In February 2008, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Hot Winter (Hebrew: מבצע חורף חם, romanized: Mivtza Horef Ham), also called Operation Warm Winter, in the Gaza Strip, starting on February 29, 2008 in response to Qassam rockets fired from the Strip by Hamas onto Israeli civilians. At least 112 Palestinians, along with three Israelis, were killed, and more than 150 Palestinians and seven Israelis were injured.
There was some international concern over the scale of the operation, with the United States Department of State encouraging Israel to exercise caution to avoid the loss of innocent life, and the United Nations criticising Israel's "disproportionate use of force". The European Union demanded an immediate end to Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and also Israel's "disproportionate use of force".
Background
After the Gaza–Egypt border breach by Hamas during an Israeli blockade of Gaza, Shin Bet officials concluded the Palestinian militant groups had smuggled large numbers of longer-ranged missiles, such as Katyushas and Grads into the strip.
On February 27, 2008, Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired six Grad missiles at Ashkelon, lightly injuring several people and prompting an Israeli vow to respond.
Operation
According to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), the operation was aimed at disrupting militant infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. One of the targets was Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh's office.
Troops from the Givati Brigade, Combat Engineering forces and the Armor Corps are also known to have been involved in the ground operation. The Israeli Air Force was also involved, carrying out airstrikes and providing tactical support for the ground troops. A source in the IDF said that the cooperation between ground and air forces was satisfactory.
From February 29 to March 1, Israel mostly carried out airstrikes at ammo warehouses, rocket factories, rocket warehouses and launching cells, combined with small incursions close to the border. Despite the IAF presence in the whole Gaza Strip and the IDF presence in the border areas, the Palestinian militants managed to fire more than 200 rockets during the operation, most of them at Sderot, but at least 20 at Ashkelon and 1 at Netivot.
After a day in which 50 rockets were fired, IDF decided to change its strategy on March 2 and sent a whole regiment (about 2,000 men) into northern Gaza Strip to occupy Jabalia and Shuja'iyya but met stiff resistance from the Palestinians. Military deaths totalled four Palestinian fighters and two Israeli soldiers.
On March 3, 2008, Israel, according to the IDF, was free to search for factories, militant infrastructure, Qassam warehouses and rocket launchers in the two towns. In the evening, Israel pulled out its troops from the Gaza Strip, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the operation ended but Israel would soon return to counter the rocket firing and said the airstrikes "would continue".
Casualties
As of March 4, 2008, 110 Palestinian fatalities had been reported. While Israel claimed that most casualties were militants, Palestinians said more than half of those killed were civilians. March 1 has been noted as "the bloodiest day for Palestinians" since the Second Intifada began in 2000, when almost half the dead were civilians including children. Israeli human rights movement B'Tselem expressed its grave concern at "the large number of children and other uninvolved (Palestinian) civilians among those killed and wounded in the Gaza Strip".
According to B'Tselem, there were 54 civilian casualties. Civilian casualties included children, women and even infants. A 13-year-old Palestinian youth was also killed in the West Bank in the demonstrations staged by West Bank Palestinians in support of Hamas in Gaza. Militant deaths were mostly Hamas members, as well as some Islamic Jihad members, and one member of the PRC. The Associated Press and other news outlets did not report that civilians accounted for the majority of Palestinian casualties, but that they accounted for "dozens". Israel's attacks in Gaza aired prominently on Arab TV news channels.
While expressing regret for civilian casualties, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak blamed "Hamas and those firing rockets at Israel," his office said in a statement, pledging to continue the offensive to protect Israeli towns and cities. The Israeli army said it was targeting rocket squads, and blamed militants for operating in populated areas. Associated Press photos showed rockets being launched from densely populated areas in northern Gaza. On 5 March 2008, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office announced that Israel would maintain its pressure on Hamas. Olmert did leave the door open to an unofficial truce with Hamas. "If there is no rocket fire at Israel, there won't be Israeli attacks on Gaza," he told reporters. Israeli government spokesman David Baker said Israel was "compelled to continue to take these defensive measures" to protect more than 200,000 Israelis living under the threat of Palestinian rocket barrages.Militants "hide behind their own civilians, using them as human shields, while actively targeting Israeli population centers," Baker said. "They bear the responsibility for the results." Israeli military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich called Saturday's action a "pinpoint operation" provoked by the rocket attack on Ashkelon earlier in the week. She blamed the high civilian toll on Hamas' practice of using homes to store and produce projectiles. "We are not targeting homes and we have no intentions of targeting uninvolved civilians," she said. "We will target launchers and Hamas militants, and bunkers." In Washington, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe expressed regret for loss of civilian life on both sides but put most of the blame on the Palestinians. "There is a clear distinction between terrorist rocket attacks that target civilians and action in self-defense," he said in a statement.
One Israeli 8-year-old had his leg amputated in a rocket attack. One Israeli civilian was killed in a rocket attack in Sderot. Two Israeli soldiers were also killed by Hamas forces during an incursion into the Gaza Strip. Soldiers from the Givati infantry brigade were wounded. A much larger number of civilians were wounded or treated for shock. The rocket attacks caused widespread fear and hardship in Israeli border communities and damaged millions of dollars' worth of property, including schools.
Reactions
Involved parties
- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert slammed criticism of Israel for the operation, and stated that Israel had no intention to stop it. He added that critics of Israel were not heard when Israeli civilians were being hurt. Israel has denied that it has committed war crimes.
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas temporarily suspended contacts with Israel, with "Israeli aggression" as the stated reason. Palestinian observer to the United Nations referred to Israeli military actions as "war crimes".
- A Hamas official declared that Israel had "crossed the line" by attacking Ismail Haniyeh's office building. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a prominent Hamas leader, claimed that Israel lost in Operation Hot Winter, and that these were five black days for Barak and Olmert.