Gaza rocket hits Ashdod gas station, man severely injured
(JNS.org) A man with disabilities was severely injured and seven more people were lightly injured Friday morning when a rocket fired from Gaza hit an Ashdod gas station, starting a massive fire. An Israeli Air Force plane bombed the launch site from where the rocket was fired.
The 61-year-old man who was seriously wounded in the blast was unable to exit his car when the air-raid siren sounded, leaving him vulnerable. After being treated initially at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, the man was transferred to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva for further care.
Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency services paramedic Yehuda Gabai was on his way to reserve duty when he saw the explosion.
“I heard the alarm and took cover,” he told Israel Hayom. “When I lifted my head, I saw a cloud of smoke and ran to the scene. MDA staff helped me get the injured man out of car.”
Following the explosion in Ashdod, three rockets from Gaza were intercepted over the Tel Aviv area by the Iron Dome missile defense system. Air-raid sirens sounded in cities throughout central Israel, including Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Hod Hasharon, Rehovot, Givatayim, and Ramat Gan.
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U.S. Jewish leaders taking solidarity trip to Israel amid Gaza conflict
(JNS.org) Leaders from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a 51-member umbrella group, will visit Israel from July 14-16 in a showing of solidarity for the Jewish state amid the ongoing rocket barrages from Gaza.
“We feel compelled to demonstrate in the most tangible way our deep concern for and solidarity with Israel by being physically present with them,” said Conference of Presidents Chairman Robert G. Sugarman and Executive Vice Chairman/CEO Malcolm Hoenlein. “They must know they are not alone and that the Jewish community as well the vast majority of the American people stand with them and pray for their safety and strive to tell the true story of Israel’s defensive action.”
The American delegation will meet with high-level government and military officials to gain insight into Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, in addition to visiting areas impacted by rocket attacks.
“We express our support especially to the families living in Israel’s south, who have once again come under constant bombardment by rockets from Hamas-controlled Gaza,” Sugarman and Hoenlein said. “This is an intolerable situation and Israel must take whatever steps necessary to protect its citizens under attack and to put an end to these attacks across an international boundary.”
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IDF warning Gaza residents before airstrikes, Hamas encouraging ‘human shields’
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is using leaflets and phone calls to warn Gaza residents to evacuate buildings prior to airstrikes on Hamas terrorists.
“To the people of the Gaza Strip: The terrorists and smugglers are well aware that their terrorist acts of digging tunnels to smuggle military ammunition is a target for the Israel Defense Forces, but they keep working and taking cover near your residences,” read an IDF leaflet translated from Arabic.
“Do not stand still. You are being used by terrorists who will not be by your side when you get hurt. Take responsibility for your future!” added the leaflet.
Israel has a history of using leaflets and phone calls to warn civilians that an airstrike is impending, using the same approach during previous Gaza operations in 2008 and 2012.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that Hamas is encouraging Gaza residents to act as “human shields,” referring to the deliberate placement of civilians in harm’s way in order to prevent a strike on a particular target. A video posted by the IDF on Wednesday shows an IDF aircraft targeting a building with a non-lethal bomb as a warning shot to residents, allowing them time to leave before the IDF targets the building with live ammunition. But the video reveals that after the residents flee, many others come to the roof to act as human shields.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri was seen on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV praising the human shields, calling them “effective,” the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported.
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Fatah joins Hamas and Islamic Jihad in rocket attacks on Israel
(JNS.org) Terrorist groups affiliated with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party claim that they have joined the rocket attacks against Israel from Gaza.
According to the Gatestone Institute, Fatah has several hundred militiamen in the Gaza Strip who belong to various armed terrorist groups. Some of these terrorists formerly belong to the PA’s security forces and still receive salaries from the PA—which is funded by Western governments, including the U.S.
“This blessed operation came as an answer to the enemy’s repeated crimes against our defenseless people,” the Fatah-affiliated Abdul Qader Husseini Battalions said in a statement on its Facebook page, the Times of Israel reported.
A photo of two members of the Husseini Battlions preparing to launch a rocket at Israel was also posted on Fatah’s Facebook page.
Another Fatah-affiliated group called Jaish al-Asifah (Army of the Storm) claims that it has fired 35 rockets at Israel.
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Video allegedly shows ISIS jihadist smashing tomb of prophet Jonah
(JNS.org) A video has been released allegedly showing a jihadist from the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) terror group smashing the tomb of the biblical prophet Jonah in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
According to the Daily Mail, Iraqi authorities have confirmed that one of the graves smashed with a sledgehammer belonged to Jonah.
“Elements of ISIS [have] controlled the mosque of the Prophet Younis (Jonah) in Mosul since they invaded the city,” Nineveh Province official Zuhair Al-Chalabi was quoted as saying byIraqiNews.com.
The destruction of the tomb, however, has yet to be independently confirmed.
Jonah, from the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Jonah, is a prophet who was called upon by God to proclaim judgment to the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh, near modern-day Mosul. According to the story, Jonah famously flees God’s instructions and is swallowed by a giant fish, causing him to repent for his sins. Jonah is revered by Jews, Christians, and even Muslims, who refer to him as “Younis” in Arabic.
Radical Muslims consider any special veneration of tombs or relics to be against the teachings of Islam. In 2001, the Taliban famously destroyed the ancient giant Buddas of Bamiyan statues in Afghanistan.
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