IDF says rockets fired at south on Friday were launched from aid warehouse area
Rocket launchers were placed 50 meters from aid sites, army says; terror cell targeted at former Gaza City school, with Palestinian medics reporting 7 dead
Rockets fired by Gaza terrorists at southern Israel Friday night were launched from locations near humanitarian aid warehouses, the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday.
According to the IDF, the launchers used to fire the two projectiles toward Ashkelon were positioned some 50 meters from depots used by international aid organizations operating in Gaza.
The military said air defenses intercepted the two projectiles, which triggered sirens in Ashkelon and surrounding towns near the Gaza border. There were no reports of injuries or damage in the attack.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the rocket fire, which has become a relative rarity after 14 months of war, sparked by the devastating Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel’s aerial and ground operations have greatly depleted the arsenals of Hamas and other Gaza-based terror factions.
Overnight, Israeli fighter jets launched airstrikes in the area, targeting weapons depots and terror operatives, the military said.
A video released by the IDF on December 14, 2024, shows airstrikes on terror operatives in Gaza near a rocket launching site used in an attack a day prior.
The IDF issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the area before launching the strikes south of Jabalia, in the Strip’s north.
Also on Saturday, the IDF said that it carried out a drone strike against a cell of terror operatives while they were preparing to carry out an attack against troops in Gaza and Israel “in the immediate timeframe.”
The military said the operatives were targeted while they were gathered at a former school in Gaza City. It added that it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike at the Yaffa boys school, which was being used to shelter displaced Palestinians.
Emergency services in Gaza reported that at least seven were killed and 12 wounded as a result of the airstrike. The dead include a woman and her baby, according to medics.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Saturday that more than 44,930 people in the Strip have been killed in the war or are presumed dead, as well as 106,624 injured, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
The Times of Israel Community.