Three rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit southern Israel yesterday night. The barrage of rockets follows a rocket attack from Gaza that took place last week, hitting a region to the east of Ashdod, southern Israel.
A Salafist group in the Gaza Strip named the Omar Brigades, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror group, reportedly claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. A Hamas source told Israel Radio that the rockets may have been fired by a Salafist group allied with the Islamic State in retaliation for one of its members being killed by Hamas on Tuesday.
Alarms sounded in the Sdot Negev and Hof Ashkelon regions bordering the northern Gaza Strip, as well as the towns of Netivot and Ashkelon. No injuries or damage was reported.
The Israeli Air Force confirmed that it responded with three targeted air strikes on terror infrastructure in Gaza, scoring direct hits. Hamas media reports stated that an air strike targeted a Hamas military training ground and two other targets, with no reports of casualties.
IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said in a statement that the Israeli military “will act against the aggression, will act against those that wish to terrorize Israel and will act to protect Israelis in the line of indiscriminate Gaza rocket fire”.
Last week’s attack marked the first time a Grad rocket, rather than a small-range Kassam rocket, had been fired at Israel since Operation Protective Edge last summer.
