Islamic Jihad: Mortar barrage a ‘welcome response’ to IDF operation
Referring to Sunday's killing of 3 members of the terror group by the IDF, terror group says, 'Our people's blood is not cheap'
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization, which the IDF blamed for barrages of at least 28 mortar shells at Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, said the attack on Israel was a “welcome response by the resistance.”
“Our people’s blood is not cheap,” the group added in a statement.
The shells, one of which landed next to a kindergarten, apparently came in response to the Israeli army’s killing three of its members in a cross-border exchange earlier in the week.
Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted most of the projectiles. Nobody was hurt and no damage was caused.
It is the policy of the Israel Defense Forces and the government to hold the Strip’s rulers, the terror group Hamas, responsible for all attacks on Israel, regardless of whether other groups launched them.
Hamas, like Islamic Jihad, is committed to the destruction of Israel.
On Tuesday, the military responded to the mortar attack by shelling a number of positions belonging to terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian media reported.
The army would not immediately confirm it had conducted retaliatory strikes. Additional reprisal raids were expected, in accordance with Israel’s standard policies regarding attacks from Gaza.