in 2009, a spokeswoman for the Sderot Hosen Center, which provides psychological support and rehabilitation for the community, reported that attacks had taken a high toll on the mental health of children and adults in and around Sderot.
Scores [of rockets] have struck homes, businesses, schools, other public buildings and vehicles in and around towns and villages in southern Israel. It is purely by chance that in most cases such strikes have not caused death or injury, and the lethal potential of such projectiles should not be underestimated. Above all, the constant threat of impending rocket attacks has caused fear and disrupted the lives of the growing number of Israelis who live within range of such attacks, reaching up to a million.
Children are afraid to sleep on their own, to be on their own, even to go to the toilet alone. They feel that their parents cannot protect them. Bed wetting is a common manifestation of their anxiety and insecurity. Their parents are similarly anxious and frustrated. It is even difficult to speak of PTSD, for as long as the rockets fall the trauma is renewed daily; we are not even in a post-trauma stage.
Political
On December 12, 2007, after more than 20 rockets landed in the Sderot area in a single day, including a direct hit to one of the main avenues, Sderot mayor Eli Moyal announced his resignation, citing the government's failure to halt the rocket attacks. Moyal was persuaded to retract his resignation.On February 9, 2009, Palestinian Authority foreign minister Riad Malki accused Hamas of trying to influence the outcome of the 2009 Israeli general election
Israeli legislative election, 2009
Elections for the 18th Knesset were held in Israel on 10 February 2009. These elections became necessary due to the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader of the Kadima party, and the failure of his successor, Tzipi Livni, to form a coalition government...
by keeping up the rocket fire on southern Israel.
Motives
Rationales given by the Palestinian groups responsible for the attacks vary, but often include the argument that the rockets are a method of protest and of calling attention to perceived injustices. According to other explanations, the attacks constitute revenge for – or defense against – perceived Israeli aggression.Hamas
Which do you think is more effective, martyrdom operations or rockets against Sderot? Rockets against Sderot will cause mass migration, greatly disrupt daily lives and government administration and can make a much huger impact on the government. We are using the methods that convince the Israelis that their occupation is costing them too much. We are succeeding with the rockets. We have no losses and the impact on the Israeli side is so much.
According to the BBC, Hamas views the attacks as legitimate because it regards the whole of historic Palestine (roughly coterminous with Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jordan) as Islamic land, and thus sees the state of Israel as an occupier.
[Hamas] regards the whole of historic Palestine as Islamic land and therefore views the state of Israel as an occupier, though it has offered a 10-year "truce" if Israel withdraws to the lines held before the war of 1967Six-Day WarThe Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
. It therefore generally justifies any actions against Israel, which has included suicide bombings and rocket attacks, as legitimate resistance. Specifically in Gaza, it argued that Israel's blockade justified a counter-attack by any means possible.
Hamas has given other explanations concerning various attacks. Salah Bardawil, a Palestinian legislator who serves as spokesman for the Hamas faction in parliament, has said "We know we can't achieve military equality, but when a person suffers huge pain he has to respond somehow. This is how we defend ourselves. This is how we tell the world we are here." Regarding specific strikes in 2007, Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal called the attacks self-defense and retaliation against Israeli killings of Hamas supporters. In January 2009 Mashaal called the rockets "our cry of protest to the world"
An attack in November 2008 was said by Hamas officials said to be in revenge for the recent deaths of its militants and increased Israeli closing of Gaza crossings. A barrage in December 2008 was described by the group as retaliation for the deaths of three of its fighters in combat with Israeli troops.
PFLP
A spokesperson from the Popular Front for the Liberation of PalestinePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
(PFLP), on January 17, 2009, called the rockets a "representation of our resistance", stressing that as long as rockets were launched, "our cause is alive".
The rockets are both a practical and a symbolic representation of our resistance to the occupier [Israel]. They are a constant reminder that the occupier is in fact an occupier, and that no matter how they may engage in sieges, massacres, fence us in, deny us the basic human needs of life, we will continue to resist and we will continue to hold fast to our fundamental rights, and we will not allow them to be destroyed. So long as one rocket is launched at the occupier, our people, our resistance and our cause is alive.
This is why they targeted the rockets – the rockets do make the occupier insecure, because every one is a symbol and a physical act of our rejection to their occupation, to their massacres, to their crimes, and to their continuing assaults on our people. Each rocket says that we will not allow their so-called "solutions" [the Israeli-Palestinian peace process] that are based on the abrogation and denial of our rights.
The PFLP claimed responsibility for a April 3, 2010 mortar attack on Israel's Shaar Hanegev region, saying that it was carried out "in response to Zionist crimes". The group did not elaborate further.
Other groups
On January 19, 2009, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's FatahFatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
party, published a statement listing its claimed attacks on Israel, including claimed rocket and mortar attacks on Sderot and Ashkelon. The group stated that the attacks were carried out "to defend our people in the Gaza Strip" and "to defend the Gaza Strip in the face of Zionist arrogance", but did not elaborate further.
The Popular Resistance Committees
Popular Resistance Committees
The Popular Resistance Committees are a coalition of various armed Palestinian factions that oppose the conciliatory approach adopted by the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Israel...
claimed that a January 7, 2010 mortar barrage was in "revenge" for an Israeli air strike several days earlier that killed two of the group's fighters.
Ansar al-Sunna, a small, al-Qaida-inspired Salafist militant group, claimed responsibility for an March 18, 2010 Qassam rocket attack on Netiv Haasara
Netiv HaAsara
Netiv HaAsara is a moshav in southern Israel. Located in the north-west Negev, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 704....
that killed 33-year-old Thai national
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
Manee Singmueangphon, calling it a response to Israel's "Judaization" of Islamic holy places. The group did not clarify which acts or which Islamic holy places it was referring to. Further obscuring the motivation for the attack, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, independently claimed responsibility later.
Palestinians
Prior to the 2008–2009 Gaza War, polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey ResearchPalestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research
The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research is a Palestinian research organisation and think tank based in Ramallah established for "advancing scholarship and knowledge on immediate issues of concern to Palestinians in three areas: domestic politics and government, strategic analysis and...
(PCPSR) showed consistently high levels of support for the rocket attacks among the Palestinian public.
- September 2004: 75% of Palestinians support "the firing of rockets from Beit HanounBeit HanounBeit Hanoun is a city on the north-east edge of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 32,187 in mid-year 2006. It is administered by the Palestinian Authority...
", though 59% of the residents of Beit Hanoun reject the practice. - September 2006: 63% of Palestinians agree "that Palestinians should emulate Hizbullah’s methods by launching rockets at Israeli cities", and 35% disagree.
- March 2008: 64% of Palestinians support "launching rockets from the Gaza Strip against Israeli towns and cities such as SderotSderotSderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...
and AshkelonAshkelonAshkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...
", and 33% oppose.
Conversely, polls conducted after the Gaza War indicated weaker support for the attacks and relatively broad support for attempts to prevent them.
- January 2010 Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO) poll: 62.2% of Palestinians oppose "the re-firing of Al-Qassam rockets from Gaza at Israel" while 29.1% are in favor.
- July 2010 PCPSR poll: 57% of Palestinians support Hamas attempts to prevent rocket launching against Israeli towns and 38% oppose.
- July 2010 Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) poll: 68% of Palestinians do not want Hamas to resume its rocket attacks on Israel, while 25.5% believe the attacks should be resumed.
- October 2010 PCPO poll: 49.4% of Palestinians oppose "the re-firing of al-Qassam rockets from Gaza at Israel" while 46.2% are in favor.
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
President Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
(of Fatah) has condemned the attacks several times, "regardless of who is responsible for them", on one occasion calling them "absurd", and on another saying that "they do not go in the direction of peace." On at least one occasion in 2009, Hamas itself criticized rocket attacks by an unknown group, apparently out of fears that new rocket fire could disrupt reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah which were then underway.
The firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
into Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
has been opposed by those living closest to the firing location due to Israeli military responses. On July 23, 2004 a family attempted to physically prevent the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is a coalition of Palestinian nationalist militias in the West Bank. The group's name refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem...
from setting up a rocket launcher outside their house. Members of the brigade shot and killed one boy wounded 5 others.
Israel
On December 27, 2008, upon the commencement of Operation Cast Lead, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud OlmertEhud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
said in an address to the nation: "for approximately seven years, hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens in the south have been suffering from rockets being fired at them. Life in the south under rocket barrages had become unbearable. Israel did everything in its power to fulfill the conditions of the calm in the south and enable normal life for its citizens in the communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip. The quiet that we offered was met with shelling."
Egypt
The August 2, 2010 Rocket attacks on Eilat and AqabaRocket attacks on Eilat and Aqaba
Rocket attacks on the neighboring cities of Eilat and Aqaba have been a tactic used by militants from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and organizations linked with al-Qaida because of the relative ease of launching rocket attacks against these two cities from adjacent desert areas.In 2005 Al...
sparked rage in Egypt at Hamas and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. The Egyptian press stated that the firing of the rockets from Egyptian territory by Hamas or by organizations cooperating with it constituted the crossing of a red line. The Egyptian position is that Iran is employing local proxies, such as Hamas, to escalate violence in the Middle East and to sabotage the Palestinian reconciliation efforts, as well as efforts to renew Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.
Later that year, the Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhouriyya slammed Hamas's firing of "primitive" rockets at Israel that, according to the writer, serve only to prompt a deadly response from Israel. He blamed Hamas for turning the Gaza Strip into a big prison isolated from the world, where the residents suffer poverty while the leaders live in luxury.
United Nations
On January 18, 2009, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-MoonBan Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...
said "for the sake of the people of Gaza, I urge in the strongest possible terms Hamas to stop firing rockets." On January 20, while visiting Sderot, the Secretary General called the rocket attacks "appalling and unacceptable". He added that the projectiles are indiscriminate weapons, and that Hamas attacks are violations of basic humanitarian law. Earlier, in November 2007, Ban had condemned a rocket attack launched from a UN-run Gaza school.
On February 17, 2008, John Holmes
John Holmes (British diplomat)
Sir John Holmes, GCVO, KBE, CMG is a British diplomat who is a former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator-Life and career:Holmes was born in Preston, in the north of England...
, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said while visiting Sderot, "The people of Sderot and the surrounding area have had to live with these unacceptable and indiscriminate rocket attacks for seven years now. There is no doubt about the physical and psychological suffering these attacks are causing. I condemn them utterly and call on those responsible to stop them now without conditions".
Following a July 30, 2010, Palestinian Grad missile attack on the heart of Ashkelon
Ashkelon
Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...
, United Nations Middle East envoy Robert Serry said that indiscriminate rocket fire against civilians was completely unacceptable, and constituted a terrorist attack.
United States
In July 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack ObamaBarack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
said: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." On December 28, 2008, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
said in a statement: "the United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel". On March 2, 2009 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attacks.
European Union
On June 7, 2005, The European Union presidency, held by LuxembourgLuxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, condemned the firing of rockets by Palestinians at Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip and against Sderot. In January 2009, European Union Aid Commissioner Louis Michel
Louis Michel
Louis H. O. Ch. Michel is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. Since 2009, he has been a Member of the European Parliament...
said "Launching rockets at civilians is a terrorist action, which has to be strongly denounced."
Human rights groups
The attacks have been condemned as war crimeWar crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s, both because they usually target civilians and because the weapons' inaccuracy would disproportionately endanger civilians even if military targets were chosen. Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
has also condemned the attackers for firing from near residential structures, thus putting Gazan civilians at unnecessary risk. According to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem
B'Tselem
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
,
Palestinian organizations that fire Qassam rockets openly declare that they intend to strike, among other targets, Israeli civilians. Attacks aimed at civilians are immoral and illegal, and the intentional killing of civilians is a grave breach under the Fourth Geneva Convention, a war crime, and cannot be justified, whatever the circumstances. Furthermore, Qassam rockets are themselves illegal, even when aimed at military objects, because the rockets are so imprecise and endanger civilians in the area from which the rockets are fired as well as where they land, thus violating two fundamental principles of the laws of war: distinction and proportionality.
West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, though none of these have been successful. Such an attack could easily strike one of Israel's most densely populated areas.
In December 2005, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is a coalition of Palestinian nationalist militias in the West Bank. The group's name refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem...
fired a Qassam rocket at Israel from the West Bank city of Jenin
Jenin
Jenin is the largest town in the Northern West Bank, and the third largest city overall. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, the city had a population of 120,004 not including the adjacent refugee...
. The rocket landed within the West Bank, in proximity to the Israeli border village of Ram-On
Ram-On
Ram-On is a moshav ovdim located in the Ta'anakh region, south of the Jezreel Valley in Israel. It belongs to the Gilboa Regional Council.Ram-On was founded in 1953 by children of families from moshavim around Israel. They originally settled in Nurit on the Gilboa mountain...
. The attack marked the first time a Qassam fired at Israel from the West Bank and came close to hitting a Jewish community.
In July 2006, a ranking member of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank said his group had the ability to produce rockets in the northern West Bank and that major Israeli cities as well as Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport , also referred to by its Hebrew acronym Natbag , is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel, handling 12,160,339 passengers in 2010...
would eventually become Palestinian rocket targets. "Every day our rockets in Gaza become more accurate and do more killing and this is exactly what will happen in the West Bank", he said.
In November 2006, A West Bank Fatah cell named Jondallah (God's soldiers) threatened to fire rockets at Israeli targets. At a news conference in Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
, a group of 20 masked militants of the cell brandished four rockets. One of the projectiles, which was 1.5 metres (five feet) in length, was claimed by the group to have "a range of five kilometres (two miles) and a three kilogram payload". "We have a certain number of these rockets and we are going to use them when the time is right," said one of the armed militants.
In February 2010, Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank arrested a Hamas cell preparing to test-fire a Qassam rocket near Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
and handed the rocket over to Israel. Hamas later stated that "Having a Qassam rocket in the West Bank is a demand that must be achieved".
On June 20, 2010, senior Hamas official Mahmoud a-Zahar called on Palestinian residents of the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
to fire rockets into Israel.
On October 22, 2010, the Palestinian Authority seized a large cache of arms, including mortar shells, which it said were meant to be used by Hamas terrorists targeting Palestinian Authority officials or attempting to sabotage Palestinian Authority security enforcement in the West Bank. Hamas denied this, stating that any weapons would be used against "the occupation", apparently referring to Israel.
Egypt
In 2010, HamasHamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
carried out two rocket attacks on Israel from the Sinai Peninsula
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...
in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. On April 22, three 122 mm Grad rockets were fired from the Sinai Peninsula at the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
resort town of Eilat in the extreme south of Israel. The projectiles landed in the Red Sea and the neighboring town of Aqaba
Aqaba
Aqaba is a coastal city in the far south of Jordan, the capital of Aqaba Governorate at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. Aqaba is strategically important to Jordan as it is the country's only seaport. Aqaba is best known today as a diving and beach resort, but industrial activity remains important...
in Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, causing some property damage. Again on August 2, six or seven Iranian-made 122 mm Grad rockets were fired from the Sinai Peninsula at Eilat. The rockets fell in Eilat, Aqaba, Egypt and the Red Sea. A rocket that landed in Aqaba killed a Jordanian civilian and wounded several. The investigation into the attacks involved cooperation between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. The attacks severely damaged relations between Hamas and Egypt, which viewed them as a challenge to its sovereignty.
Lebanon
Palestinian militants in LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
have launched fatal rocket attacks on towns in northern Israel at least since the 1970s, but these incidents lie outside the scope of this article, as the topic of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel typically refers to attacks on southern Israel since 2001 and the Second Intifada. Rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanese territory are discussed in the article List of Lebanese rocket attacks on Israel.
Other
Israeli blacksmith Yaron Bob, from the village of Yated, collects Palestinian rockets fired on his area and turns them into roses. These roses have been given by the Sderot Municipality to visiting dignitaries, including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-MoonBan Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...
and United States Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
. Israel Police
Israel Police
The Israel Police is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism...
spokesman Micky Rosenfeld
Micky Rosenfeld
Chief Inspector Micky Rosenfeld is the foreign press spokesman for the Israel Police. He was appointed to this position as an Inspector in 2005 after serving for eight years as a combat officer in the Yamam counter-terrorism unit. By 2008 he had been promoted to the rank of Chief...
said, "those rockets are in fact rockets that kill, and it's a nice idea to turn them into flowers."
External links
Media- Gaza's rocket threat to Israel, BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, January 21, 2008 - Tony Karon, The Homemade Rocket That Could Change the Mideast, TIMETimeTime is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
, November 2, 2002 - Ulrike Putz, A Visit to a Gaza Rocket Factory, Der SpiegelDer SpiegelDer Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
, January 29, 2008
Science and security
- Rocket Threat from the Gaza Strip, 2000—2007, Intelligence and Terrorism Information CenterIntelligence and Terrorism Information CenterNot to be confused with the California-based "Terrorism Information Center".The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center is an Israeli-based non-governmental organization with close ties to the Israel Defense Forces....
, December 2007 - HAMAS Rockets, GlobalSecurity.org
- Katyusha & Qassam Rockets, aerospaceweb.org
Human rights groups
- Indiscriminate Fire, Human Rights WatchHuman Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
- Qassam rocket fire into Israel, B'TselemB'TselemB'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
Advocacy
- Sderot Media Center
- What are Qassam Rockets?, Jewish Policy CenterJewish Policy CenterThe Jewish Policy Center, founded in 1985, is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank tied closely to the Republican Jewish Coalition.According to Matthew Brooks, director of both the Jewish Policy Center and the Republican Jewish Coalition, the Policy Center is nonpartisan and focuses solely on...