After missiles fired from Gaza, IDF hits Hamas positions

Sirens do not sound, though at least one projectile said to land in border area; Israeli tank, jets strike terror group’s posts in southern Strip

At least one rocket was shot from Gaza toward Israel on Monday evening, the Israel Defense Forces said, provoking an Israeli retaliatory fire.

Impact sites from the Gazan missile fire were not identified, the army said, but reports indicated at least one missile landed in an open area near the border fence in the Eshkol region, opposite the southern Strip.

It was not immediately clear how many missiles were fired.

“A short while ago, projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel,” the military said in a statement.

No alert sirens sounded in the Gaza border region.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Israel responded by targeting Hamas posts in southern Gaza with tank fire and an air strike, the army said.

“The IDF hold Hamas responsible for these aggressive acts originating from the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said.

Palestinian media reported that Hamas positions in Khan Younis were hit by the Israeli fire.

The tit-for-tat came a day after Israel said it had destroyed a tunnel dug by Hamas into Israeli territory, apparently for use in an attack.

Over the weekend, several rockets were fired at Israel by terrorists in Gaza, including one that hit near a home in Sderot and another one that damaged a kindergarten. A third rocket was shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system.

Israel hit a number of Hamas positions in retaliation, killing two members of the terror group, which is the de-facto ruler of the Palestinian enclave. The group vowed revenge on Sunday.

Police find a rocket, fired from Gaza, inside a kindergarten in the southern Israeli town of Sderot on December 9, 2017. (Israel Police)

“The enemy will pay the price for breaking the rules of engagement with the resistance in Gaza,” the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.

Tensions have been rising since Wednesday, when US President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel.

Hamas on Thursday had called for a new intifada against Israel, on Friday urged Palestinians to confront soldiers and settlers, and has allowed thousands of Gazans to confront Israeli troops at the Gaza border fence in recent days. Its leader Ismail Haniyeh on Friday praised the “blessed intifada,” urged the liberation of Jerusalem, and made plain the group was seeking to intensify violence against Israel.