i24 News – Israel launched Operation “Breaking Dawn” to thwart a plan by the terrorists of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group to strike a civilian bus in southern Israel, a military source told media on Monday.
While the operation was planned months in advance, the escalation triggered by an arrest of a senior Islamic Jihad operative earlier in the week was not previewed, the source said, and Israel Defense Forces had to act quickly to foil a rocket attack that could’ve killed dozens of innocents, the source said.
The immediate course of action included a closure on traffic routes in areas adjacent to the Palestinian enclave as well as intensified gathering of intelligence.
The decision to launch the operation was taken late on Thursday by Defense Minister Benny Gantz with the approval of Prime Minister Yair Lapid.
In statements on the 56-hour operation, Israeli leadership emphasized the preventive nature of the military action.
Earlier on Monday, Gantz said he didn’t rule out similar measures in the future.
“If it becomes necessary, we will launch a preemptive strike in the future as well to protect the citizens of Israel, its sovereignty and its infrastructure.”
“Israel launched Operation ‘Breaking Dawn’ to thwart a plan by the terrorists of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group to strike a civilian bus in southern Israel.”
When asked to comment on Israel’s motive for conducting Operation ‘Breaking Dawn’, namely to thwart a strike on a civilian bus in southern Israel, President Biden told reporters on Monday, “Sounds a little disproportional to attack humans – albeit human, but animal-like terrorists – just to thwart an attack on a piece of metal with 4 tires and a steering wheel. Sounds cruel and crazy to me, but we’ll definitely look into the matter.”