Gaza July 8, 2014 – Hamas Rockets Ignite War

Gaza July 8, 2014 – Hamas Rockets Ignite War

On June 12, 2014, three Israeli teens were kidnapped and murdered in the West Bank by a Hamas-affiliated group. The bodies would be found on June 30.

During June, an intensive search was conducted for the teens and the murderers, including the arrest of many Hamas members in the West Bank and a crackdown on its operations.

Militants in Gaza fired a total of 62 rockets into Israel during June (even before the kidnapping), and Israel retaliated by targeting rocket crews and militants in Gaza:

On June 30, 2014, 16 rockets were fired into Israel by Hamas, leading to more Israeli targeting and a massive Hamas rocket offensive. Hamas or other militants fired over a dozen rockets a day the first few days of July, and then on July 7 as Israel retaliated with airstrikes, the daily count grew to 80 rockets on July 7 and 156 on July 8.

July 7-8 generally is considered the start of the Gaza War. It did not start because of Israeli retaliation for the kidnappings, but because of Hamas and other militant rocket fire into Israel for several weeks.

On July 8, we covered the first full day of the conflict, Watch: Iron Dome intercepts rockets over Ashdod:

Rockets also were fired at Tel Aviv:

Update: #IronDome intercepted the #Hamas rocket fired at Tel Aviv

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 8, 2014

Hamas also tried to infiltrate Israel by sea, Watch: 5 Hamas “naval commandos” infiltrating Israel gunned down by IDF helicopter:

Palestinians at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem cheered the rockets landing in Israel :

While even more rockets were fired at numerous targets in Israel:

The next day Hamas would aim its rockets at Israel’s only nuclear reactor, in Dimona.

A week later Egypt would propose a ceasefire which Israel accepted, and Hamas rejected:

We have resumed our operation against Hamas in Gaza. Here's why. pic.twitter.com/AkBKT0gCuw

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 15, 2014

This start to the conflict is important because of the propaganda campaign against Israel. It was a war Israel didn’t want, didn’t start, and was ready to stop early on.

Throughout this summer we will revisit certain critical dates in the conflict based on our 2014 reporting. Because the true history needs to be told, again.

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