FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2008, file photo, masked Palestinian militants from Islamic Jihad place homemade rockets before later firing them into Israel on the outskirts of Gaza City. In 2009, a prominent human rights group said there was "strong evidence" that Gaza's Hamas rulers committed war crimes by allowing militants to fire rockets from the territory, killing civilians in Israel. The third Gaza war is playing out very much like the first one some five years ago: We are now at the stage where the harrowing civilian toll in Gaza is at the center of the discourse, eclipsing the rocket attacks by Hamas militants which are the reason for the Israeli assault. In 2009, Hamas was firing relatively small projectiles with minimal range, mostly aimed at border communities surrounding the blockaded Gaza Strip. Now Hamas is firing at Tel Aviv, which is 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the strip, and even at some cities beyond. (AP Photo/Ashraf Amra, File)
Tsahal aurait empêché, en 2018, la contrebande de 15 000 à 20 000 roquettes dans la bande de Gaza, selon le chef d’état-major israélien sortant, le lieutenant-général Gadi Eisenkot. En 2018, les violences entre Israël et les groupes armés palestiniens dans la bande de Gaza ont atteint leur plus haut niveau depuis la fin de l’opération Bordure protectrice en 2014, avec le tir de plus d’un millier de roquettes sur des cibles israéliennes.
De son côté, Tsahal affirme avoir frappé 865 fois, au total, des cibles appartenant au Hamas et au Jihad islamique à Gaza au cours de l’année dernière.
