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Netanyahu Lands in Israel to Grapple With Election-Eve Violence

Israel Strikes New Targets in Gaza as Netanyahu Heads Home

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in Israel and headed straight for the Defense Ministry to deal with a flareup of violence with the Gaza Strip that erupted just two weeks before close-fought elections.

The spasm of fighting died down earlier Tuesday with a last round of attacks by Israeli warplanes, tanks and helicopters that capped a night of rocket barrages from the Hamas-run territory and Israeli air raids. Netanyahu was forced to shave a day off his Washington visit after a rocket from Gaza smashed through a Tel Aviv-area home on Monday, setting off the round of violence and eclipsing a pre-election gift from Donald Trump: The U.S. president’s official recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau it captured from Syria in 1967.

Netanyahu Lands in Israel to Grapple With Election-Eve Violence

Netanyahu had hoped that Trump’s move, which defies the United Nations position on the Golan, would boost his bid for re-election on April 9, which has been dogged by corruption claims. But the Gaza flareup presents a new headache for Netanyahu, who is struggling to preserve his reputation as the guardian of Israel’s security in the face of a tough challenge at the polls from a center-left bloc led by former military chief Benny Gantz.

A major escalation could prove risky for the prime minister if Israeli casualties were to mount. So far, no fatalities have been reported on either side since the violence began.

Necessary Steps

Hamas officials said they accepted an Egyptian-brokered truce. Israel’s acting foreign minister, Israel Katz, told Kan radio there was no formal cease-fire in place and that Israel’s policies toward Gaza would change after the elections. “The deck will be reshuffled,” he said.

Special restrictions were placed protectively on communities in southern Israel on Tuesday as authorities waited to see how the day would progress, including school closures.

Both sides have made preparations for the possibility of a broader confrontation. Israel moved troops closer to its southern border and declared closed military zones near Gaza. Reserves were called up, additional Iron Dome missile-defense batteries were deployed and bomb shelters were opened, including in Tel Aviv.

In Gaza, militants abandoned their compounds on assumption they’d be targeted, and hospitals across the territory were put on an emergency footing. Universities, schools and banks weren’t operating.

--With assistance from Saud Abu Ramadan and Ivan Levingston.

To contact the reporters on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net;Saud Abu Ramadan in Jerusalem at sramadan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Paul Abelsky

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