Israel strikes targets in Gaza after rocket attack
Kassam falls south of Ashkelon, but no casualties or damage reported; IDF confirms ‘direct hits’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleItamar Sharon is a news editor at The Times of Israel
Israeli aircraft struck targets in the Gaza Strip late Saturday night, hours after Palestinian terrorists fired a Kassam rocket at the coastal city of Ashkelon.
The rocket fell south of the city. It did not cause any damage and there were no casualties reported.
“IAF aircraft targeted 5 terror sites, 4 terror sites in the northern Gaza Strip and an additional location in the southern Gaza Strip,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in an email statement. “Direct hits were confirmed.”
“The retaliation this evening at Gaza terrorist aggression was precision, and intelligence based,” said IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner. “It is our obligation to seek out those that wish to attack us, eliminate their capabilities and pursue them wherever they hide. Hamas rocket terrorism is an intolerable reality Israelis should not have to accept.”
According to Palestinian sources quoted by Ynet, one of the targets hit by Israel in response was in the northern Gaza Strip — likely a rocket silo.
No one was injured in the strike, the report said.
On Thursday night the Israeli Air Force struck five militant targets in the Gaza Strip, after three rockets were fired into Israel from the Palestinian coastal territory.
The past month has seen a resurgence in rocket attacks on the western Negev for the first time since November 2012, when the IDF and militant factions in the Strip fought an eight-day war.
Over a two-day period in early March, dozens of rockets were fired at Israel. The attacks were claimed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization, which said they were a retaliation for Israel’s killing of its operatives.
The Times of Israel Community.