Israel Struck 1500+ Hamas Targets in 12 Days; Gaza Counts 235 Dead, 1900 Injured

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) announced Saturday it has successfully completed “Operation Guardian of the Walls” in Gaza hitting 1500+ Hamas targets and “neutralizing” 200+ of its operatives from May 10-21; In turn, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced 232 Palestinians dead over 1900 injured.

An info-graphic published on the IDF’s official Twitter handle said, 4360 rockets were fired from Gaza of which approximately 90% were intercepted by the ‘Iron Done’ missile defense system. Thirteen people were killed in Israel while 200+ Hamas operatives were ‘neutralized,’ besides 675 Hamas rocket launching capabilities damaged.

In addition, 60 plus miles of Hamas’ underground tunnel network was destroyed, the IDF said.

Another info-graphic published  by Al Jazeerah with data credited to the (Palestinian) Ministry of Health in Gaza put the number of deaths in Israeli bombings as 232 (128 men, 65 children and 39 women). The number of injured was put at 1900. Some 678 homes are severely damaged, 230 buildings destroyed, 75,000 displaced and 250,000 restricted to water supply, it said.

While  the IDF has not identified  what warplanes, drones, bombs or missiles it used in its 12 day-long air-borne assault on Gaza, an IDF tweet on May 21 said  “we used the latest military technology to precisely strike at Hamas targets, while minimizing damage to surrounding targets.” The accompanying video showed an object circled “Rocket  launcher,” surrounded by buildings being struck by a precision bomb.

Another IDF tweet on May 20 said its aircraft struck Hamas aerial defense compounds. In that video, the screen goes black soon the target in the cross-hairs explodes indicating the use of optical guided munitions. On May 17, the IDF claimed to have struck the main operations center of the Hamas internal security forces in Rima, northern Gaza located in an apartment block.

Other tweets justified Israel’s strikes on targets in the middle of crowded localities as, “See it with your own eyes: Hamas turned a civilian structure in Gaza into a rocket launch site ready to fire rockets at Israel. Under intl. law, a civilian structure used for military purposes is a legitimate military target,” the IDF said

The Palestinian death toll from the Israeli attacks on Gaza is expected to rise further. On May 21, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, “Gazans continued to extract bodies from the rubble on Friday, following Thursday's cease-fire which put an end to 11 days of fighting. In the Gaza Strip, officials estimate that it will take several weeks to ascertain the final death toll.”