[b]Israeli air strike kills Hamas military chief Jabari
By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST.COM STAFF
LAST UPDATED: 11/14/2012 17:42
IAF hits 20 underground sites housing long-range launchers capable of striking Tel Aviv; IDF says Jabari, Hamas's military chief, has "a lot of blood on his hands"; strikes mark start of targeted campaign.
Hamas's Military Chief Ahmed Jabari [Right] Photo: Courtesy IDF

The IAF struck and killed Hamas's head of military operations Ahmed Jabari in central Gaza on Wednesday. The airstrike marked the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense to target Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror organizations in Gaza, IDF spokesman Yoav Mordechai said.

"The first aim of this operation is to bring back quiet to southern Israel, and the second target is to strike at terror organizations," Mordechai said.

Shortly afterwards, the IDF 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. The IDF believes it has eliminated the majority of the long-range threat.

Source: IDF

A large part of the weapons storage sites were located in civilian residential buildings, the IDF confirmed. "This is further evidence of the pattern of Hamas to use the population in Gaza as human shields," the IDF said in a statement.

Palestinian sources said that six people in Gaza had been killed in IDF strikes on Wednesday.
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Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai told Channel 2 that "the days we face in the South will, in my estimation, prove protracted."

"The homefront must brace itself resiliently," he added.

Mordechai described Jabari as a man with "a lot of blood on his hands." The IDF has urged civilians to pay attention to instructions from the Home Front Command in light of the developments.

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Born in 1960, Jabari was directly involved in multiple bomb attacks against the State of Israel, according to the IDF. He joined Hamas after being release from an Israeli prison in 1995, and in 2004 established himself as one of the top military commadners in Hamas.

The IDF says Jabary carried out and ordered numerous terror attacks against Israel, including the abudction of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit and the firing of hunderds of rockets in recent years.

Mordechai added 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.

He added that columns of smoke were visible around Gaza.[/b]