Israeli airstrike leaves 10 Palestinians dead

Precision airstrikes by the Israeli military yesterday left ten Palestinian people dead, including the target, Ahmed Jabari, head of the military wing of the militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza. He was at the top of Israel’s most wanted list and the most senior Hamas leader killed since Israel’s last war in Gaza in 2009. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) placed a video of the attack on YouTube and called it the opening round of a larger campaign dubbed Operation Pillar of Defense. Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich called the purpose of the operation “to defend Israeli people and also target and cripple those terror organizations responsible for the ongoing rocket fire, namely Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu said that the operation may be expanded to include ground forces. Hamas in response has declared a state of emergency and is calling for retaliation. “Ahmed al-Jabari has long worked and waited for this day.” said Hamas official Khalil al Haya, “Today, he is getting his victory as a martyr. Our Zionist enemy will, God willing, pay a price for this cowardly assassination.” Sure enough Hamas responded to the attack with rocket fire, though Israeli forces said their Iron Dome defense system intercepted 13 incoming rockets over Southern Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood has urged the Egyptian people to express their anger in response to the attacks on Gaza. “Israel’s aggression on Gaza expresses that the Zionist peace is nothing but a lie”, the influential political party said, “what is happening in Gaza is an aggression on lives and property and a violation of international law. The Zionist entity flouted all resolutions and international norms and conventions. The killing of dozens of our innocent Palestinian brothers is part of a link in a chain of oppression and a further attempt to impose itself on the ground.”