Report: Hamas Rings Gaza with Rocket Launchers

Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization has installed an array of rocket launchers and projectiles in a very narrow “buffer zone” along Israel’s southern border, according to a report Wednesday night by Israel’s KAN News 11 public broadcaster.

חשיפה: מערך הרקטות החדש של חמאס | @eliorlevy עם הפרסום ב-#חדשותהערב pic.twitter.com/MRznVJh0fl

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About half of the terrorist organization’s arsenal of 10,000 rockets was planted in the buffer zone — an open area between the perimeter fence with Israel and the first line of homes in the enclave.

The rocket-lined “security belt” stretches around the entire Gaza Strip, from north to south, according to the report.

The rocket launchers are planted in pits about a half a meter (1.6 feet) deep. All are connected to a Hamas rocket fire array that is activated remotely, Channel 11 reported.

The rocket array is camouflaged in the fields under agricultural crops.

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Hamas is currently working on producing enough rockets to fire at Israel in the “hundreds” every day for a month.

One of the reasons Hamas did not join Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s mini-war against Israel earlier this month has to do with the fact that Gaza’s rulers have not yet reached this goal.

The last time Gaza terrorist organizations tested the capabilities of the rocket array was in the “Guardian of the Walls” operation, when some 4,000 rockets were fired at Israel in just 11 days. The peak of the rocket fire came on the second day of the campaign, when 480 missiles were launched into Israeli territory. Since then, the numbers have dropped to between 250 and 400 rockets a day.

For the sake of comparison, during the 2014 war with Gaza known as Operation Protective Edge — which lasted 51 days — some 4,600 rockets and mortar shells were launched into Israel. The daily record during that war was reached with 195 launches on the third day of that operation.