Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israel From 2000

Wikipedia

Overview

Range of missiles launched from Gaza Strip (10-160 km).

In the cycle of violence, rocket attacks alternate with Israeli military actions. From the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada (30 September 2000) through March 2013, 8,749 rockets and 5,047 mortar shells we're fired on Israel,[34] while Israel has conducted several military operations in the Gaza Strip, among them Operation Rainbow (2004), Operation Days of Penitence (2004), Operation Summer Rains (2006), Operation Autumn Clouds (2006), Operation Hot Winter (2008), Operation Cast Lead (2009), Operation Pillar of Defense (2012), Operation Protective Edge (2014), Operation Guardian of the Walls (2021) and Operation Swords of Iron (2023).

Attacks began in 2001. Since then (August 2014 data), almost 20,000 rockets have hit southern Israel,[35][36] all but a few thousand of them since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. Hamas justified these as

Rocket attacks fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip, 2001-2021[48]

counter-attacks to the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The rockets have killed 28 people and injured hundreds more. The range of the rockets has increased over time. The original Qassam rocket has a range of about 10 km (6.2 mi) but more advanced rockets, including versions of the old Soviet Grad or Katyusha have hit Israeli targets 40 km (25 mi) from Gaza.[37]

Some analysts see the attacks as a shift away from reliance on suicide bombing, which was previously Hamas's main method of attacking Israel, as an adoption of the rocket tactics used by the Lebanese group Hezbollah.[38]

Participating Groups

All the Palestinian armed groups carry out rocket and mortar attacks, with varying frequency.[28] The main groups are Hamas, Islamic Jihad,[39] the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,[40] the Popular Resistance Committees,[41] Fatah,[42] and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.[28] In June 2007, Hamas took over from Fatah as the de facto governing authority in the Gaza Strip,[43] while Fatah holds the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority.

Islamic Jihad has involved other Palestinians in the activities, running summer camps where children we're taught how to hold a Qassam rocket launcher.[44] One Islamic Jihad rocket maker, Awad al-Qiq, was a science teacher and headmaster at a United Nations school. Christopher Gunness, a UNRWA spokesman, said the UN had "zero-tolerance policy towards politics and militant activities in our schools", but that they "cannot police people's minds."[45]

A 2007 report by Human Rights Watch found "little evidence that Palestinian security forces we're making efforts to prevent rocket attacks or to hold responsible the militants who launch them." In some cases, "Palestinian security officials themselves acknowledged they we're not acting to stop the attacks."[46]

The Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center estimated that in 2007[47] the proportions of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip were:

• 34% Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Al Quds)
• 22% Hamas (Qassam)
• 8% Fatah (Kafah)
• 6% Popular Resistance Committees (al Nasser)
• 30% unknown

Statistics

Precisely counting the number of rockets fired is impossible, and differing estimates have been given. The injury figures and attack counts below are attributed to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[192] Prior to 4 September 2005, the majority of attacks we're against Israeli targets within the Gaza Strip.[192]

| Year | Dead | Injured | Rocket attacks | Mortar attacks | Total attacks | % change |