Reports of a loud explosion near Gaza city hospital.
Tweets coming in saying it was a car.
Drones overhead.
Stay tuned.
JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel is considering resuming its contentious practice of assassinating militant leaders in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in an effort to halt intensified rocket attacks on Israel’s south, according to defense officials.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20121113/DA2H7L300.html
Breaking News:
One dead, 1 injured in Israel strike on Gaza car: Hamas spokesman
https://twitter.com/AlArabiya_Eng
Confirmed: Israel has assassinated @AlqassamBrigade chief of staff Ahmed al-Jabari with an airstrike in west #Gaza.
#PHOTO of Ahmed al-Jabari handing Shalit to the Egyptian side, during the prisoners exchange deal
MORE: IDF website says it launches “widespread campaign on terror sites, operatives in Gaza”. Jabari was first target
The head of Hamas’ military wing, Ahmed Jafari, has been killed in an Israeli airstrike, both Hamas and Israel confirm, as the IDF announces a widespread campaign on “terror targets” and begins bombing the Gaza Strip.
The operation, called “Pillar of Defense”, has been launched by the Israel military. Many of the buildings in the downtown Gaza City are on fire after being attacked by Israeli warplanes, RT’s Arabic correspondent Saed Swerky reports on Twitter.
http://rt.com/news/hamas-military-chief-killed-684/
Israel channel reporter says assassination of Jabary is the opening of a high-scale military operation
There were 3 other Israeli air strikes in addition to 1 which killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari. Gaza City, Khan Younis and Rafah.
https://twitter.com/marmite_news
Islamic Jihad calls Jabari hit a ‘declaration of war’
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=291797
Hamas has said an Israeli air strike in Gaza killed Ahmed Jabari, the head of its military wing, in an attack on a vehicle on Wednesday.
The military wing of Hamas said in a statement that the assassination “has opened the gates of hell”.
Israel’s military said the strike was the “start of targetting Gaza militants”, according to AFP.
Witnesses say Jabari was travelling in his vehicle in Gaza City when his car exploded.
Jabari is the most senior Hamas official to be killed since an Israeli invasion of Gaza four years ago. He has long topped Israel’s most-wanted list, the Associated Press reported.
Israeli officials had said in recent days that they were considering assassinating top Hamas officials following a wave of heavy rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news…/Hamas-military-chief-killed-in-Gaza-air-strike.html
Top Hamas commander killed in Israeli airstrike
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/14/us-palestinians-israel-hamas-idUSBRE8AD0WP20121114
Car Jabari was in
IDF: “Pillar of Defense” is not limited operation, it’s response to 11 years of rocket attacks
Hamas has rockets that can reach all the way to Tel Aviv’ says a former General as Israel responds in force to recent rocket attacks.
The IDF has in recent minutes struck over 20 underground rocket launchers belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in an airstrike.
The airstrikes targeted long-range rockets in the possession of terror organizations, such as the fajr-5 and other rockets that are capable of striking Tel Aviv from Gaza.
IDF spokesman Yoav Mordechai said that Gaza is a “forward Iranian base,” adding that the latest campaign of air strikes targeted most of the long-range offensive capabilities in the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=291806
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