Israel strikes Hamas terror targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire

Five rockets fired at Israel on Friday night.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, NOAM AMIR/MAARIV HASHAVUA
Updated: JANUARY 3, 2016 02:02
IAF fighter jets during the Red Flag joint exercise at Nellis air force base in Nevada (photo credit: COURTESY IDF SPOKESMAN'S OFFICE)
IAF fighter jets during the Red Flag joint exercise at Nellis air force base in Nevada
(photo credit: COURTESY IDF SPOKESMAN'S OFFICE)
The Israel Air Force struck four Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Saturday in retaliation for two Gazan rockets fired on the Sderot area.
The rockets, which were fired by a Salafi- jihadist group, according to security assessments in Israel, set off warning sirens throughout the Sderot area, sending local residents fleeing for cover. They exploded in an open area in the Sha’ar Hanegev region. There were no injuries.
In the response a few hours later, IAF aircraft struck two Hamas military installations and two terrorist infrastructure sites, the IDF Spokesman’s Office said.
On December 17, terrorists in Gaza fired a rocket at southern Israel, triggering warning sirens around Miflasim, which is close to the border with northern Gaza. The rocket exploded in an open area and did not cause any injuries.
Three days earlier, the IAF struck two Hamas terrorist sites, hitting targets in central and northern Gaza, following a Gazan rocket attack on Southern Israel.
Sporadic rocket launches out of Gaza in recent months have been claimed by a small ISIS-affiliated group calling itself the Omar Hadid Brigades, named after a key figure who helped Abu Musab al-Zarqawi set up and run al-Qaida in Iraq nearly a decade ago.