We are dedicated to keeping you up-to-date with all of the latest information coming out of Israel following Thursday’s multiple terrorist attacks in Israel’s South. Please keep checking back for more information
>22 August: 4:15am Melbourne time , 9:00pm local Israeli time: Despite the ceasefire, more rockets have been launched into Israel, one lands on the Ashkelon beach area. No injuries or damage has been reported.
> 22 August: Palestinians again announce that they will observe a ceasefire, brokered by Egypt. Israeli officials say that the ceasefire has been declared unilaterally by the Palestinians but at this stage the IAF has not launched any retaliatory stirkes (see more).
> 22 August: Senior political source explains why they have deferred a major ground operation in Gaza: “The entire Middle East is boiling over now, and we have to choose our path very carefully… We have to look at the entire region and decide how it could be affected, and what the consequenes may be for us. It would be a mistake to get dragged into a war.” (see more).
>22 August Senior Hamas officials have reportedly entered underground tunnels in fear that Israel may attack them, and are operating with restricted movement (see more).
> 22 August: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev says the Palestinian silence regarding Thursday’s terrorist attack in the South was “deafening,” and raises serious questions about the Palestinian Authority’s readiness for independence. (see more)
> Monday 22 August, 1:35pm local Melbourne time: It is now 6:35am in Israel and the ceasefire was broken throughout the night. Last reports of rocket attacks were at around 1:20am, when a rocket was fired from Gaza at the city of Ashkelon, prompting the activation of air raid sirens. Officials said the rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome. Previously just after midnight, two rockets were fired from Gaza, landing in the Sderot area, causing no injuries or damage. (see more)
> 21 August: Hamas declares a ceasefire which was supposed to take effect at 9:00pm. At 9:30pm, 2 Grad rockets were fired at Ashkelon with one being intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system. The other landed in open space. At 10:30pm a Kassam rocket also landed in Southern Israel. (see more)
> 21 August 2011: Jerusalem police raise alert level after warnings of terror attack. Roadblocks have been put up throughout the city and security forces are carrying out security checks on passing cars. (reports here and here)
> 21 August: The names of 7 of the 8 victims of Thursday’s terror attack near Eilat are released. Four of the victims were sisters and their husbands travelling to Eilat together…
Chief Warrant Officer Pascal Avrahami, 49, of Jerusalem
Flora Gez, 52, and her husband Moshe Gez, 53, of Kfar Sava
Shula Karlinsky, 54 and her husband Dov Karlinsky, 58, of Kfar Sava
Yosef Levy, 57, of Holon
St-Sgt Moshe Naftali, 22, of Ofra
Yehi Zichram Barch
> 21 August: Hamas breaks international law by firing a mortar shell with phosphorus at the Kerem Shalom land crossing along the Israel-Gaza border. See photos here.
> 21 August, 10:23am local Israel time: A third barrage of rockets hits Be’er Sheva. One Grad rocket hits a school gym. Israeli school children are currently in the last week of their summer vacation so fortunately students were not at school. See photo here.
> 21 August: The Australian federal government condemns the attacks in Southern Israel. Acting Foreign Minister Craig Emerson issues a statement.
> Saturday 20 August: Rockets from Gaza claim Israeli fatality. Yossi Shushan, 38, was on his way to pick up his wife, who is nine months pregnant, from her brother’s home in Be’er Sheva when the air raid siren sounded signalling incoming rockets. A salvo of Grad rockets launched at the largest city in Israel’s south, kills him and wounds ten more people, two critically. In nearby Ofakim, a four-month-old baby and a 9-year-old boy were hurt when a rocket hit their home.
> Timeline Friday August 19 to Sunday August 21: Three days of rocket strikes on southern Israel.
Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip are firing barrages of rockets and mortar shells at Israel’s southern communities of Ashdod, Be’er Sheva, Ashkelon, Ofakim and surrounding areas, killing at least 1 Israeli and injuring many others, some critically.
> Sunday 21 August: IDF Spokesperson Avital Leibovich tweets that in the last 3 days, over 100 rockets launched from Gaza to Israel, with over 100 Israelis wounded, 9 Israelis killed and 1 million in shelters. (see here)
> 19 August: ZCV president Sam Tatarka issues a statement to Victorian general and Jewish media addressing terror attacks in Israel’s south.
> 19 August 2011: Israel Advocacy Network Update by Jack Chrapot and Emily Gian.
> Friday 19 August 2011: Immediately following 4 coordinated terror attacks near Eilat, civilian communities in southern Israel are again the target of rockets, missiles and mortars from terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip. See more.
> Thursday 18 August 2011: A series of terrorist attacks in Southern Israel leads to 8 Israelis being killed and over 30 wounded. See more. See also timeline of attacks on the Sinai border here.