We are dropping these leaflets above N. Gaza, warning civilians to move away from Hamas terrorists & command centers. pic.twitter.com/HxVWjjGpsC
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 13, 2014
"It's our assessment a huge majority of rockets are being launched (at Israel) from northern areas" in Gaza, said IDF spokesman Peter Lerner.The IDF has struck 200 targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours, including 53 underground rocket launchers, 11 rocket production and storage centers, and nine Hamas command and control centers, a military source said. Five training camps were among the targets. Since Sunday morning, the IDF has carried out a series of targeted strikes in the Gaza Strip, the military's spokesperson said.The IDF has targeted Hamas bases of operation in the Strip, including a building used by one of its operatives in Beit Lahiya.The military also said it destroyed a building in Beit Lahiya used by Islamic Jihad to launch rockets into Israel. The IDF says that 36 percent of all rocket fire since Monday originated in northern Gaza. Of all of the long-range rockets launched by Palestinians, 30 percent originated in Beit Lahiya, while 10 percent of all rockets launched originated in Beit Lahiya.Some 1,320 targets have been hit since the start of the six-day operation to extinguish Hamas fire on Israeli cities, including 735 underground rocket launchers, 130 command and control centers, 163 tunnels, 64 training camps, and 58 rocket storage and production centers.The Israel Air Force has struck 62 Hamas regime buildings and 14 command rooms since Monday. There are 154 casualties in Gaza, the source said, two-thirds of whom are combatants, he added.During one of the strikes early on Sunday, a house belonging to Hamas police chief Taysir Al-Bardge was targeted due to the presence of weapons in it, the source said. Twenty one people, who may have come out of a nearby mosque just as the strike was underway, were killed in the bombing, the source stated.Addressing the naval commando raid on a long-range rocket facility in Gaza overnight, the source said, "We are deploying special forces in Gaza. The commandos were ordered to deal with long-range rockets, and came under fire during the raid. They completed their mission, and combat helicopters simultaneously fired on targets [in the area] that were chosen ahead of time," he added.The source said several Palestinian gunmen were hit by the commandos' return fire during the raid.Turning his sights to the North, the source said that a Palestinian organization fired three rockets from Lebanon into Israel on Saturday, adding, "We are sure it was not Hezbollah. We are keeping our eyes open in the Northern Command," he said.Meanwhile, he said, the West Bank sector has become stable and clashes there has dropped in comparison to June.Jpost.com Staff and Reuters contributed to this report.