Israel Escalates Air Strikes Against Gaza Strip

Insists Attacks 'Retaliation' for Two Rockets That Did No Damage

Two grad-type rockets fired from the Gaza Strip struck empty fields inside Israel today, doing no damage and causing no casualties, but becoming headline news in a number of Israeli media outlets.

Israel responded, as they always do, with a massive escalation of their ongoing air strikes against the strip, destroying a number of as-yet-unidentified targets in the tiny enclave in what they called a “retaliatory” measure.

So far no group has claimed responsibility for the rockets, but the Hamas faction has been trying to negotiate deals among smaller groups to refrain from launching such strikes. This has been rejected by the would-be al-Qaeda affiliate in the strip, however, which sees Hamas’ government as illegitimate.

The latest escalation comes just one day after Israel’s Public Security Minister called for a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip to prevent future missile strikes, and will likely spawn yet more calls for such an attack.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.