IDF intercepts rare 2 long-range rockets fired from Gaza at Jerusalem area

No injuries in attack, the second time this weekend that the capital was targeted, following an overnight missile from Yemen

Footage shows rockets fired from Gaza toward the Jerusalem area, December 28, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli air defenses on Saturday intercepted two rockets fired from Gaza’s Beit Hanoun toward the Jerusalem area, an increasingly rare occurrence after nearly 15 months of war.

The Israel Defense Forces said both rockets were successfully intercepted, with no injuries or damage reported. Amid the attack, sirens sounded in Beit Shemesh and numerous surrounding towns, as well as in several communities near Gaza.

Long-range rocket fire from Gaza has become increasingly rare as the war has progressed, with Hamas’s launching capabilities severely hindered by the IDF’s ground offensive. Hamas last carried out a long-range rocket attack on Tel Aviv in August. The terror group has not fired at the Jerusalem area in over a year.

After the rockets were fired, the IDF issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the Beit Hanoun area.

The IDF’s Gaza Division and the Nahal Brigade began a new operation against Hamas in Beit Hanoun on Friday. Hamas has previously fired rockets from areas where the IDF advances in order to prevent the military from capturing them.

The IDF said the operation was initiated “following intelligence information about the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure in the area, and as part of the effort to ensure the security of the residents of the border communities.”

Before troops entered Beit Hanoun, Israeli fighter jets and artillery forces carried out numerous strikes in the area, targeting groups of Hamas operatives and sites used by the terror group, according to the military.

 

The IDF said it is enabling civilians who have not yet evacuated the area to do so.

The army has operated in Beit Hanoun several times since the beginning of the war, though it has not managed to reach every last rocket in Hamas’s possession.

IDF troops prepare to enter northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, late December 27, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Houthis fire at Jerusalem

The rocket fire from Beit Hanoun marked the second time on Saturday that the Jerusalem area was targeted. Overnight, a ballistic missile fired from Yemen triggered sirens in the capital as well as the southern West Bank and Dead Sea areas.

The Houthis in Yemen later took responsibility for the attack, claiming to have targeted the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel. The Iran-backed group claimed that the “missile successfully hit its target.”

According to the IDF, however, air defenses successfully intercepted the missile. The only reported injury was of a person who suffered from acute anxiety, according to Magen David Adom ambulance services.

The attack came hours after the Houthis said fresh airstrikes hit Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa on Friday, after they claimed to have carried out new attacks on Israel. Thursday saw Israeli airstrikes hit Sanaa International Airport and other targets in Yemen.

Smoke billows after an airstrike on Yemen’s capital Sanaa on December 27, 2024. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP)

The Houthis, a rebel group that is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and Jews, have launched more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the past year, according to the IDF. The vast majority of rockets and drones did not reach Israel or were intercepted by the military or Israel’s allies in the region.

Rocket and drone alert sirens triggered by attacks from Yemen have sent millions of Israelis running for shelter in the middle of the night almost every night for the past 10 days.

In the past month, the Houthis have fired 10 ballistic missiles and at least nine drones at Israel.

The Houthis have vowed to keep up the attacks until the end of the war in the Gaza Strip that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage to Gaza.

Most Popular
read more: