The ongoing, increasingly deadly fighting between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has produced dramatic images and videos of Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket air defense system shooting down incoming enemy rockets. The Iron Dome, which the United States helped finance, has apparently proven to be 85 to 90 percent effective in shooting the crude rockets that Hamas has fired at Israeli civilian population centers this week, according to the IDF.
But a system that shoots down nine out of 10 rockets is less effective when hundreds, or even thousands, of rockets are involved, and the Iron Dome could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
In a rapid escalation following a local dispute in Jerusalem on Monday, Palestinian militants have fired approximately 1,800 rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel over the last 3 days, according to the New York Times. Israel has also carried out airstrikes targeting Gaza....MORE
