Israel claims Palestinian resistance in Gaza fired anti-aircraft missile at its warplane

The Israeli daily Ynet news reported on Thursday that an anti-aircraft "Strela SA7" missile was fired for the first time last Friday, from the Gaza Strip at an Israeli warplane, but missed its target.

The report has not been confirmed by any other source, as there was no statement from any Palestinian faction adopting this allegation.

According to the report, army intelligence reported six years ago the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip possesed a large number of anti-aircraft missiles and advanced weaponry, including anti-tank missiles.

Quoting Israeli military sources, the newspaper revealed that after the fall of Gadhafi regime in Libya, weapons stores were stolen therein and the weapons dealers sold them in different parts of the world. For this, a large quantity of missiles "Strela" reached Sinai peninsula, and from there to Gaza.

However, the Russian made Strela-2 is surface-to-air missile system is shoulder-fired and has a high explosive warhead and passive infrared homing guidance. It can hit aircraft flying as fast as 1,800 kmh (1,118 miles an hour) and at altitudes up to 2,300 meters (7,500 feet).

Meanwhile, Israeli military source claimed all the warplanes were to take a one-day break on Sunday, following a recent incident where two Israeli F-16 warplanes almost collided. However, the source has provided no further details, but it says the planes will resume their operations on Monday.

Until recently, few military warplanes of the F-16 type flew in Gaza sky, and no helicopter flights or drones were noticed in the region.

It is worth mentioning that, an incident occurred last August, when an Israeli fighter jet landed suddenly in an Israeli military base, due to a mechanic break-out. Another F-16 fighter jet landed suddenly, when its pipelines were smashed, Yent news earlier said.

Some military analysts said that, the decision of Air Force to stop flights was due to the exposure of one warplane to anti-aircraft missile by fighters in Gaza Strip, and the story claimed by the Israeli army is untrue.

Opinion:

The fall of the Libyan regime is not the only reason for the Palestinian factions to own modern weapons, as they purchase many of the weapons from the Israeli mafia, who are stealing weapons from the Israeli army depots and selling it to the Palestinian resistance. Israeli media always deny this.

Undoubtedly the incident is serious and certainly will have many consequences on Gaza Strip. At the same time, the Israeli army should know that any new war on Gaza will not lead to a large number of victims in the Palestinian side only, but also in Israel.

After six years of being ruled by Hamas, the Palestinian resistance became stronger than ever. The Resistance was previously tracking the approach of bombings, while, today if Israel attacks Gaza the respond will be with the same point of violating.

The international community, in all cases, will condemn the Palestinians and will justify for Israel any crime committed against the Palestinians, describing it as self-defense. From here we notice that the Palestinian resistance does not pay any attention to the international reaction, but pays much attention to respond to every attack by Israel.

After all, none of the resistance factions claimed responsibility for this rocket, at the same time people in Gaza Strip are enjoying quietness which has been missed for a long time, whereas warplanes almost disappeared from Gaza sky, allowing our children to enjoy calm sleep.

Sources:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/160967

http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/10/16/report-hamas-terrorists-shoot-anti-aircraft-missile-at-israeli-aircraft/