Israelis thrown into confusion as Hamas takes fight to Tel Aviv

Air raid sirens on Thursday, sent residents running for shelter in Tel Aviv, a Mediterranean city that has not been hit by a rocket since the 1991 Gulf War, when it was targeted by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.Two more rockets were fired on Tel Aviv on Friday.

Although there were no specific targets in the districts of Holon and Rishon LeZion, sirens rang out loudly across the city and in Bat Yam and Bnei Brak in the south, damaging the communications networks of Cellcom wireless and Cincinnati Bell, which collapsed and affected residents in that region.

Meanwhile, Al-Qassam Brigades – the armed wing of Palestinian resistance faction Hamas, which recently lost ranking member Ahmed Al-Jaabari – announced it had downed an Israeli surveillance plane with a surface-to-air missile.

If true, this would indicate a marked shift in Hamas' defensive capacity.

According to Hamas spokesman Mohamed Abu-Shaar, the Iranian-made Fajr-5 missile (which boasts a range of 70 kilometres), along with the Russian Kornet and Saray Al-Quds missiles, using launching platforms for the first time are sending strong messages to Israel.

"I believe [Israel] is confused for the first time," said Abu-Shaar.

"Tactical developments on the battlefield will make Israel reconsider its overall operations," he added, "because the balance of power on the ground and the capabilities of the Palestinian factions – which have quickly formed a united command to handle attacks – are different than they were during Israel's 2008/09 Operation Cast Lead."

Abu-Shaar confirmed reports that Israel had, for the first time, asked Cairo to mediate with Hamas with a view to ending the missile attacks that have reached Tel Aviv and southern Israel. Hamas, he explained, had responded by rejecting any mediation for the time being.

"Gaza today realises that it has genuine support abroad that will protect it after the courageous steps that Egypt has taken in light of events," Abu-Shaar said.

"Most importantly, [Gaza has received] medical aid that was preceded by political backing," he said. "The people of Gaza praise these actions, which were unheard of during the Mubarak era, because Mubarak's Egypt coordinated with Israel during Operation Cast Lead. Today, the opposite is happening."

Egyptian Brigadier-General Safwat El-Zayyat said it was necessary to confirm that Israel's deterrent capacity had been eliminated, noting that, for the first time in its history, the Israeli public was not safe from attack. more

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