On Wednesday, in response to rocket attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Israel launched a series of air strikes that killed Hamas military leader Ahmed al-Jabari. Today, both sides have reported a number of casualties. Isabel Kershner, reporter for Takeaway partner The New York Times, is in the Israeli town of Sderot, on the Gaza border.
Tensions between Israel and Gaza have run high since Israel unilaterally disengaged from Gaza in 2005. Palestinians living in Gaza launched rockets into Israel in the years following Israel's disengagement, and Israel launched a three-week offensive into Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009, killing approximately 1,400 Palestinians.?
As Israeli-Palestinian tensions rise, Israel may feel particularly isolated in the post-Arab Spring Middle East. In stark contrast to ousted Egyptian president and military commander Hosni Mubarak, current Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party released a statement that read, in part, "The wanton aggression against Gaza proves that Israel has yet to realize that Egypt has changed and that the Egyptian people who revolted against oppression will not accept assaulting Gaza."
Aaron David Miller, Vice President at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and former Middle East negotiator, discusses the current conflict and Israel's position in the evolving Middle East.
?The wanton aggression against Gaza proves that Israel has yet to realize that Egypt has changed and that the Egyptian people who revolted against oppression will not accept assaulting Gaza.?
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