The Shomron Council is gearing up to host Israeli who live along the Gaza border and have been under massive rocket fire these past few days, offering them a Shabbat respite.

Residents of the Shomron who wish to host a family from Israel’s battered south this Shabbat, can call: 1700-700-0106.

The Israel Defense Forces called up a limited number of reservists following a second day of rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israel.

The reservists — for air defense, according to the Israel Defense Forces — were summoned on Thursday, when 17 more rockets were fired at Israel. Seven landed in Israel and two were intercepted by the Iron Dome system. The remainder hit Palestinian areas. Another rocket struck southern Israel after the announcement was made but caused no damage.

At least seven rockets were fired at southern Israel shortly after the Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Gaza said it would abide by the cease-fire mediated by Egypt in 2012 amid an Israeli operation to stop rocket attacks.

Four rockets were fired Thursday morning at Ashkelon and Ashdod, with two landing in open fields between the cities and one intercepted over Ashkelon by Iron Dome. Ashdod closed schools without rocket-proof shelters following attacks.

Hours later, Israel’s Air Force retaliated by targeting seven “terror sites” in the southern Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue to respond militarily to the attacks.

“Our policy in the South is clear — we attack anyone who attempts to hurt us and we will react with a powerful force,” Netanyahu said Thursday morning. “I want to clarify that whoever tries to hurt our Purim celebrations, we will respond with force.” Purim begins on Saturday evening.

Israel’s security Cabinet met Thursday morning to discuss the escalation in attacks from Gaza.

The previous evening, Islamic Jihad fired dozens of rockets at southern Israel, with 41 landing in Israeli territory, including five in residential neighborhoods. Iron Dome shot down at least three of the rockets. The IDF responded by hitting what it called in a statement 29 “terror locations” in Gaza with artillery fire. Israeli residents were instructed to remain within 15 seconds of a bomb shelter overnight. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks and urged restraint from all sides. The U.S. State Department in its condemnation of the attacks said Israel has a right to defend itself.

Wednesday’s attack was the largest on Israel since the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense, the IDF said.

The Israeli Air Force bombed seven terror targets, four in southern Gaza and three in the north around midnight Thursday after Gaza terrorists ignored the Islamic Jihad’s ceasefire announcement.

Eight short-range exploded in southern Israel between noon and night, and additional eight rockets missed their targets and landed in Gaza., causing damage to a home, IDF Spokesman Peter Lerner said in a statement after midnight. The Iron Dome intercepted two of the missiles aimed at Israeli civilians.

“Civilians in southern Israel face an unbearable reality, a reality the IDF will not allow to become routine,” Lerner said, “We will continue to retaliate to the aggression emanating from the Hamas run Gaza Strip. Militants attacking Israel from the Gaza Strip will not feel safe, will pay the price and will find that their actions are futile.”

Islamic Jihad claimed that it did not fore any of the rockets after it announced that Egypt had brokered a ceasefire. Israel denied it was part of any agreement, but Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said “quiet would be met with quiet.” He also said that rocket fire will be met with rocket fire.

It was apparent that both Islamic and Israel were interested in putting an end to the latest round of attacks and retaliations, but there are dozens of minor terrorist organizations in Gaza who always are interested in throwing their weight around.

The ceasefire that is not a ceasefire still may come into existence in the next couple of days if Hamas sees it has nothing to gain by an all-out Israeli attack and if it has the capability or controlling smaller terror gangs.

Hamas has little room to maneuver. Having been isolated by Hamas, its only real allies are Hezbollah and Iran.

The only thing it might gain from continued conflict with Israel is breaking up the  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace talk show, but Kerry so far has displayed amazing talents at doing that without any outside help.

Gaza terrorists fired two rockets towards Ashkelon Thursday afternoon, six more on Sderot and other Gaza Belt communities in the evening and at least another two at night in what was a typical signature of a Gaza ceasefire.

All of the missiles exploded in open areas and caused little or no damage.

Israel has denied knowledge of the agreement that Islamic Jihad terrorists said earlier in the day was put into effect with help of mediators from Egypt. Islamic Jihad denied that its terrorists launched the rockets after it said it was holding hits fire.

Sporadic rocket fire by Gaze terrorists is part of a typical Gaze ceasefire.

There have been dozens of announcements  over the past years of a truce or “calm” – the Arabs have all kinds of names to get out of using the word “ceasefire” –  and virtually every one of them goes into effect with a couple of rocket attacks, a farewell salute to another attempt to kill a few more Zionists.

The Arabs love gunfire and rockets. No Arab wedding is complete without fireworks. No Hamas or Fatah rally is decent without machine guns hoisted in the air. And no ceasefire, as temporary as it is, can be consummated without its being broken, just to show everyone how useless it is.

Israel always has played along with the game, unless one of those aimless rockets happens to hit someone, and then the ceasefire is postponed until after the next round of retaliation, attacks and retaliation.

Gaza terrorists always like to get in the last word, or shot, and it is easy for Islamic Jihad or Hamas to say that some small group, perhaps a couple of kids who decided to form their own clubhouse terrorist gang, launched the rockets to show Hamas who really is in charge.

Hamas is certainly not in charge, and Egypt has further isolated it, bypassing it and talking directly to Islamic Jihad leaders, a move that could further weaken Hamas’ control of Gaza.

Hamas either stood by  jealously while Islamic Jihad fired dozens of missiles on Israel this week or simply was not able to wield any influence over its rival terrorists, who were aided by three other smaller gangs.

Gaza has been a hell-hole by all accounts. That is the way it was when Egypt neglected it before the Six-Day War in 1967, and that is the way it has been since Yasser Arafat started making peace with Israel in the 1980s by killing as many Jews as possible. Things got even worse when Hamas ousted rival Fatah faction in a bloody militia war in 2005.

Israel has said it knows nothing of a ceasefire and that it does not negotiate with terrorists, a blatant bluff, if not lie, since that is what it did to conclude the hostilities a year and a half ago when it launched the Pillar of Defense campaign to stop missile fire that reached as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Thursday “quiet will be met with quiet” and that if missile attacks resume, “we know how to hit whoever has to be hit,” de facto confirmations that the shooting is over – for now, unless Hamas continues to lose control over the terrorist gangs and  the rocket attacks continue,

Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) raised $20 million on Tuesday at its annual national gala, held in New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel.

Some 1,400 guests from the U.S., Panama, and Israel attended the event, where IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz thanked the organization “for choosing to stand by our side and open your hearts to our soldiers.”

Gantz also remarked on recent events, including the seizure of an illicit Gaza-bound arms shipment from Iran aboard the Klos C cargo ship. “Terrorist organizations do not rest and are continuing their large efforts to smuggle weapons into Gaza,” Gantz said.

He returned Israel as Gaza terrorists pummeled the Western Negev with missiles.

Islamic Jihad leaders said Thursday afternoon that Egypt has brokered a ceasefire following the Israeli Air Force’s bombing of smuggling tunnels in the Gaza-Egypt border city of Rafiah Thursday afternoon in retaliation for Islamic Jihad missile attacks on the Ashkelon-Ashdod area earlier in the day.

Israel has not commented on the report, but there is relative quiet in the Jewish communities near Gaza.

“The ceasefire has been reached with the mediation of Egypt and will continue until Israel breaks it,” Islamic Jihad said in a statement.

Assuming the terrorists honor the ceasefire, which probably will be broken by an occasional Kassam rocket attack just to let everyone that the terrorists are not sleeping, it will put an end to the latest war of chickens.

The sudden and massive missile barrage on Israel last night and today caused no injuries other than emotional shock, and it is not coincidental that the equally massive IDF retaliation Wednesday did not cause any casualties.Gaza sources said three people were injured in the aerial strikes on Rafiah. No one was killed, and terrorists’ smuggling tunnels and not the terrorists themselves were the targets.

Nobody except the simple peasants in Gaza want an escalation of violence to the point that Israel has no choice other than to make Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s dream come true by invading and taking over Gaza, rescuing the average Mohammed on the street from the despotic Hamas regime that has made their lives worse than miserable, although Yasser Arafat gets the credit for having stared the bomb rolling down that road.

Islamic Jihad launched a new round of attacks on Israel as a response to the Israeli military’s killing three of its terrorist after they fired a mortar shell at Israeli soldiers earlier this week..

Iran could have a hand in the decision to strike back since Israel exposed the Islamic Republic regime’s evil hand in trying to arm Hamas so it can carry out a proxy war on Israel. If Israel really wants to retaliate for the missile attacks, Tehran is a better target than Gaza, but that is not going to happen so long as President Barack Obama keeps Iran chattering so no one can hear the sounds of centrifuges spinning out enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb.

Islamic Jihad got much needed PR from its “missile roulette” attacks. No Israeli was injured, so Israel could respond “proportionately” and hit unmanned terrorist posts and underground missile launchers without eliminating a few terrorists. The IDF has to retaliate so that Gaza terrorists would not get a message that they could extend their assault northwards towards Tel Aviv. They are saving that for a future war if it decides to commit suicide.

Lieberman notwithstanding, Israel cannot invade Gaza without nothing worse than malign neglect from its useless friends in the European Union, who as recently as today continue to blame Jerusalem for the perennial humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad terrorists are a bunch of chickens. They did nothing but panic the residents of southern Israel, who are not as valuable to the Israeli government as the good citizens of Tel Aviv.

The IDF played chicken but did so out of strength, not weakness.

These chicken wars have taken place before and they will take place again.

The problem is that one day, one of those chickens is going to launch a missile that “misfires” and hits, God forbid, a hospital, kindergarten, shopping center or a family bedroom.

If that happens, the terrorists won’t be able to flee the subsequent invasion of Gaza because chickens can’t fly.

Israeli ground and aerial attacks targeted 29 terror sites in Gaza in a quick and widespread retaliation Wednesday night, hours after Islamic Jihad said it was behind a massive missile and mortar shelling barrage of Jewish communities near Gaza.

The retaliation came two hours after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, “If there is no quiet in Israel, there will be noise in Gaza, and that is an understatement.”

The IDF said that direct hits were confirmed in the artillery and aerial fire. IDF Spokesman Peter Lerner said that the barrage from Gaza towards sunset Wednesday involved 41 rockers, five of which exploded in populated areas and three of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system. No injuries were reported, and property damage was minimal.

It was the most serious retaliation for Gaza missile attacks since the Pillar of Defense counter terrorist camping in November 2012.

“This retaliation was precise and prompt. We targeted the infrastructure that serves the terrorists while they train, plan and implement their hideous attacks. They will not be permitted to conspire in the safety of their terrorist temples,” said Lt. Col. Lerner.

Islamic Jihad spokesman said that it unleashed the barrage in revenge for the Israeli Air Force’s bombing its terrorists, three of whom were killed in a strike on Tuesday following the shelling of Israeli soldiers on patrol near the Gaza security fence.

Regardless of whether the attacks were carried out with Hamas’ permission, it may help tighten the noose on Hamas.

The new Egyptian military regime has followed its ban of the Muslim Brotherhood bydeclaring an enemy.

The regime has destroyed hundreds of smuggling tunnels.

The Israeli Navy’s seizure last week of Iranian missiles destined for Gaza via Sudan exposed the Tehran-Gaza connection in capital letters.

Hamas has gone to the extreme to spit on the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, whose peace plans, worthless anyway, are even more of a sick joke without Gaza.

The U.S. State Dept. not only stated on Wednesday that Israel has every right to retaliate to defend its citizens, it also did not come up with the usual nonsense of pleading for a “proportional response,” although a true proportional response would be to flatten Gaza.

The Egyptian siege on Gaza, which has included the frequent closure of the crossing at Rafiah, the southern Gaza smuggling capital that straddles the Egyptian-Gaza border, has taken the wind out of the sails of the anti-Israeli chorus that condemns an Israeli siege that does not exist, except on the seas. The Iranian arms ship was clear evidence and support for the maritime embargo.

Hamas has been losing control of Gaza for the past year or so. Rival terrorist organizations are competing with Hamas, whose weakness is symbolized by its public executions and imposition of Muslim law on residents. The Bethlehem-based Ma’an News Agency added, “Three other Palestinian militant groups also claimed to have participated in the attacks on Israel, including the National Resistance Brigades, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade.”

After Wednesday’s attacks on Israel, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for invading Gaza and taking control.

That would be too good a solution for Gaza’s residents, whose younger generation does not even remember the days of economic prosperity and peace and quiet of the 1970s and early 1980s when Israel officially controlled Gaza but in fact gave local officials a free hand to run their own affairs.

Hamas has a lot more sweating to do before Israel saves Gaza from its Hamas executors.

In what was the heaviest rocket barrage against Israel in two years, 55 projectiles were fired from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday evening, March 12. The rockets were reported to have been launched from east Gaza City neighborhood of Shuja’iyya. Islamic Jihad’s military wing, Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks.

In Sderot, several sirens were sounded warning residents of impending rockets. One rocket reportedly landed near a municipal library. “We heard four Color Red sirens and an explosion,” Meital Ohayon of Sderot told Tazpit News Agency. Ohayon had been dressing her children in Purim costumes at the time of the attacks.

Elsewhere in southern Israel, a 57-year-old woman broke her hip as she raced to make it to a shelter in time.

The IDF stated that eight rockets had hit urban, civilian areas including Sderot. The IDF Spokesperson’s Office added that the Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted three rockets.

Rocket warning sirens were heard across Israeli communities bordering the Gaza Strip including the Eshkol Regional Council and Sdot Negev Regional Council as well as Netivot and Beer Sheva.

The head of the Eshkol Regional Council, Haim Yellin stated that “since Operation Pillar of Defense, we have experienced quiet and we are finally living normal daily routines. This was the most significant escalation since that operation. The government of Israel must act accordingly both militarily and on a state level so that the quiet will return.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded saying that “It seems that the rocket fire came in response to our counter-terrorism operations yesterday. We will continue to thwart and harm those who wish to harm us and will against them with great intensity.”

Islamic Jihad declared that the firing of the rockets was in retaliation for Israel’s targeting and killing of three Islamic Jihad operatives as they prepared to fire at Israel from the Gaza Strip the previous day, on Tuesday, March 11.

Israel also recently intercepted an Iranian shipment of rockets heading to the Gaza Strip last week. Israeli military sources said that the 409 rockets on that shipment which also included arms were intended for Islamic Jihad.