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16,000 reserve troops to be called up
IDF chief agrees to draft reserve forces ahead of possible ground operation in Gaza; fifth Iron Dome battery in the works
head of a possible Israeli ground operation in Gaza, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz on Friday agreed to call up 16,000 reserve troops – half the amount of soldiers requested by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Meanwhile, the IDF is working towards obtaining a fifth Iron Dome battery which is in its final stages of development and was expected to make it into the army's hands in January.
"The IDF is gearing towards a calling in reserve forces ahead of a ground operation in the Gaza Strip," IDF spokesman Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai said. "The Military Intelligence continues to make efforts to discern additional targets."
The airstrikes on the Strip, which began Wednesday with the assassination of Hamas military chief Ahmad Al-Jabari, continued on Thursday night. Some 250 terror hubs were struck overnight, putting the total of targets hit since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense at 500. The IDF stressed that the attacks target missile launching sites, not deserted facilities and posts.
Among the targets was a generator located not far from Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's home, as well as the house of Hamas military commander Mohamed Sonar. The Hamas interior defense command center is also located nearby. Eight tunnels used by terror groups in Gaza have been bombed as well.
The IDF said that so far 19 Palestinians have been killed in the operation.
The army further noted that there has been a drop in the number of rockets launched on Israel overnight.
Infantry and Engineering Corps troops are to replace soldiers who are to be deployed to Gaza. The Home Front Command is also to receive reinforcement.
South-bound IDF tank (Photo: Avihu Shapira)
Israeli soldiers from an Iron Dome unit eat at their base in the southern city of Ashdod November 15, 2012. A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to 15 in a military showdown lurching closer to all-out war and an invasion of the enclave. *******/Amir Cohen
A truck transports a tank at an Israeli military base just outside the central Gaza Strip November 15, 2012. A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to 15 in a military showdown lurching closer to all-out war and an invasion of the enclave. *******/Amir Cohen
A 155mm mobile cannon (front) is seen after it was transported to an area just outside the northern Gaza Strip November 15, 2012. Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip targeted Tel Aviv on Thursday in the first attack on Israel's commercial capital in 20 years, raising the stakes in a showdown between Israel and the Palestinians that is moving towards all-out war. *******/Amir Cohen
A 155mm mobile cannon is seen after it was transported to an area just outside the northern Gaza Strip November 15, 2012. Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip targeted Tel Aviv on Thursday in the first attack on Israel's commercial capital in 20 years, raising the stakes in a showdown between Israel and the Palestinians that is moving towards all-out war. *******/Amir Cohen
Armored brigades prepare for deployment Photo: Zeev Trachtman
Troops on the Gaza border Archive Photo: EPA
IDF chief agrees to draft reserve forces ahead of possible ground operation in Gaza; fifth Iron Dome battery in the works
head of a possible Israeli ground operation in Gaza, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz on Friday agreed to call up 16,000 reserve troops – half the amount of soldiers requested by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Meanwhile, the IDF is working towards obtaining a fifth Iron Dome battery which is in its final stages of development and was expected to make it into the army's hands in January.
"The IDF is gearing towards a calling in reserve forces ahead of a ground operation in the Gaza Strip," IDF spokesman Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai said. "The Military Intelligence continues to make efforts to discern additional targets."
The airstrikes on the Strip, which began Wednesday with the assassination of Hamas military chief Ahmad Al-Jabari, continued on Thursday night. Some 250 terror hubs were struck overnight, putting the total of targets hit since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense at 500. The IDF stressed that the attacks target missile launching sites, not deserted facilities and posts.
Among the targets was a generator located not far from Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's home, as well as the house of Hamas military commander Mohamed Sonar. The Hamas interior defense command center is also located nearby. Eight tunnels used by terror groups in Gaza have been bombed as well.
The IDF said that so far 19 Palestinians have been killed in the operation.
The army further noted that there has been a drop in the number of rockets launched on Israel overnight.
Infantry and Engineering Corps troops are to replace soldiers who are to be deployed to Gaza. The Home Front Command is also to receive reinforcement.
South-bound IDF tank (Photo: Avihu Shapira)
Israeli soldiers from an Iron Dome unit eat at their base in the southern city of Ashdod November 15, 2012. A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to 15 in a military showdown lurching closer to all-out war and an invasion of the enclave. *******/Amir Cohen
A truck transports a tank at an Israeli military base just outside the central Gaza Strip November 15, 2012. A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to 15 in a military showdown lurching closer to all-out war and an invasion of the enclave. *******/Amir Cohen
A 155mm mobile cannon (front) is seen after it was transported to an area just outside the northern Gaza Strip November 15, 2012. Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip targeted Tel Aviv on Thursday in the first attack on Israel's commercial capital in 20 years, raising the stakes in a showdown between Israel and the Palestinians that is moving towards all-out war. *******/Amir Cohen
A 155mm mobile cannon is seen after it was transported to an area just outside the northern Gaza Strip November 15, 2012. Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip targeted Tel Aviv on Thursday in the first attack on Israel's commercial capital in 20 years, raising the stakes in a showdown between Israel and the Palestinians that is moving towards all-out war. *******/Amir Cohen
Armored brigades prepare for deployment Photo: Zeev Trachtman
Troops on the Gaza border Archive Photo: EPA
