The Patient (Gaza) is Not Responding

Decommissioning ordnance is a dangerous occupation. Best done carefully. Presumably, weapons specialists who have been schooled in the manufacture of rocketry and other missiles, such as those within Hamas who gloat over the numbers of those rockets they send over the border into Israel have a fairly good idea of precisely how lethal these missiles can be.

What, then, explains their lax attitude to handling an IDF missile that was used to respond to rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, so much so that it must have been considered perfectly fine to permit the curious to be present to gawk at the unexploded missile, and all the more so if, as it is claimed, it was in the process of being dismantled to render it harmless. Harmless it most certainly was not. And even the village idiot must be aware of that. 
That descriptive suits Hamas operatives quite well, since even though work was in progress to defuse the device, they met with a spectacular lack of success, as it exploded with the inevitable result; five people dead, including an Italian photo-journalist.


And then, of course, there were the wounded, as well. Additional numbers that Hamas can triumphantly convince the international community with that Israel is guilty of having killed and wounded. Those numbers are vital to Hamas for their propaganda value in convincing the gullible and the careless that Israel is the responsible agent for the carnage that has ensued in Gaza, certainly not Hamas, which is only, after all, 'resisting'.

It would appear, then on the evidence, that Hamas is no more skilled at the critical objective of dismantling a deadly missile than it is in the accuracy of their aim, catapulting thousands of rockets into Israel in the fond hope that some will reach a tender target, giving reason to celebrate the Islamist terrorists' death-dealing skills. It seems peculiar, as well, that the missile had obviously lain there for days, since before the declaration of the latest cease-fire, and been given no prior attention.

"A number of explosives experts were killed while dismantling a missile in Beit Lahiya. Among them was a foreign journalist," Hamas Interior Ministry spokesperson Iyad al-Buzam stated, and the Italian government identified the journalist as Simone Camilli who had worked for the Associated Press since 2005. That poor man met his maker who might have scolded him for not taking the due care one might expect someone in his experienced position to have taken to prevent himself from becoming another statistic.

"Simone Camilli's death is a tragedy for his family and for the country. Once more a reporter pays the price for a war that has lasted too many years," stated Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini. And she is perfectly correcte; it is a tragedy when anyone dies, no matter who they happen to be. And increasingly, journalists, reporters, photojournalists have been caught up in the death and destruction that accompanies conflict; this one a war of attrition that has indeed lasted far, far too long a time.

Israel, as it happens, agreed to extend this latest 72-hour ceasefire that began at midnight on Sunday. Hamas has decided it would continue to be in their best interests not to agree to another extension. Perhaps Saudi Arabia's latest offer to fund the rebuilding of Gaza gave them reason to be defiant to reason and to the dire need of the Palestinians living in Gaza to see the end of violence. Before the ceasefire ended, rockets struck again in Israel.

Light streaks are seen in the sky on Wednesday evening, as Israel reports renewed rocket fire from Gaza

But then, a change of heart and the Palestinian delegation agreed to an extension, after all. Despite which, though denying they are continuing to lob rockets into Israel, the missiles somehow manage to lift off on their own under great velocity and grim determination. So, within the context of this latest extension to the latest ceasefire, there is answering air strikes on Gaza.