Previously, Gaza terrorists did not have the capability to reach Beersheba, Israel with their rockets.
In the past the Islamists were only able to shoot rockets 11-12 kilometers:
White Line– Mortar shells – 3 kilometers
Green Line– 115 mm rockets (Qassam 2) – 6-7 kilometers
Yellow Line– 90 mm rockets (Qassam 1) – 9 kilometers
Red Line– 115 mm improved rockets – 11-12 kilometers
Orange Line– Future Qassam development – 12-14 kilometers
Brown Line– 122mm standard Katyusha rockets (Grad) – 20.4 kilometers
(JCPA)
But in January of this year that all changed.
Gaza terrorists shot several rockets 40 kilometers into Israel for the first time.
Israel’s largest southern city Beersheba with a population of 186,000 came under attack.
YNet News reported on this frightening development.
For the first time– Terrorists hit Beersheba with rocket fire from Gaza reaching deeper into Israel than ever before.
Today the Jerusalem Post, via Free Republic, reported that Tel Aviv (map) is now under threat of rocket attack from Gaza.
The Tel Aviv area could become the newest target for rockets launched from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin said Tuesday morning during a briefing of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Yadlin said that the IDF had identified at least one test firing in which Hamas had successfully launched a rocket with a 60-kilometer range into the Mediterranean Sea.
He went on to say he is concerned that Hamas has smuggled in Fajr-style rockets, an Iranian-produced artillery rocket that was also used by Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon War. It was not clear whether he meant the Fajr 3, which has a maximum listed range of approximately 50 km or the Fajr 5, which can reach upwards of 70 kilometers.
The intelligence chief said that despite the increase in Hamas’s capabilities, the recent summer was the quietest in dozens of years for four reasons: Israeli deterrence, aspirations regarding the Obama administration’s diplomatic policy, the group’s focus on force-building and because of internal struggles that have taken energy from the organizations. Hamas, he continued, does not want any conflict with Israel so that they can direct their energies toward strengthening their civil rule in Gaza, but is still continuing to smuggle weapons in through tunnels across Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.