Israel was today targeted by as many as 200 rockets fired by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, in a dramatic escalation of violence that followed a night of deadly clashes between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas.
Today’s rocket fire injured 17 civilians in Israel, including one who was seriously wounded when an anti-tank missile fired by Hamas hit a bus on the Israel-Gaza border. The casualty, who is in critical condition at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, is reported to be a 19-year-old soldier who was not involved in the current fighting.
Rockets struck homes in the coastal city of Ashkelon and the southern Israeli towns of Sderot and Netivot, sparking fires. A mortar shell also hit a powerline in the Sdot Negev region of southern Israel, according to local government officials. In Sderot, six people were lightly wounded by shrapnel. A seventh victim in Sderot, a 16-year-old girl, was lightly wounded when a heavy metal bomb shelter door closed on her hand, medics said.
Israeli residents of communities near the Gaza Strip were ordered by the IDF to remain inside bomb shelters, and residents of the cities of Beersheba, Ashkelon and Ashdod were told to stay within close proximity of bomb shelters and protected spaces.
The Iron Dome missile defence system, which intercepts only missiles projected to strike Israeli communities, intercepted 60 of the incoming projectiles, the Israeli military said.
The Hamas terror organisation that rules Gaza has claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks. Today’s rocket fire is the most dramatic escalation since the 2014 Operation Protective Edge conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Hundreds of red alert sirens were sounded in Israeli communities close to the Gaza Strip, in the city of Beersheba and as far away as the Dead Sea.
The IDF confirmed that its retaliatory targeted air strikes hit more than 70 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror targets and three tunnels in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said that three Palestinians were killed, and several were injured in the strikes.
CFI Parliamentary Chairman (Commons) Rt. Hon. Stephen Crabb MP condemned Hamas’s attack today, stating: “The dramatic escalation jeopardises recent efforts to secure a lasting truce between Hamas and Israel. Longer term, Hamas must renounce violence if there is to be any chance for a lasting two-state solution”.
Overnight Sunday, one Israeli soldier and seven Hamas fighters were killed in clashes in the territory, after Israeli special forces launched an intelligence-gathering mission in the Gaza Strip. As the Israeli forces attempted to withdraw from Gaza, they were intercepted by Hamas fighters and an exchange of fire followed, resulting in the fatalities.
Among the Hamas fighters killed in Israeli airstrikes was a senior commander of Hamas’s military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The commander is understood to be Nour Barakeh, considered to be responsible for the cross-border tunnel offensive strategy in Gaza.
Following Sunday night’s incident, the Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas said “the blood of our righteous martyrs will not be wasted”.
IDF spokesperson Brigadier General Ronen Manelis said the soldiers operating in Gaza overnight “became trapped in a highly complex situation but they had responded “heroically, hit those who threatened them and extracted themselves to Israeli territory”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday offered his condolences to the family of the senior special forces officer, Lieutenant Colonel ‘M’, who was killed overnight during the operation.
The tensions cut short Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Paris, where he had been attending World War I commemorations.
Since March, Israel has been hit by regular incendiary kite and balloon terror attacks from Gaza, in weekly protests dubbed the “Great March of Return”, which have also involved shooting attacks, bombings and attempted border breaches.
In August, Israel was hit by a sustained attack of over 200 rockets and mortars that were fired from Gaza, injuring at least nine people, which until today represented the worst violence since 2014.
The attacks come amid reports of intense talks between Israel and Hamas for an Egyptian-brokered long-term ceasefire.
