Iron Dome interceptor destroys rocket launched from Gaza
Gilad Kfir – Twitter
After a lull in attacks overnight, rocket fire by Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists in the Gaza Strip resumed this morning with missiles reaching as far as Jerusalem and the West Bank.
In total, 973 rockets have been fired towards Israel since Tuesday, with 212 landing in the Mediterranean Sea or falling short in the Gaza Strip and harming Palestinian civilians. 296 rockets have been intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system, and 25 rockets have directly hit civilian areas.
An Israeli man was killed yesterday in Rehovot, central Israel, after the Iron Dome failed to intercept a rocket which directly hit an apartment block. A PIJ source said the rocket was Iranian-made.
Two rockets launched towards Jerusalem were intercepted today by the Iron Dome and David’s Sling. This marks the second interception of David’s Sling, which is capable of intercepting rockets and missiles at a range of 40-300 kilometres. The Iron Dome has had a success rate of 91 percent in recent days.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have responded to continued PIJ rocket fire by attacking 254 terror targets inside the Gaza Strip including senior commanders, rocket launch sites, weapons manufacturing facilities, an attack tunnel and other military targets.
PIJ confirmed reports that the Chairman of PIJ’s Military Council, Iyad al-Husni (Abu Anas), was killed in an airstrike in Gaza City today. He was reportedly killed alongside his advisor Muhammad Abd al-A’al, taking the number of PIJ senior commanders killed to six.
On Tuesday, the IDF launched ‘Operation Shield and Arrow’, targeting three senior PIJ leaders in Gaza who were killed in coordinated airstrikes as well as attacking military compounds and sites used to produce weapons. The three leaders were believed to be directly responsible for planning recent and future terror attacks including rocket launches towards Israel and the operation followed over 100 rockets being fired towards Israel in a 24-hour period last week.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, 31 Gazans have reportedly been killed during the violence. At least ten Palestinian civilians have been killed, including children. The IDF and Palestinian Centre for Human Rights have confirmed that three children were among at least four civilians killed after PIJ rockets fell short and exploded in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF published a video showing Israeli Air Force officers aborting a strike on a PIJ target in Gaza after seeing children nearby.
The Minister for the Middle East, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, condemned the “indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza targeting innocent civilians in Israel”. He added: “Attacks on civilians are unacceptable, and this violence must stop. The UK calls for an immediate cessation of these attacks – the only lasting solution is for peace to prevail”.
Conservative Peer Lord Leigh highlighted in Parliament on Wednesday that one of the PIJ Commanders killed by Israel had been “working on creating a rocket-launching apparatus in Jenin and had actually taught a cell how to fire and build rockets”.
