Palestinian rocket fire rages as IDF bombs more tunnels
Fifty rockets pounded southern Israel Tuesday night and early Wednesday. Most were intercepted and there were no casualties. Alerts sounded from locations bordering on Gaza up to Ness Ziona. Hamas claimed to have targeted six Israel Air Force bases. The Israeli Air Force conducted its fifth stage of the destruction of the Hamas tunnel network, dropping 122 pieces of ordnance on another 12 km, inside which rocket launchers and naval weaponry were interred. Ten terrorist operatives were believed killed in nocturnal air strikes over Khan Younes and Rafah in southern Gaza.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu named national security adviser Meir Ben Shabbat as point man for Egypt’s effort to arrange a ceasefire from Thursday, May 20 at 6:00. Ben Shabbat was told not to agree to anything at this point. Most ministers see the IDF operation ending no later than the coming weekend.