Operation Summer Rains

Operation "Summer Rains"

Part of the Gaza–Israel conflict

A pair of IDF Caterpillar D9 bulldozers during operation 'Summer Rains'.

Date

June 28 – November 26, 2006

Location

Result

Israeli military victory

End of Hamas rocketfire into Israel until May 2007 (though continued attacks by other groups)
Palestinian Authority forces deploy to stop rocket launches until June 2007.

Belligerents

Israel

Fatah

Hamas

Islamic Jihad

Commanders and leaders

Strength

3,000

possibly 9,000 active militants

Casualties and losses

Figures not confirmed or verified

7 killed

5 soldiers

2 civilians
38 soldiers wounded
1 soldier captured
44 civilians injured

Figures not confirmed or verified

402 killed

277 militants

117 civilians

6 policemen

2 Presidential Guards
65 officials captured
≈ 1,000 injured

Timeline of casualties caused during the Israel-Gaza conflict

Israeli military victory

Figures not confirmed or verified

Operation "Summer Rains" (Hebrew: מבצע גשמי קיץ‎‎ Mivtza Gishmey Kayitz) refers to the series of battles between Palestinian militants and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during summer 2006, prompted by Palestinian operations which resulted in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Large-scale conventional warfare occurred in the Gaza Strip, starting on June 28, 2006. This was the first major ground operation in the Gaza Strip since Israel's unilateral disengagement plan was implemented between August and September 2005.

Israel's stated goals in Operation "Summer Rains" were to suppress the firing of Qassam rockets from Gaza into the western Negev, and to secure the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, who had been captured by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on June 25. The soldier was captured amid a background of violence between the IDF and Palestinian militant groups since the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. According to statistics published by the Israeli government, 757 missiles from Gaza hit Israel between the withdrawal and the end of June 2006. The IDF had responded with artillery fire and air raids. During the operation, the pace of both rocket fire and shelling increased dramatically, and the IDF mounted numerous ground incursions into the Gaza Strip to target militant groups and their infrastructure, including smuggling tunnels in the Philadelphi Corridor. On the first day of the conflict, Israel also bombed the only electrical power plant in the Gaza Strip.

At the start of the incursion, Israel said the operation could end if Shalit was released but noted that it had exhausted all the diplomatic means towards this end that it considered tenable. Egypt acted as a mediator over the issue of the officer's release, and on August 15 a senior Hamas official said it would not release Shalit except in exchange for the release of thousands of Palestinian detainees by Israel.

...
Wikipedia