ISRAEL PREPARES FOR WAR AS THEY CALL UP 1,500 RESERVE TROOPS

NTEB News Desk | July 7, 2014 | 23 Comments

AT LEAST 40 ROCKETS FIRED BETWEEN 8 AND 9 P.M.; FALSE ALARMS IN JERUSALEM, CENTER OF COUNTRY; ISRAEL CALLS UP 1,500 RESERVISTS; SECURITY CABINET ORDERS PHASED ESCALATION

“Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.” Psalm 121

The drumbeats of war are sounding again as Israel prepares for a major Gaza offensive after receiving non-stop rocket fire from Hamas all day Monday. The Times of Israelreports that Hamas fired more than 60 rockets into Israel between 8 and 9 p.m., to a range of some kilometers — including Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gan Yavneh, and the outskirts of Beit Shemesh.

Israeli soldiers stand next to Merkava tanks positioned on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip on July 7, 2014. ( photo credit: AFP/JACK GUEZ)

IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the military had called up 1,500 reserves troops, mostly from the Home Front Command and Iron Dome air defense crews, and deployed two additional conscripted infantry brigades, Paratroops and Givati, to the border with the Palestinian enclave Monday.

The aftermath of an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip, file photo (Photo credit: Abed Rahim Katib/Flash90)

The army, Lerner said, has shifted its readiness in order to address an escalation in the ongoing conflict with the Gaza Strip. Military officials say about 200 rockets have been fired at southern Israel since the start of the operation.