Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — The Israeli military has provided details of operations to foil Palestinian rocket attacks from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

A senior army commander said the military significantly enhanced its ability to track and foil Palestinian rocket squads. The commander, who was not allowed to be named, said the methods, based on technology and intelligence, sharply reduced rocket fire during the 50-day war in July and August 2014.

“Without us, many more rockets would have been fired, endangering millions of Israelis,” the commander said.

The military said Hamas and its Palestinian militia allies fired nearly 4,700 missiles, rockets and mortars into Israel. This marked the most intense rocket barrage on the Jewish state, surpassing the 4,500 missiles and rockets fired by the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah in 2006.

The officer, a senior commander in the army’s Gaza Division, said the military has developed a network to detect preparations for missile and rocket launches in the Gaza Strip. He cited the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and aerostats to track suspected enemy forces, many of whom operate around schools, mosques and clinics.

“That’s why we operate several methods in order to make sure that we are targeting an enemy,” the commander said. “We always strive to confirm 100 percent that the suspect isn’t a civilian. Yet, this does not mean that in the midst of the battle, mistakes may occur.”

Other methods used by the military during the Gaza war, dubbed Operation Protective Edge, were said to have included persistent intelligence, mapping hostile locations as well as battle damage assessments. The military said its network often forced Palestinian rocket squads to fire without proper aim, which often resulted in projectiles landing inside the Gaza Strip. The military assessed that more than 10 percent of Palestinian launches fell into the Gaza Strip.

“Throughout Operation Protective Edge, the Israel Defense Forces struck hundreds of terrorists who were caught firing rockets at Israel,” the military said on Sept. 4. “Many of them were struck right before launching, others were targeted after the act. Nevertheless, the IDF’s real-time intelligence and pinpoint striking abilities made it very difficult for terrorists to fire rockets at Israel without being targeted.”

The commander said the Gaza Division sought to maintain surveillance over numerous areas of the Gaza Strip. He cited the use of underground rocket launchers by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

“We do target retroactively, but most of our efforts are channeled towards preventing rockets from being fired,” the commander said. “Our abilities to detect rocket launching have increased immensely over the past few years.”

  000 rockets in 2006, 2014, Israel waged high tech wars against over 9, Operation Protective Edge, Palestinian rocket squads