Israel intercepts 3 rockets fired from north Gaza; Islamic Jihad takes responsibility
No injuries or damage caused by rockets; in response to attacks, IDF warns Gazans to evacuate areas from where the projectiles were fired
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Sirens went off in Sderot and neighboring communities near the Gaza border twice on Monday evening as Israeli air defenses successfully intercepted three rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists from the northern part of the enclave, the military said.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. Neither attack caused any injuries or damage.
The two volleys were the third instance of rockets being launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel since the military resumed its offensive against Hamas last week. Hamas on Thursday launched three long-range rockets at central Israel, and on Friday fired two rockets at the southern coastal city of Ashkelon.
In the first attack Monday at around 7 p.m., two rockets were fired from Gaza, setting off sirens in Sderot, Netiv Haassara, Karmia, Zikim, Nir Am, and Ibim. Both rockets were intercepted by air defenses, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The second attack of one rocket occurred at 9 p.m., setting off sirens in Sderot, Ibim and Nir Am. It was also intercepted, according to the IDF.
Following the first round of rocket fire, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for Palestinians in the Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas, where the two projectiles were fired from.
In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, published a map of the area to be evacuated, while issuing a “final warning” before the military was to carry out strikes there.
The IDF issued an additional evacuation warning for residents of the Jabalia area after Islamic Jihad fired a third rocket from the region two hours later.
#عاجل ‼️ إلى جميع سكان قطاع غزة المتواجدين في منطقة بيت لاهيا وبيت حانون. هذا انذار مسبق وأخير قبل الغارة!
⭕️تعود المنظمات الإرهابية وتطلق قذائفها الصاروخية من داخل المدنيين.
⭕️لقد حذرنا هذه المنطقة مرات عديدة.
⭕️من أجل سلامتكم عليكم الانتقال بشكل فوري غربًا إلى مراكز الإيواء… pic.twitter.com/PU3uzAE4C9— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) March 24, 2025
Earlier Monday, the IDF said it carried out dozens of airstrikes, including on empty white pick-up trucks belonging to the Hamas terror group, of the type used in the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel and in propaganda ceremonies for the release of hostages.
Over 100 pickup trucks used by Hamas terrorists were destroyed in the airstrikes, the military said.
The IDF and Shin Bet security agency also confirmed on Monday that top Hamas official Ismail Barhoum was targeted and killed in a strike on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis the night before.
Barhoum, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, was chief of the terror group’s finances and the successor to Issam Da’alis, the de-facto prime minister of Gaza, who was killed last week, according to the military and Shin Bet.
In mid-January, Israel and Hamas agreed to a hostage, ceasefire, and prisoner-release deal that officially lasted 42 days, and saw the terror group release 30 living hostages and the bodies of eight slain captives, while Israel released almost 2,000 security prisoners and inmates, before the expiration of the deal’s first phase.
The deal had originally envisioned a potential second phase that would see a permanent end to the war in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages, but Israel has refused to allow any long-term settlement that would keep Hamas as the governing power in the Strip.
After talks for an alternative temporary ceasefire and hostage-release framework, Israel resumed fighting a week ago, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that any further negotiations would take place “under fire.”
Nurit Yohanan and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
