IDF strikes Gaza, as rocket attacks on south continue

The IDF launched an airstrike at “three concealed launchers” in the Gaza Strip Monday, after over 20 rockets hammered Israel’s south earlier throughout the day. The Israeli airstrike targeted the Beit Lahia and Jabalya areas in the northern end of the Strip, Israeli Radio reported.

According to the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency, a four-year-old Palestinian boy was moderately wounded in the attack.

In Jerusalem, the security cabinet held a meeting to discuss a possible Israeli response to the ongoing barrage of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.

Earlier, a rocket launched from Gaza hit a chicken coop in the Eshkol region, causing damage. Warning sirens were heard throughout the region. A short while later, six more rockets landed in open areas in the region. No casualties were reported.

On Monday morning, Palestinians fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF unit as it patrolled along the border with the Gaza Strip, the army said. The soldiers also came under small arms fire. There were no injuries, and soldiers returned fire.

Earlier Monday, an IDF soldier was lightly wounded by shrapnel in his legs and back when Gaza Palestinians fired two rockets at the Eshkol region. The soldier was taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba for medical treatment. Vehicles close to the impact site were damaged.

Nine members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were killed overnight Sunday, according to Palestinian sources, when Israeli jets struck 14 sites in Gaza Strip, after a day of near-constant rocket fire on Israeli towns near the Palestinian enclave.

The targets were “terror sites and concealed rocket launchers,” the IDF spokesman’s office said, confirming direct hits on the targets.

Seven Hamas members were killed and six wounded in an air force strike, according to a statement released by the terror group. Israeli defense officials, however, said that the men were not killed in an airstrike but were rather crushed when a tunnel collapsed on top of them.

Earlier, two members of Islamic Jihad’s armed wing were reported killed when Israeli planes struck the refugee camp of al Bureij in the central Strip, targeting a rocket launching crew.

In an army statement, the IDF maintained that since June 12, over 240 rockets have been fired from the coastal enclave, of which 189 hit southern Israel.

Lazar Berman and Stuart Winer contributed to this report.