The facts
- On Friday, 9 March 2012, the Israeli Air Force targeted two members of the radical Islamic 'Popular Resistance Committee' (PRC) terror organization in the Gaza Strip – a senior operative and political commander, Zuhir Mussah Ahmed Kaisi, and a collaborator, Mahmud Ahmed Mahmud Hananni. The squad had been responsible for planning a combined terror attack that was to take place via the Sinai in the coming days. The two previous heads of the PRC were also eliminated by the IDF in 2011 and 2007.
- Kaisi was among the leaders who planned, funded, and directed the combined terror attack that took place on Route 12 in August 2011, in which 40 people were injured, was involved in rocket fire at Israel, as well as in the attack on the Nahal Oz fuel terminal in April 2008, in which two Israeli citizens were killed.
- At least 300 rockets were fired by PRC and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists at Israel, more than during the entire duration of Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in 2009, targeting Israeli communities including the cities of Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon, threatening approximately 520,000 people.
- Nearly 170 rockets hit Israeli territory, injuring eight civilians in the city of Ashdod, home to 200,000 civilian residents. Notably, nearly 50 rockets fell near the city of Be’ersheba, the capital of southern Israel. Palestinian rocket fire is increasing its reach and severity.
- The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system has successfully intercepted 56 Grad rockets, of the 71 attempts to intercept rockets directed at densely populated regions, a 75 percent success rate.
- Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren and university students could not attend classes since the beginning of the rocket fire.
- Israel killed 22 terrorists who participated in launching the rockets. The IDF also hit terrorist infrastructure – weapons caches, weapons production facilities, and tunnels for smuggling.
- In 2011 there were more than 600 rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Behind the terror
- The 'Popular Resistance Committees' (PRC) terrorist group, backed by Hamas and Iran, is attempting to launch terror attacks against Israel from the Sinai, similar to the attack last August in which eight Israelis were murdered. Israel's actions including the targeted assassination of the PRC's leader in Gaza, and defensive measures along the southern border including the closure of roads, are meant to prevent such an attack.
- Hamas and other terrorist organizations are carrying out two-fold war crimes - using Palestinian civilians as human shields in order to attack Israeli civilians.
- Terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip are constantly attempting to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians- firing rockets at Israeli population centers, shooting at farmers working their fields near the Israel-Gaza border, attempting to kidnap Israeli civilians and soldiers and more.
- In parallel, these organizations are expending great resources in systematic attempts to smuggle weapons from the Sinai and the sea, rather than investing those resources in improving the welfare of Gaza's residents.
- The IDF estimates that over the past 4 months radical groups in Gaza have been accumulating weaponry that threatens all cities and towns in southern Israel. They also predicted that the influence of the Iranian regime in Gaza would trigger an armed conflict and force the IDF to respond.
- The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the terrorist organization launching the rockets, funded, supplied, and directed by the Revolutionary Guard regime in Iran. Its leadership resides in Syria.
Regional and world context
- Palestinian, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip serve as a forward position for the Iranian regime, which arms and funds them. Iran is the world's greatest exporter of terrorism, endangering peace in the region and throughout the world - yet another reason that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons.
- The Iranian regime is directly behind this ongoing assault in an attempt to stir up tension between Israel and Egypt and sow instability in the region, and distract global attention away from Iran’s race for nuclear military capability.
