Air strike successfully hits Gaza terror, weapons units according to IDF; operation comes in response to overnight rocket fire.
By YAAKOV LAPPIN, HERB KEINONIAF strike 370(photo credit: REUTERS)
The air force struck what it said was a terrorist facility and an arms depot in the southern Gaza Strip overnight on Sunday, following a Grad rocket attack on southern Israel.Both targets were accurately hit, the IDF Spokesman’s Office said.The air strikes came as retaliation for a Palestinian rocket attack on the Sdot Negev regional on Saturday night. The rocket triggered an air raid siren, sending civilians fleeing for cover. It exploded in a field, causing no injuries or damages.Israel will not tolerate a “drizzle” of rockets on its territory, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the cabinet on Sunday.“I want to make clear that we will not tolerate a ‘drizzle’ policy. A ‘drizzle’ of rockets or missiles will be met by a very aggressive reaction, and we will take all necessary action to defend our citizens,” Netanyahu warned.In an apparent reference to concern about a spillover from the Syrian civil war, Netanyahu said this policy will be implemented in the “north, south or any other front.”Saturday’s attack ended Lag Ba’omer bonfire celebrations, with children instructed to return home after the siren.Global jihadi groups based in Gaza have repeatedly targeted southern Israel with rockets since Hamas and Israel agreed to enter into a truce in November 2012.The last time the IAF operated over Gaza was at the start of the month, when two targets were hit in response to rocket fire.In recent weeks, rockets landed in the Eshkol region, and two Grad rockets fired from the Sinai Peninsula exploded within Eilat city boundaries.
