Storm Cloud Over Gaza

More of the same in the south of Israel over the past 24 hours: Four rockets fired from Gaza at Israeli agricultural settlements last night, a retaliatory attack by the Israeli air force against a tunnel leading from Egypt into Gaza, and another rocket fired from Gaza at an Israeli kibbutz this morning. However, this pattern of rocket attacks followed by reprisals is not destined to continue much longer.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=251378):

"Speaking on the third anniversary of Operation Cast Lead Tuesday, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz said that Israel will 'sooner or later' need to launch a large-scale operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

'I believe that the State of Israel cannot continue to live under the active threat of Hamas in the Gaza Strip,' Gantz said.

'Sooner or later, there will be no escape from conducting a significant operation. The IDF knows how to operate in a determined, decisive and offensive manner against terrorists in the Gaza Strip.'"

This missile fire out of Gaza, which now threatens more than a million Israelis, persists notwithstanding significant improvement in Gaza's economy. Although unemployment is still high by world standards, i.e. some 25%, it is now at its lowest level in over a decade, and Gaza's GDP has grown by more than 30% over the past year. In the month of November alone, 5,390 trucks carrying 149,165 tons of goods entered the Gaza Strip from Israel through the Kerem Shalom crossing, bringing food, construction materials, agricultural inputs, clothing, electrical products, sports equipment, vehicles, washing machines, refrigerators, ceramics and plumbing.

All of this progress will soon come to a screeching halt, and the world, blind to missile strikes against Israeli civilians, will again condemn Israel for seeking to end this reign of terror financed by Iran.