IDF mulls reserve call-up as Gaza war looms

IDF spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis said the IDF will begin a call-up of reserve soldiers.

By JNS and World Israel News Staff

As Hamas continued to lob rockets on Israeli population centers in southern Israel on Tuesday morning, IDF spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis said the Israel Defense Forces may call-up of its reserves if necessary.

In a radio interview, Manelis said a small number of reserves has been called up, most related to air defense, but additional troops may be called up as necessary.

Since Monday, Hamas and Islamic Jihad has launched more than 400 rockets at populated civilian areas in Israeli areas near Gaza, including Ashkelon, a city of 140,000 people, and Beersheba, which is home to 208,000 residents and known as the “capital of the Negev.”

Though many rockets hit open areas and approximately 100 were intercepted by Iron Dome missile-defense systems, one rocket scored a direct hit on an apartment building in Ashkelon, killing a Palestinian man. Reports differ as to whether or not he was residing in Israel legally.

Israel struck back from the air, hitting 150 terror targets in Gaza and destroying the studios of Al Aqsa TV, center of Hamas’s media campaign in Gaza, which also informed terrorists of where each rocket launched into Israel fell.

Islamic Jihad reported that a man wounded by Israeli fire on Monday was one of their members. He later succumbed to his wounds.