Three rockets fired from Gaza at Tel Aviv as IDF ground troops expand operations in Strip
Rockets are the first fired at central Israel since October, with one intercepted, two hitting open areas; Hamas says mediators trying to revive truce but ‘no breakthrough’
Rocket sirens blared in Tel Aviv on Thursday afternoon after three long-range rockets were launched from the southern Gaza Strip at Israel, the first time rockets were launched from Gaza at central Israel in over five months.
One of the rockets was intercepted by air defenses, while the other two struck open areas, according to the military. No injuries were caused, though several pieces of shrapnel hit areas of Rishon Lezion. It was unclear whether they’d broken off of the Hamas rockets or the interceptors, but no major damage was caused.
The Hamas terror group claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, Israeli troops expanded a ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip, alongside dozens of airstrikes on terror targets, two days into the resumption of fighting in the enclave, after the collapse of a two-month ceasefire.
On Thursday evening the IDF said it had expanded its ground operations in the southern Gaza Strip. In the past few hours, troops had advanced into the Shaboura camp in Rafah, and destroyed “terror infrastructure,” the military said.
Early on Thursday the IDF launched ground operations along the coast of the far north of the Gaza Strip, close to Beit Lahiya. It came as part of the IDF’s activity aimed at expanding its buffer zone along the Gaza border.
Also on Thursday, Hamas officials were reportedly expected to arrive in Cairo for negotiations on returning to the truce, and an official from the terror group told Reuters that mediators had stepped up their efforts to halt the fighting but “no breakthrough has yet been made.”
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said in a statement Thursday that it had targeted Tel Aviv with a barrage of M90 rockets, in response to “the Zionist massacres against civilians.”
The rocket attack Thursday was Hamas’s first on central Israel since October 7, 2024, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas-led onslaught that sparked the ongoing war.
רסיס שאותר בראשל"צ אחרי יירוט הרקטה שנורתה מרצועת עזה@OrRavid pic.twitter.com/1HOkUXtLg2
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) March 20, 2025
Following the rocket attack, the Israel Defense Forces issued an evacuation warning to Palestinians in the Bani Suheila area of southern Gaza.
In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, published a map of the area that is to be evacuated, saying that it was a “final warning” before the IDF carries out strikes there.
“Terror organizations are once again launching their rockets from within civilian areas. We have warned this area many times,” he said. Adraee called on Gazan civilians to head west to recognized humanitarian shelters.
#عاجل ‼️ إلى جميع سكان قطاع غزة المتواجدين في المنطقة المحددة في بني سهيلا
⭕️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/tGwzdtufnF— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) March 20, 2025
Hamas’s rocket attack came hours after an overnight missile attack by the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen set sirens blazing across central Israel. The missile was intercepted before it entered Israeli airspace, and no one was injured.
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 early Tuesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that any further negotiations would take place “under fire.”
IDF says more terror leaders killed
The IDF and Shin Bet announced Thursday afternoon that another two top Hamas officials were killed in airstrikes in the Strip.
One was named by the military as Rashid Jahjouh, the head of Hamas’s “general security mechanism.” Jahjouh had replaced Sami Odeh, who was killed, along with other top Hamas officials, in an Israeli airstrike in July 2024.
Another top Hamas official killed in a recent airstrike in Gaza was named as Amin Eslaiah, the head of the security mechanism in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis. The security mechanism, according to the military, is a clandestine Hamas body responsible for uncovering “collaborators” with Israel; security for top Hamas officials and assets in Gaza and outside of the Strip; and oppression of opponents to Hamas’s rule.
The mechanism is also charged with building intelligence pictures for top Hamas officials, for them to make decisions, the IDF said.
Separately, the military said that a strike killed a prominent Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative involved in smuggling weapons to the terror group. Ismail Abd al-Alal, according to the IDF, “led most of the weapon smuggling efforts for the PIJ in recent years.”
Hamas official: ‘No breakthrough’ in talks
A Hamas delegation was expected to arrive in Cairo on Thursday to meet with senior Egyptian officials on efforts to reach a renewed ceasefire, Qatari-owned newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.
Egyptian sources told the newspaper that an Israeli military delegation also made a short visit to Cairo Wednesday night and met with Egypt’s intelligence chief, Hassan Rashad.
The delegation discussed the Israel Defense Force’s limited ground operation in Gaza and the reinforcement of troops across the entire Strip, the newspaper says.
According to the report, Hamas informed mediators that it was willing to release Israeli hostages, provided that this was part of a transition to the second phase of the original ceasefire agreement.
Ground operation along Gaza’s northern coast
Troops of the 252nd Division pushed into north Gaza’s coastal road area on Thursday, and were deployed there as of Thursday afternoon, the army said. Two tank battalions of the 188th Armored Brigade have been leading the operation.
Ahead of the offensive, the IDF said it carried out airstrikes on some 40 targets in the Beit Lahiya area, including tunnels, anti-tank missile launch posts, Hamas operatives, and other threats to troops.
Additionally, the IDF said it carried out strikes on dozens of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza overnight.
Fighter jets and other Israeli Air Force aircraft hit terror operatives, buildings used by terror groups, weapons, and other infrastructure that posed a threat to Israel, the military and Shin Bet said in a joint statement.
There have not been any reports of actual clashes on the ground since Israel resumed military action in Gaza on Tuesday.
Gazans warned to avoid main road in central Strip
Thursday also saw the IDF warn Palestinians to avoid a main Gaza artery as troops advanced in the Netzarim Corridor area in the Strip’s center.
In a post on X, Adraee said that “over the past day, IDF troops began a targeted operation” in central Gaza, and were “deployed up to the center of the Netzarim Corridor.
“For your safety, do not travel on the Salah a-Din road between the north of the Gaza Strip and the south and vice versa,” he said.
Traveling from the north of the Strip to its south is only permitted via the coastal road, known as al-Rashid, Adraee added.
The military has warned Palestinians against approaching areas where troops are operating.
Israel denies its strike killed UN employees
Five staff members of the United Nations Palestinian relief agency UNRWA have been killed in the past few days, the agency’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Thursday.
“In the past few days another five UNRWA staff have been confirmed killed, bringing the death toll to 284. They were teachers, doctors and nurses: serving the most vulnerable,” he said in a statement posted on X.
On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned attacks on the organization’s personnel after a United Nations Office for Project Services staff member died in an alleged strike on UN guesthouses.
I am horrified by the death and critical injuries of @UN @UNOPS colleagues when their compound was struck in Gaza today.
I condemn all attacks against UN personnel and call for a full investigation.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 19, 2025
Israel has denied carrying out an airstrike on the facility in Deir al-Balah, and photos from the scene show that those hurt were from the United Nations Mine Action Service, which deals with clearing leftover explosive devices.
Israel says Hamas and other Gazan terror groups use UN facilities to hide weapons, personnel or other infrastructure. It has also published evidence showing UNRWA staffers were among the thousands of Hamas-led Gazans to take part in massacres across southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Pro-Hamas outlet claims 71 killed overnight
Gaza’s pro-Hamas Quds News outlet also reported that 71 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the Strip overnight Wednesday-Thursday, which would raise the death toll to over 540 since Israel resumed its military campaign in Gaza early Tuesday morning.
The news outlet reported that airstrikes took place around Khan Younis, Rafah and other parts of Gaza overnight.
The death toll cannot be verified, and figures from Hamas-controlled health authorities have been questioned. In addition, they make no distinction between civilians and combatants.
Israel says it is only targeting terrorists and terror infrastructure and blames Hamas and allied groups for collateral damage, saying they use civilians as human shields.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include 24 hostages who are known or presumed to be living, and the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Charlie Summers contributed to this report.
