TEL AVIV, July 14 (RIA Novosti) – The Israeli Army attacked approximately 40 targets in the Gaza Strip and shot down a Palestinian unmanned aircraft in the south, the Israeli military press service reported Monday.
“Since midnight around 20 Palestinian rockets have been fired, 12 of which have landed in Israel and seven have been intercepted. In turn, the Israeli Air Force has attacked 40 terrorist-operated objects in the Gaza Strip,” the report said.
Israeli air defense system Patriot also intercepted an unmanned aircraft over Ashdod, the largest city in the country’s south.
As of now, Israel carries out aero-naval attacks that have already accounted for 170 deaths on the Palestinian side.
“The military efforts of the Hamas movement prove feeble against the defense and attack actions of Israel, especially against the highly-effective Iron Dome system. However, one missile hitting a residential area would be enough to change the situation drastically,” Amos Yadlin, a former Israeli Air Force general, said, suggesting ceasing the operation that has deteriorated Israeli-Palestinian relations.
Israeli politicians and military officials went on to say that they had not set out to destroy the Hamas movement. Their goal was to restore peace in the south of Israel.
In late June, the bodies of three missing Israeli teenagers were found in the West Bank, sparking new Israeli military action against the Hamas group in Palestine. The Protective Edge operation was launched on July 8.
Since the beginning of the operation, 1,470 targets have been attacked, including 770 rocket launchers, 69 training camps and 63 facilities where weapons were produced and stored. The overall death toll stands at 172 while 1,250 have been wounded. Israel has suffered no losses on its side. Nine-hundred-eighty rockets have been fired so far, 760 of them landing on the territory of Israel, 200 of them intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.
