The IDF’s automatic air strikes Saturday night, June 6, against Hamas training camps evacuated in advance - following the third rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in two weeks - indicated that Israel had run out of answers for the new escalation less than a year after last summer’s war. This time, after a rocket struck Ashkelon, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon also shut the Kerem Shalom and Erez border crossings, except for “humanitarian traffic” and only temporarily “until the security situation settled down.”But Israeli officials have carefully avoided fingering “Islamic State” or “Al Qaeda” as responsible for the rocket fire - referring only to “rogue organizations locked in a power struggle with the ruling Hamas." Israel continues to name Hamas as the only destination for reprisals. Indeed, Amos Gilead, politicy coordinator at the Defense Ministry, stated in the Meet the Press radio broadcast Saturday: “Our deterrence is powerfully effective. Hamas understands this and is doing everything it can to prevent the [rocket] fire.” (READ MORE)
