Obama appeals for restraint as Israel launches new Gaza airstrikes

Israeli military launches new Gaza airstrikes, prepares for potential ground invasion

Israeli military officials said early Tuesday that they had carried out airstrikes targeting at least 50 sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip as part of a new offensive aimed at halting rocket attacks by militants as President Barack Obama urged both sides to exercise restraint. 

Israelli Army spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told The Associated Press that the military attacked four houses belonging to militants,  as well as concealed rocket launchers and other sites. Most of the sites were targeted in airstrikes, and three were attacked from the sea.

Lerner says the army will gradually increase attacks on Gaza, and is recruiting reservists for a potential ground invasion.

The latest operation comes after militants fired dozens of rockets at southern Israel on Monday, setting off air raid sirens and forcing hundreds of thousands of Israelis to stay indoors. A Twitter statement from the Israeli army said the offensive, dubbed “Operation Protective Edge,” is intended to “stop the terror Israel’s citizens face on a daily basis.”

Gaza health official Ashraf Al-Kedra told The Associated Press that at least nine Palestinian civilians were brought to a Gaza hospital with light to moderate injuries from the airstrikes, including several who suffered from shock. He said some of the injured Palestinians were treated and released.

The latest violence came as Israel pressed forward with its investigation of six Jewish youths suspected of abducting and killing a Palestinian teenager, and Israeli leaders sought to calm an emotional debate over whether the country’s politically charged atmosphere led to the gruesome crime. An Israeli official said three of the youths had confessed to the attack.

Tensions have been high since three Israeli teenagers kidnapped June 12 in the West Bank were later found dead, followed by last week’s slaying of the Palestinian youth in what many suspect was a revenge attack.

In an opinion piece published Tuesday in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Obama called it a “dangerous moment” for the region where a vaunted U.S. peace effort recently collapsed. Writing in emotional terms, he said he couldn’t imagine the pain suffered by the parents of the three Israeli teens, but was also heartbroken by the senseless murder of a Palestinian teenager who many suspect was killed in revenge.

“All parties must protect the innocent and act with reasonableness and restraint, not vengeance and retribution,” Obama said.

Obama’s comments — published in Hebrew, Arabic and English — reflected growing U.S. concern about tit-for-tat violence spiraling out of control as the fragile situation in Israel appears to deteriorate.

After the bodies of the three Israelis were discovered, Obama issued a brief written statement, but hasn’t spoken about the situation publicly. Haaretz said the op-ed was intended for the newspaper’s upcoming peace summit and written before June 30, the day the three Israeli teens were found dead. But it referenced events that occurred later, suggesting the op-ed was updated.

Obama also offered strong praise for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is under pressure as Israel seeks to use the murder of the three Israelis to discredit his newly formed unity government with Hamas.

“In President Abbas, Israel has a counterpart committed to a two-state solution and security cooperation with Israel,” Obama said. He offered no parallel praise for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Throughout the unrest, the Israeli army says Gaza militants have launched approximately 300 rockets and mortars into Israel, including 80 on Monday alone. The military said that 40 rockets were launched in a single hour after nightfall, setting off air raid sirens up to 50 miles from Gaza.

Twelve rockets were intercepted by rocket-defense batteries, it added, while the others landed in open areas. It was the deepest penetration of rocket strikes in the current round of fighting and raised the likelihood of an even tougher Israeli response.

The army later said that eight more rockets and mortars were fired at Israel from Gaza starting shortly before midnight and into early Tuesday, and an additional rocket was intercepted above the Israeli town of Sderot, close to the border with Gaza.

Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, a senior military official, gave a special interview in Arabic to Al-Jazeera, warning that Hamas would bear the consequences for the escalation. Eight Palestinian militants were killed in fighting Monday, the highest death toll yet.

Israeli security officials had said late Monday that Israel was leaning against a massive operation and would likely increase the pressure gradually with stronger and more numerous retaliatory attacks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal military deliberations with reporters. Israeli Cabinet ministers voted in favor of more intense airstrikes, Channel 2 TV said.

In Washington on Monday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. condemns the rocket fire. “We also support Israel’s right to defend itself against these attacks,” she said.

Israel has launched two broad military operations in Gaza in the past five years, most recently in 2012, when eight days of heavy fighting ended in an Egyptian-mediated truce.