"Thousands" of Kassams, but how many Israeli shells?



BICOM, the Britain Israel Communications & Research Centre, is an independent organisation devoted to creating a more supportive environment for Israel in the UK.
BICOM Statistics: Since 2001, total number of identified rocket and mortar shell hits: 9,145. 24/09/2009


UN reports increase in Israeli shells fired into Gaza 2 August 2006
There has been a significant rise in the number of artillery shells fired by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) into Gaza, which remains tense, a United Nations spokesman reported today. With at least 1,050 shells fired in the last week, the UN remains “remain very concerned about the threat this poses to civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Ahmad Fawzi told reporters in New York.

BBC Jerusalem: 14 April 2006
Since the start of April, Israeli forces say they have fired more than 2,000 artillery shells into the northern Gaza Strip.

Norman Finkelstein on Democracy Now, 6/29/06
Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in September 2005 ’til today, the estimates run between 7,000 and 9,000 heavy artillery shells have been shot and fired into Gaza. On the Palestinian side, the estimates are approximately 1,000 Kassam missiles, crude missiles, have been fired into Israel. So we have a ratio of between seven and nine to one.

PalestineHistory.com link
After Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, between the end of March and the end of May 2006, Israel fired at least 5,100 artillery shells into the Gaza Strip.

UN OCHA Gaza Situation Report 1 - 8 Nov. 2006
The IDF have fired approximately 15,000 artillery shells and more than over 550 air strikes into the Gaza Strip since disengagement (2005).
Source: Palestinian District Coordination Office and OCHA Field Reports

Human Rights Watch October 2006
IDF artillery shelling into the Gaza Strip increased sharply from March 2006 (more than 446) to April 2006 (more than 4,522, a tenfold increase). Palestinian rocket fire increased much less dramatically in this period (from 136 in March to 152 in April).

Washington Report July 2006
“The use of artillery fire began, for the most part, in November 2005, and thousands of artillery shells have since been fired in retaliation to the Qassam launches.”

IDF 10/12/06
2,000 shells fired into northern Gaza and Gaza City in the first two weeks of April…

Pax Christi link
Thousands of homemade Qassam rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel from 2001 until the end of 2008, kiling 13 Israelis. Meanwhile, between 2000 and 2008 nearly 5,000 Palestinians were killed, more than half of them in Gaza. A six-month ceasefire was shattered in November 2008, when Israeli forces entered Gaza and killed six Palestinians.

Al Haq link
Between 12 September and 31 December 2005, 544 artillery shells were fired into Gaza, and there were 124 air strikes. Between January and April 2006, more than 3,600 artillery shells and 63 air strikes were launched. Most recently, in June (2006) alone, there were 1,376 shells fired and 122 air strikes.

Genocide Watch June 16, 2006
The mayor and others have called for a huge military assault on Gaza. But human rights groups, and some Israelis, contend that has already happened: Israel has fired nearly 6,000 artillery shells into Gaza over roughly the past year in retaliation for the Qassams, and the United Nations says that more than 80 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since the beginning of the year.
Since 2004, eight people have died in Israel from Qassam fire, the military (IDF) says.

Al-Haq Open Letter to Quartet Representatives on Israel‘s Bombardment of Gaza 15 April 2006
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), between 29 March and 12 April 2006, the Israeli military fired more than 2,300 shells into Gaza, amounting to more than 150 per day. Over the same time period, Israeli aircrafts launched 34 missiles into Gaza. There were 62 injured Palestinians, including 11 children, and 17 killed, amongst them two children. On 11 April, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz announced an intensification of these attacks.