Rocket sirens sound in southern Israel after IDF renews Gaza strikes
Hamas says overnight barrage of over 30 projectiles aims to ‘deliver message’ to Israel; IDF says it targeted two attack tunnels and Hamas bases in Gaza Strip
Rocket sirens sounded in southern Israel communities on Saturday afternoon, shortly after the IDF announced it had renewed strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip.
Residents reported hearing the sounds of explosions.
Gaza terror grpups fired more than 30 rockets and mortars toward Israel overnight after the IDF struck a number of Hamas targets in Gaza in response to violence along the border.
No injuries or damage were reported, but warning sirens wailed for much of the night in border communities including the Sdot HaNegev Regional Council area and the town of Sderot.
Hamas on Saturday said the barrage of rockets and mortar shells into Israeli territory overnight was fired by the “resistance” to “stop Israeli escalation.”
The spokesman for the terrorist group, Fawzi Barhoum, also said the projectiles were an “immediate response” that was meant to “deliver the message” to Israel.
ההסלמה בדרום | שרידי רקטה שנפלה במהלך הלילה בשער הנגב @bokeralmog
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The army earlier on Saturday said it targeted two Hamas attack tunnels as well as other military compounds in the Strip, including those involved in the spate of incendiary kite and balloon attacks.
Even as the airstrikes were being carried out, the IDF said rockets were fired toward Israel.
According to the IDF, six projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system. One rocket landed inside a kibbutz in the Shar HaNegev Regional Council area.
The army said it held Hamas responsible for all violence emanating from Gaza, which it has ruled since 2007.
“The Hamas terror organization is responsible for the events transpiring in the Gaza Strip and emanating from it and will bear the consequences for its actions against Israeli civilians and Israeli sovereignty,” the army said, adding that “the IDF views Hamas’ terror activity with great severity and is prepared for a wide variety of scenarios.”
The IDF said aircraft had attacked “an offensive terror tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, in addition to several terror sites in military compounds throughout the Gaza Strip, among them complexes used to prepare arson terror attacks and a Hamas terror organization training facility.”
The IDF published video of its air strikes.
On Saturday morning, residents of southern Israel were told to return to their usual routines having spent most of Friday night in bomb shelters.
The head of the Eshkol Regional Council said although residents should go about their daily lives, they should stay close to a shelter.
Local authorities in southern Israel have banned outdoor gatherings of over 100 people and have shuttered the Gaza-adjacent Zikim beach.
The latest round of violence has threatened to spark a further conflagration after weeks of tensions along the volatile border.
Israel in recent weeks has repeatedly warned Hamas that while it has no interest in engaging in the kind of conflict that led to the sides fighting three wars over the past decade, it would not tolerate its continued efforts to breach the border fence and its campaign to devastate Israeli border communities with incendiary attacks.
On Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered near the Gaza border for their near-weekly protest. The army said protesters attacked soldiers with grenades, bombs, Molotov cocktails and rocks.
A 15-year-old Palestinian who tried to climb over the fence into Israel was shot dead, media reports in Gaza said.
Later the IDF said an Israeli officer was moderately wounded by a grenade thrown at him during the clashes at the border.
On Saturday, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza announced that a 19-year-old succumbed to his wounds sustained at the clashes a day earlier.
It was not clear whether the two deaths were tied to the attack that wounded the Israeli officer.
Gaza officials said 220 others were hurt in Friday’s riots. Most were treated at the scene, while several dozen were taken to hospital. The violence was held under the banner of “Identifying with Khan al-Ahmar,” a West Bank Bedouin village whose planned demolition by Israel is being debated at the High Court.
Since March 30, weekly clashes have taken place on the Gaza border, with Israel accusing Hamas of using the demonstrations as cover to carry out attacks and attempt to breach the security fence. The “March of Return” protests have also seen Palestinians fly airborne incendiary devices toward Israeli territory, sparking hundreds of fires in southern Israel and causing millions of shekels in estimated damages.
The Israeli army has reportedly notified Hamas in recent days that if the incendiary kite and balloon attacks from the Gaza Strip don’t cease, Israel will respond with major military action.
On Monday, Israel announced it was shutting down the Kerem Shalom border crossing — the Strip’s main crossing for commercial goods — in response to the endless stream of incendiary and explosive kites and balloons that have been flown into southern Israel, sparking fires that have burned thousands of acres of land and caused millions of shekels in damages. Humanitarian and essential supplies continue to enter Gaza.
The IDF has sought to avoid an escalation of hostilities on the southern front despite the attacks, but according to the Haaretz daily, the political pressure to act has been building as the economic and psychological harm caused by the fires takes its toll.
On Wednesday, incendiary kites and balloons sparked 19 fires of varying sizes in Israel, according to local government officials. Fifteen of them occurred in the Eshkol region, which abuts the southern Gaza Strip. The other four occurred in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, which lies to the northeast of the coastal enclave.
In response, the Israeli military conducted an airstrike against a group of Palestinians it said was launching incendiary balloons toward Israel from the southern Gaza Strip, east of the city of Rafah. There, too, no injuries were reported.
After shuttering Kerem Shalom, the army said humanitarian aid, notably food and medicine, would still be allowed into Gaza, but would require special permission from the military liaison, Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon, to the Palestinians.
The military said the closure would continue so long as Palestinians persist in launching incendiary kites and balloons into Israel.
Agencies contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.