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© (L) Israel Defense Forces / Twitter; (R) Mohammed Salem / Reuters
100 missiles rain down on Gaza March 14, 2019

Israeli jets and helicopters hit around 100 Hamas-linked targets in Gaza on Thursday overnight, the Israeli Army has said. The air raids were conducted in response to rockets launched from Gaza at Tel Aviv.

A Hamas HQ in Gaza's downtown Rimal district, a rocket-manufacturing site and militant training ground, were among the targets hit, according to the military.

The airstrikes were made in retaliation to rockets launched from Gaza into Israeli territory, towards Tel Aviv. Both rockets were intercepted and destroyed by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system.

"Hamas terror group bears the responsibility for everything going on in and out of Gaza," the IDF said.

After the IDF raid into Gaza, Hamas fired two more rockets into Israel on Friday, both of which were also destroyed mid-air, the military reported. Aerial attack warning sirens were heard in the city of Sderot and the Sha'ar HaNegev municipality near the Gaza border.

Watch Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett duck and weave when questioned about Israel's part in escalating the cycle of violence.

"Hamas has been shooting rockets at the southern part of Israel for roughly a year now and now they shot two rockets at the Tel Aviv area. It's time to defeat Hamas, it's time to demilitarize the Gaza Strip," he told RT.

Bennett blamed Arabs for turning Gaza into a failed state, to which Israel now must retaliate.

"When we handed it over to the Arabs, they turned it into a radical Islamic terror state and now it's time to fight back against that state and we will."

The minister dismissed as "utter nonsense" the argument that both sides have been equally responsible for the violence that is raging in the region.

"We left Gaza. We want peace. The moment they stop shooting missiles at my children's school and kindergarten is the moment there will be peace."

Bennett, who is a member of the Israeli Security Cabinet and a proponent of his own version of a one-state solution, also brushed off international calls for Israel to stop its rampant settlement construction.

"As long as it's up to me, I would build for Jews anywhere in Israel, because this is our home. I would build much more Jewish communities within our land."

Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement controlling Gaza, and Israel have been locked in a violent confrontation for years. Israel calls Hamas terrorists, whose continued influence and attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians justifies whatever military action Israel choses to inflict on Palestinian territory. The militants pose as a guerrilla force fighting for the liberation of Palestinian lands and people from Israeli occupation and oppression by whatever means they deem necessary.

The situation surrounding Gaza has been tense since last year, when Palestinians began regular protests, which occasionally escalate into riots, on the wall that Israel built to separate the area. Israel is accused of using excessive force against the protesters, with dozens of people killed and hundreds injured by snipers. The Israelis insist that the protests are a ploy by Hamas to give cover to attacks on Israel and undermine the Jewish nation's reputation.

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The statement follows Israel Defence Force spokesman Avichay Adraee stating that Israeli troops attacked around 100 targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning in response to the 14 March shelling of Tel Aviv from Palestinian territory.

The Palestinian Hamas militant group, which openly calls for Israel's destruction, has pledged to take action against those who launched rockets on Tel Aviv on Thursday.

"We are following up on the firing of rockets from Gaza against the national consensus and the ministry will take measures against the violators," the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The statement comes as the Times of Israel quoted an unnamed Hamas official as saying that the group "has no interest in an escalation" with Israel. The official added he "has no idea" who fired rockets toward Tel Aviv on 14 March.

Daoud Shehab, spokesman for the Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad (PIJ), for his part, rejected reports of the PIJ being behind the rocket fire, slamming them as "baseless lies and claims".

He also pointed out that his group is "committed to the ceasefire understandings [between Hamas and the Jewish state]" as long as Israel "halts its aggression against the Palestinian people".

Earlier on Friday, Israel's Kan public broadcaster and Palestinian media reported that Tel Aviv and Hamas had agreed on a ceasefire after the Thursday rocket fire. Israel has not confirmed the reports.

Israel Defence Force spokesman Avichay Adraee, in turn, wrote on his Twitter page that "in response to the rocket fire at Israel, some 100 [Hamas] terrorist targets have been hit across the Gaza Strip".

The rockets fired toward Tel Aviv were the first such shelling since 2014, and they reportedly did not hit residential areas and caused no direct injury.

Hamas seeks the creation of an independent state of Palestine and wants Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it occupied after the 1967 war. The movement, which is blacklisted by Israel as a terrorist organisation and repeatedly exchanged rocket strikes with Tel Aviv, governs the Gaza Strip independently of the Palestinian Authority.

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Pompeo shoots down North Korea claim he created distrust, hostility at summit

[...]

"I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger," Choe said, according to The Associated Press. "We have neither the intention to compromise with the U.S. in any form nor much less the desire or plan to conduct this kind of negotiation."

When asked about the remarks at the State Department on Friday morning, Pompeo doubted that the comments would hamper negotiations going forward.

"It's not the first time," Pompeo told reporters. "I have a vague recollection of being called gangster-like from a visit I took one time previously. Following that, we continued to have very professional conversations where we tried our best to work together to represent our respective sides. I have every expectation that we will be able to continue to do that."

When the international community is calling you a gangster, there's a good chance that you are.

Earlier, Pompeo noted that Choe in her remarks "left open the possibility that negotiations would continue."

Bolton also disputed Choe's comments as "inaccurate" Friday.

"In Hanoi, on multiple occasions, he spoke directly to the president and made a commitment that he would not resume nuclear testing nor would he resume missile testing," Pompeo said. "That's Chairman Kim's word. We have every expectation that he will live up to that commitment."

Why should we believe Pompeo? A proven liar.

The second summit between Trump and Kim ended abruptly late last month without any agreement on further steps toward denuclearization. Trump said North Korea had made unacceptable demands about lifting sanctions, telling reporters at a press conference, "Sometimes you have to walk." North Korea, meanwhile, has disputed the Trump administration's account of their demands.

Pompeo repeatedly insisted Friday that the administration intends to continue discussions with North Korea, but would not offer details on the current status of negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

"It's the administration's desire that we continue to have conversations about this," Pompeo said. "As the president said in Hanoi, the offer that they made simply didn't rise to the level that was acceptable given what they were asking for in exchange."

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