Trump’s peace envoy supports Israeli retaliatory strikes in Gaza, Syria
Jason Greenblatt affirms Israel’s right to defend itself, warns ‘bad actors in the Middle East are once again instigating malign activities’
US Middle East Peace envoy Jason Greenblatt backed Israeli strikes in Syria and Gaza, saying the Jewish state has every right to defend itself.
“Bad actors in the Middle East are once again instigating malign activities,” Greenblatt tweeted late Wednesday. “We affirm Israel’s right and responsibility to defend itself.”
His comments came after Hamas terrorists opened fire on Israeli soldiers on the border of the Gaza Strip wounding a soldier, and two rockets, apparently fired by the Islamic State group in Syria, landed in the Sea of Galilee, causing no injuries or damage.
Israel responded to the assaults with attacks on Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip and the air force bombed the rocket launcher in Syria that fired the two missiles in the north. The Russian Defense Ministry later said the Islamic State group had operated the launcher.
Wednesday night’s sniper fire from Gaza moderately wounded an IDF officer near Kissufim and was followed by retaliatory strikes by IDF tanks and planes that targeted Hamas installations and left three members of the terror group dead.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said three Palestinians were killed in the Israeli strikes. Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, later said the three were its members.
Following the exchange of fire, nine rockets were launched early Thursday from Gaza toward Israeli towns, eight landing in uninhabited areas and one getting shot down by the Iron Dome system. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
The IDF responded to the rocket fire, firing tank shells at seven Hamas posts along the border.
Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, announced Thursday morning its forces were going on high alert, deploying at the highest readiness level in expectation of a possible full-blown war with Israel.
In addition to border clashes with Israeli forces, Palestinians have for over three months been launching almost daily arson attacks on southern Israel. Balloons and kites carrying incendiary devices have caused fires which burned thousands of acres of farmland and countryside causing millions of shekels worth of damage.
Late Wednesday, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman convened a meeting at army headquarters in Tel Aviv with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to discuss the rising tensions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was updated by the group by telephone, according to Army Radio.
According to the IDF, the sniper fire came as a group of IDF soldiers arrived at a part of the fence that saw a group of 20 minors rioting on the other side. The minors were used as a decoy by the sniper to fire on the soldiers.
Some Hebrew media reports cited initial army assessments that the sniper was not acting on behalf of Hamas, the terror group that rules Gaza. Military sources told Army Radio late Wednesday, however, that Hamas had encouraged the demonstration by young Gazans at the fence, drawing an IDF patrol, and then its snipers opened fire on the soldiers. The sources said the same sequence played out on Sunday, when IDF soldier Aviv Levi was shot dead by a Gaza sniper at the border.
