IDF strikes Hamas rocket launch site next to civilian shelter, used in earlier attack on Ashdod

The IDF says it struck a Hamas rocket launching position used in a barrage earlier today on the southern coastal city of Ashdod.

The launchers, according to the IDF, were located adjacent to a civilian shelter in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.

Eight rockets were fired in the attack on Ashdod, with two being intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system and the others striking open areas.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, the first on Ashdod in more than two months.

“The launches were carried out from a humanitarian zone in the Deir al-Balah area… where a civilian population was residing,” the IDF says.

Fighter jets struck the rocket launchers a short while after the attack, the IDF says, adding that secondary blasts seen after the strike indicated additional weaponry in the area.

“The attack was carried out precisely while avoiding harm to civilians who had evacuated the area before the attack was carried out,” the IDF says.

The IDF says the rocket barrage is “further evidence of Hamas’s cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure, placing its assets in civilian areas, using them as human shields.”