One might think that the firing of mortar shells and rockets into southern Israel is a Heavenly decree that may not be stopped. Rather than focusing on halting the unprovoked terror from Hamas-led Gaza, we continue focusing efforts on early detection and response.

The defense establishment is proudly announcing that in the coming year, it foresees major progress in the development of the early-warning system for mortar shells. To date, there has not been any early warning, only for Kassam and Katyusha rockets.

The “Raz” system was tested during Operation Cast Lead, and emerged with high ratings. It should be pointed out, that even with ‘early detection,’ a rocket launch from northern Gaza into the southern belt Gaza areas will at most provide a number of seconds. The distance from launch to impact is too close.

In other southern-related matters, American technicians arrived in Israel in the past days and are working in setting up units capable of detecting tunnels used to smuggle weapons and ammunition. The tunnel detection system is expected to go operational in the coming days.

During the past week, at least 14 rockets and 15 mortar shells landed in Israel. On Wednesday, Gaza crossings were opened, permitting 135 trucks with humanitarian aid to enter the Hamas-controlled area.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)