Following two rockets launched from Gaza, IDF strikes Hamas targets
Six rockets have been fired from Gaza over the past week
By ANNA AHRONHEIMIDF forces strike Gaza targets
Israeli Air Force jets struck several targets in the Gaza Strip overnight on Wednesday after two rockets were fired toward communities in southern Israel.According to a statement by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, a number of military targets in a Hamas naval facility in the northern Strip were hit following rocket fire toward the community of Nahal Oz.Shortly after the strike, a second projectile was fired toward Israel, landing in open territory and causing no damage or injuries. Shortly afterward, local Palestinian reports said that additional strikes targeted military posts near Gaza City and Khan Younis.There were no injuries.“The IDF will continue to oppose attempts to harm Israeli civilians and considers the Hamas terrorist organization responsible for what happens in and out of the Gaza Strip,” the army said.Six rockets have been fired from the Hamas-run coastal enclave this past week. A rocket was fired towards southern Israel on Friday night followed by three overnight Saturday. Three of the projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system and one struck the patio of a residential home in the community of Sderot.While two Hamas posts were struck by Israel following the rocket fire on Friday, the military did not respond to the rocket fire that hit Sderot.Also on Saturday, shortly after the rocket attack, three armed Palestinians were killed by IDF troops as they tried to cross into southern Israel from Beit Hanoun. While no group claimed responsibility for the infiltration attempt, the three were wrapped in flags belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Fatah and Hamas’s Izzedin al-Qassem brigades during their burial.Both Hamas and PIJ blamed the infiltration attempt on “rebellious youth.”Over a span of two weeks, nine armed Palestinians were able to infiltrate into southern Israel before being engaged by IDF troops and killed. On Monday Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip warned that "Gaza is a boiling volcano, which will explode in the face of the enemy and the leadership of its soldiers.”
The factions warned that the infiltration by young men was “a harbringer of a larger explosion” and called on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to set the ground ablaze.”“We have warned the Zionist enemy against persisting in their crimes, but the leadership of the enemy is still playing with fire,” according to a joint statement by various Palestinian factions in the coastal enclave quoted by the Palestinian Safa News Agency.