13-Jan-14: As Sharon funeral winds up, two more civilian-seeking attack rockets are fired from Gaza

Ariel Sharon's fresh grave, beside that of his wife Lily
and in the soil of his farm

Yoav Zitun of Ynet writes:

Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel and landed in an open field in the vicinity of the Gaza border fence. There were no injuries or damage reported. IDF is not planning to respond to the attack at this stage.

This report appeared on-line around 4:30 Monday afternoon, very shortly after the Ariel Sharon state funeral had wound up.

We're puzzled by the suggestion that the IDF, confronted with four rockets in two volleys fired indiscriminately by Gaza-based terror forces at Israeli targets, would decide - let alone announce - to do nothing. About this morning's incoming rockets, see "13-Jan-14: Ahead of today's state funeral - rockets".

Times of Israel says the two rockets fell in an open area near the border with Gaza in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, noting that

Many of Israel’s top leaders and dignitaries were nearby at the Sharon family’s Sycamore Farm, located just east of the town of Sderot and only seven kilometers (4.3 miles) from the border with Gaza. Among leaders at the funeral were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, US Vice President Joe Biden, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and many others.

Another source reports that

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the projectiles had targeted the town of Sderot, which lies very close to the Gaza border, and just four kilometres (2.5 miles) west of Sycamore Ranch, causing no injuries or damage. Given the ranch's proximity to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, the Israeli police and army had beefed up security in the area, with unconfirmed media reports saying the military had deployed a battery of the Iron Dome missile defence system to counter possible rocket attacks.

And on the Haaretz site, columnist Amir Oren writing a day before today's Gazan volleys, presciently observes that the late prime minister, by ordering the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza

laid the foundation for the Hamas takeover [and] helped realize the nightmare scenario that had previously served him as a political accessory: Gaza became a launching pad for rockets on the entire south. The ability of Gazan terror groups to rain fire on his ranch and the hill on which he will be buried is... part of Sharon’s legacy. [Haaretz] 

UPDATE Monday 6:45 pm: Contrary to the implication of its earlier report that the IDF had said it would do nothing in response to today's Gaza rocket attacks on southern Israel, Ynet now says "The Palestinians have reported that the IAF has attacked a Hamas military camp in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. The IDF Spokesperson Unit said that the IAF attacked a military compound in central Gaza Strip and terror infrastructure in the southern part of the Strip."

13-Jan-14: Ahead of today's state funeral - rockets

Sharon's bier lay in state yesterday in the
Knesset plaza [Image Source: AFP]

Here in Jerusalem, though we're more than an hour's drive away from the site of today's state funeral for former prime minister Ariel Sharon, there's a broad level of awareness for more than one reason.

First, because the main highway connecting the nation's capital via the Judaean Hills to the coast is going to be closed for security reasons at various points. Secondly because part of the funeral events are going to be done here in the Knesset, Israel's parliament complex. And thirdly, because it's fairly plain that the terrorism-minded forces arrayed on our nation's borders are perceived as being interested in having their own impact on the day's events. This is not unconnected to the large number of foreign dignitaries making their way at this hour to Jerusalem, and the pre-burial activity at the Sharon farm close to Israel's border with Gaza where the funeral will take place.

It's now just after 8 in the morning, and we already have news - not entirely clear in the details - about two incoming rockets fired from the Gaza Strip [Hebrew here: they landed in open fields, no injuries] where Hamas has all the triggers under its forces' fingers. A Dan Williams report via Reuters says Israel has "beefed up security" ahead of today's events, and has

warned Palestinian rulers not to allow rocket fire during the ceremony, which U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will attend... An Israeli security source said Israel had "passed the message" to Gaza authorities to prevent any rocket fire during the funeral... "It was made clear to them that tomorrow would be a very bad day for anyone there to test Israel's patience," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. There was no immediate response from the Hamas government. [Reuters]

But it seems there has been a response. Williams himself tweeted a few minutes ago

Israeli media saying explosions heard in northern Gaza were likely rocket tests rather than cross-border launches ahead of Sharon's funeral.
— Dan Williams (@DanWilliams) January 13, 2014

More when we know it.

11-Jan-14: Saturday night rocket fire on southern Israel

Providing some appropriate context, a report from Times of Israel tonight says a Qassam rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel this evening (Saturday), shortly after the announcement of the death of Ariel Sharon.

While there is some doubt at this hour as to whether and where this crashed to earth, the report suggests the trajectory pointed to a spot

"not far from where relatives of late ex-prime minister Ariel Sharon gathered at the family home at Shikmim Farm. Red alert sirens sounded in the area near the coastal city of Ashkelon, but no impact was reported, an IDF spokesperson said. Palestinian sources reported Israeli retaliatory airstrikes into the Gaza Strip shortly thereafter. There was no confirmation of the reports."

The Dubai-based pan-Arab news website Al Arabiya doesn't seem to know anything about tonight's incoming Gazan rocket. (This is fairly standard practice in the Arab world.) But it does provide considerable coverage to Sharon's passing. He had been comatose since suffering a devastating stroke on January 4, 2006, eight years and one week ago.

The photo above, showing candies being handed out in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, is from Al Arabiya tonight.

The terrorists of Gaza, in their endless pursuit of Israeli civilian victims, don't actually need the passing of a prominent Israeli figure to provide them with incentives. The GANSO website, published from the Gaza Strip with "the assistance of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department", often discloses rocket attacks that don't make the general media or even the Israeli.

In many cases, this is because those rockets are in the "fell short" category, not managing to get as far as the Israeli side of the fence that separates our country from the toxic Hamas-controlled failed mini-state. Fell-shorts regularly injure and kill Gazans. This is rarely reported.

Today, GANSO's bulletin shows this:

http://www.gaza-nso.org/?p=incident-alerts

Here's an enlarged view of the text:

In the GANSO lexicon, "Pal. ops." is how they refer to terrorists in the service of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad or other members of the Islamist groups operating from Gaza under Hamas auspirces; "MA" is one of Gaza's five zones (Rafah, Khan Yunis, Middle Area, Gaza City, North Gaza), and "HMR" absurdly means Home-made Rocket. Military intelligence estimates there are tens of thousands of rockets in the control of the Gazan terror forces. GANSO and its European Union backers carefully avoid dealing with revelations as narrative-busting as that.

As for a terrorists rocket exploding prematurely in the packed Gaza Strip, did you read about that? We follow these things pretty closely and saw no mention. Were people hurt? Killed? Anyone's guess.