Israel launched its Iron Dome batteries on Friday evening at rockets fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an Iran-backed terror group in Gaza.
RAW IMAGE: This is when a barrage of rockets was fired from Gaza towards Israeli civilians.
This is what terrorism looks like: pic.twitter.com/XLbch5NfFR
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 5, 2022
Iron Dome in action, saving lives, as it intercepts PIJ rockets fired at Israel from Gaza! pic.twitter.com/kkE74lJWSc
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) August 5, 2022
Several Iron Dome interceptor missiles were seen engaging incoming rockets over southern Israel. pic.twitter.com/kMoXu7fwEU
— Emmanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) August 5, 2022
🚨 Israel’s Iron Dome stops rocket barrage #Gaza in the south #Israel pic.twitter.com/IM0ILvtI7e
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) August 5, 2022
Another Iron Dome intercept video pic.twitter.com/d4CcRvLvwG
— Yosef Yisrael (@yosefyisrael25) August 5, 2022
The PIJ has taken responsibility for launching what it claims are 100 rockets from the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by another Palestinian terror group, Hamas.
Most of the rockets were fired around 9 p.m. and targeted towns and villages near Gaza, although some were aimed further north, as far as the town of Rishon LeTsiyon, south of Tel Aviv, according to Israeli Army Radio.
Some of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome system, which has shielded Israeli population centers from most rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists in recent conflicts.
Others exploded in Gaza without crossing Israeli airspace. Israeli Army Radio reported that PIJ rockets are more primitive than those used in past conflicts by Hamas.
Iron Dome missile system receives funding US President Joe Biden visited an Iron Dome battery during his visit to Israel last month.
US President Joe Biden (center) walks with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz (left) and Acting Prime Minister Yair Lapid (2nd right) past US Defense Attaché to Israel Brigadier General Shawn A. Harris (right), in front of an Iron Beam Laser Defense System (L) and an Iron Dome Battery (R) during a tour of the Jewish State Defense Systems at Ben Gurion Airport near from Tel Aviv on July 13, 2022. — Biden today kicked off his first Middle East tour since stepping into the White House last year. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
The PIJ rocket launches were in response to an Israeli military operation, called Operation Breaking Dawn, which was intended to prevent the PIJ from launching what the Israeli government said were imminent attacks.
Israel launched its airstrikes on Friday afternoon and killed PIJ leader Taysir al-Jabari – just days after the United States killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan.
Tabari “was in charge of the terror group’s rocket arsenal and was the group’s main coordinator with Hamas”, Jerusalem Post reported.
It is unclear if, or to what extent, the conflict will escalate. Israel is preparing for the possibility of further rocket attacks.
Israel faces elections this fall, a factor that could have played into Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s decision to launch the operation, as his party faces a tough challenge from the opposition Likud party , led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The conflict is the second war in Gaza in as many years, following four years of calm under President Donald Trump.
Joel B. Pollak is editor of Breitbart News and host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot Sunday nights from 7-10 p.m. ET (4-7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book Neither Free Nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His latest book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is the winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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