Rocket sirens blare in south in false alarm, army says

A rocket alert siren was activated in southern Israel on Tuesday evening in a false alarm, the army said, approximately one hour after the publication of a state comptroller report on the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip.

The incoming missile sirens went off in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, northeast of the Gaza Strip, the army said.

It was not clear what caused the false alarm. However, a military spokesperson said it did not appear to have been triggered by a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip that failed to cross the border into Israel.

The false alarm went off just after 5:00 p.m., the Israel Defense Forces said.

At 4:00 p.m., State Comptroller Yosef Shapira released a contentious, critical report on the 2014 Gaza war between the IDF and the Hamas terrorist group, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge.

Moments before the incoming missile sirens blared on Tuesday, Hamas’s military wing threatened to retaliate against Israel should the Jewish state strike Gaza.

“The enemy only understands the language of force, and sometimes silence is interpreted as weakness by the enemy. Therefore, any aggression along the lines of what happened yesterday, the resistance, headed by the Qassam Brigades, will have their say,” Abu Obeida, the official spokesperson of Hamas’s military wing the Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades told the terror group’s Al Aqsa TV station.

Early Monday morning, just after 4:00 a.m., a rocket was launched from Gaza towards the Sha’ar Hanegev region, striking an open field. The incoming missile alert siren was not activated on Monday as the rocket was not headed toward a populated area.

The nighttime attack was relatively uncommon, as rocket launches more frequently occur during the day, presumably to disrupt the course of Israelis’ lives and to gain media attention.

Hours later, Israeli Air Force jets bombed multiple targets in the Gaza Strip.

“In response to a rocket fired from Gaza that hit Israeli territory last night, the IAF targeted 5 Hamas positions throughout the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

Israeli tanks along the border also fired at several targets, according to AFP. Gaza’s health ministry said four Gazans were moderately injured by airstrikes east of Rafah, according to Palestinian reports.

Most rocket attacks since the 2014 war have been carried out by radical Salafist groups, not by Hamas. However, Israel holds Hamas, the Sunni terror group that has ruled the coastal enclave for the past 10 years, as ultimately responsible for any rocket fire emanating from the Gaza Strip.

Dov Lieber contributed to this report.