The bloodiest day in years along the fence dividing Gaza from Israel that has tragically left 18 people dead and 1400 injured provides a grim foretaste of what lies ahead as the Hamas terrorist group embarks on a new offensive for “the return of all of Palestine”. Israel is, as usual, being blamed for the violence. But Hamas’s role in inciting 30,000 Palestinian civilians to stage the first in a rolling series of “Great March of Return” protests along the border fence — ostensibly a peaceful march by non-combatants — must not be overlooked by those demanding an urgent international inquiry, such as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Questions should be asked about rioting that leaves half of those injured claiming bullet wounds. But no less relevant is the Hamas terrorists’ cynical change of tactics. Israel’s updated Iron Dome missile defence system has now neutered Hamas’s principal terrorist attack strategy — wildly firing rockets and mortars at Israeli towns.
Read the opinion piece in The Australian.