Gazans fire 105 rockets at Israel; IAF strikes over 100 targets across the Strip; 2 rockets fired from Syria at Golan Heights
By YAAKOV LAPPINBeduin area hit by rocket strike that badly wounded two sisters aged 10, 15 .jpg(photo credit: ISRAEL POLICE)
Two sisters, aged 11 and 13, from a Beduin village near Beersheba, were seriously wounded by a Gazan rocket attack on Monday.The younger sister is in critical condition, doctors at Soroka Medical Center said.Hamas and Islamic Jihad targeted Israel with 105 rocket attacks throughout the day, firing at the center of the country, Ashdod, Beersheba, Ashkelon and Dimona. Eighty-five rockets fell in Israeli territory, mostly in open areas, and Iron Dome batteries intercepted 15 rockets.Five additional rockets fell inside the Gaza Strip.Since the start of Operation Protective Edge against Hamas, Palestinian terrorists have fired 1,064 rockets, 832 of which fell in open areas, and 191 were shot down by Iron Dome. Forty-one projectiles fell in Gaza. The numbers were accurate as of press time.Meanwhile, the Israel Air Force continued to pound Hamas, carrying out more than 100 air strikes Monday. Sixty targets were hit overnight between Sunday and Monday.Since last Monday, the IAF has struck more than 1,500 targets.Gazan medical sources said 172 people were killed. Israeli security sources believe half of them were members of Hamas and other terrorist organizations.Targets included 33 underground rocket launchers, eight rocket production and storage facilities, and four homes used by Hamas commanders as command and control centers.Seven underground tunnels were bombed as well. The navy struck sites used to fire medium- range rockets. Additionally, the IDF killed nine terrorists who had been firing rockets, the military said.
Strikes were focused on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, described by the military as a “central terrorist stronghold,” and aircraft targeted rocket- launch sites, a weapons storage facility and a training camp in the area.The Iron Dome anti-rocket system intercepted two projectiles, fired from Gaza, over the metropolitan Tel Aviv area on Monday afternoon, and two rockets fired from Syria landed in the open on the Golan Heights.Sirens were heard in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Givatayim, Bnei Brak, Givat Shmuel and the surrounding areas. A short while later, sirens were sounded in Beersheba, the northern Negev, and the Golan Heights.The Golan rockets reportedly started a fire, but did not cause any injuries.In a separate incident in Beersheba, an 81-year-old man suffered serious head trauma when he fell while running to a shelter during a siren.Earlier, the rocket fire on Israel was concentrated on the South, with the Iron Dome intercepting five rockets fired in one barrage over Ashdod, and several additional incoming projectiles over Ashkelon.One rocket landed in the yard of a house in Ashdod, causing an injury to an eight-year-old boy’s hand. Magen David Adom said he was lightly injured and was treated at the scene. A vehicle caught fire in the attack.A barrage of seven rockets was also fired at Ashkelon early on Monday. All seven rockets were intercepted.A Hamas drone that penetrated Israeli air space was shot down by a surface-to-air Patriot missile over an open area on the Ashdod coastline. IDF units searched for remains of the drone on the ground.Hamas claimed it had sent three “Ababil-1” model unmanned aerial vehicles into Israel, one of which had made it to Tel Aviv, where it took pictures of the Kirya military headquarters, according to Ma’an News Agency.Meanwhile, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon emphasized the losses that Hamas had suffered in the seven days since the operation began.“When Hamas members come out of their hiding places, they will discover the extent of the destruction and the damage that we caused the organization, which will cause them to regret that they entered this round of fighting against Israel,” Ya’alon said.“We continue to smash Hamas and its infrastructure.They have suffered great damage.We have destroyed weapons, production capabilities, tunnels, terrorists’ homes and institutions, and we will continue this activity today,” he said.Ya’alon said Hamas was trying to score a victory at any price, and that the security forces must continue to be on high alert.Early on Monday, sirens also went off in the western Galilee, in the Nahariya region, and a number of rockets fell in open areas. The IDF responded immediately with dozens of artillery shells directed at the area where the rockets were fired.
