A projectile launched from the Gaza Strip on Monday morning landed in southern Israel; none hurt. The IDF has attacked Hamas targets in the Strip multiple times in retaliation for the aggression.
The IDF has struck several Hamas targets over the course of the day on Monday following early morning rocket fire and late afternoon gunfire towards troops.
Late Monday evening Palestinian sources in Gaza reported a large strike in central Gaza Strip, saying that the Israel Air Force had hit a Hamas target in Shuja’iyya and that renewed artillery fire targeted Hamas outposts in the central Gaza Strip.
Ashraf Qidra, the spokesman for the Hamas health ministry said that two people were injured in the strikes and had been taken to hospital from Khan Younis.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters in London in relation to the rocket attack from Gaza, and Israel’s response, that his directives are to respond with force to every missile attack.
“The two-and-a-half years since Operation Protective Edge were the two quietest years since the Six Day War,” he said, adding that Israel will be steadfast in responding to every attack, and not permit a “drizzle” of missile attacks that go without a response.
Several hours earlier, the IDF fired artillery shells towards several Hamas targets in response to the earlier gunfire targeting troops working on the Gaza border fence near Kissufim.
According to Palestinian reports,the IDF fired at two Hamas positions east of Deir El-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ahmad al-Mudalil said that “the continued Zionist aggression against Gaza cannot pass without the occupation paying a price,” the Palestinian Information Center posted on Twitter.
Earlier the Israel Air Force struck several Hamas targets in the northern Gaza Strip after earlier rocket fire struck Israel from the Hamas-run enclave, the army stated. The airstrikes, which hit three Hamas targets in northern Gaza, came after the IDF fired tank rounds at Hamas targets in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahyia.
“The attacks were carried out in light of the events that occurred during the last month,” an army statement said.
According to Palestinian news agency Maan, a man in his seventies, identified as Muhammed Muhammed Mousa Saadallah, a local fisherman, was lightly wounded in the airstrikes and taken to hospital.
Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Information Center had reported earlier that there had been no damage or injuries after “the Zionist occupation’s tanks on Monday fired two shells at Palestinian resistance locations in the northern Gaza Strip.”
Rocket alert sirens sounded early Monday morning in several southern Israeli communities in Ashkelon Regional Council, bordering the northern Gaza Strip. According to the army, the projectile landed in an open area and Security forces were sweeping the area for remnants.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in the attack.
Both Hamas and splinter Islamic organizations have launched rocket attacks into Israel. There has been no official claim of responsibility for the launching of the projectile, but Israel holds Hamas accountable for all fire emanating from the Strip.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassim told the Hamas-affiliated Al-Risalah that the group “holds the Israeli occupation fully accountable for the repercussions of the latest escalation that was launched against the Gaza Strip.”
As reported by The Jerusalem Post