Base belonging to Hamas naval commandos reportedly targeted; Israeli strikes come after 2 rockets fired at Tel Aviv for first time since 2014
Israeli war planes launched a series of airstrikes early Friday, hitting back at targets across the Gaza Strip hours after two rockets were fired at Tel Aviv for the first time since the 2014 war.
The strikes came after an urgent late night consultation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chiefs in Tel Aviv. “Decisions were taken,” an Israeli official said without elaborating. Army Radio reported that a decision was made to hit dozens of targets.
Hamas-linked Al-Aqsa TV reported that Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a target in the new port west of Khan Younis. It said that the aircraft then returned and attacked the same site 4 more times.
Israel Radio said the site was a base belonging to Hamas naval commandos.
Palestinian media also reported multiple strikes on Gaza City and at a target in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry said there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Shortly after the strikes started, warning sirens blared throughout the Eshkol Regional Council bordering the Gaza Strip. The army said sirens were triggered by a failed launch from Gaza.
The Israeli strikes on the Hamas-run Strip came after rocket fire from Gaza at Tel Aviv. Sirens were triggered Thursday evening in central Israel, as two rockets from Gaza were fired at the heart of the country for the first time since a major conflict in 2014, signaling a possible dramatic escalation of violence by terror groups in the Strip just weeks before the Knesset elections.
Residents of Israel’s second-largest city and the surrounding metropolis of Gush Dan rushed to bomb shelters and reported hearing explosions. The rockets both hit open areas, and did not cause casualties. Five people were treated for shock by paramedics.
Initial reports indicated that the Iron Dome missile defense system was launched to intercept one of the incoming rockets. However, the Israel Defense Force later said no interception had taken place, and it was not clear whether an interceptor had been launched.
“Two rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory. The alert and warning systems operated as required,” the army said. “No interceptions were made by aerial defense systems. No damage or injuries were reported. There are no special instructions for the civilian home front.”
A video purportedly showing an Iron Dome launch which made the roundson social media may have been an old clip from 2014.
It wasn’t immediately clear which group in Gaza was responsible for the surprise rocket fire, which occurred on the eve of weekly Hamas-spurred Friday mass rallies and riots along the Strip’s border.
A Hamas official told the The Times of Israel that the terror group “has no interest in an escalation” with Israel. The official said he had “no idea” who fired rockets toward Tel Aviv.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry called the rocket fire “outside the national consensus” and said it would exact measures against those behind it.
A senior Israeli official told Channel 13 news that Israel indeed did not believe Hamas was behind the attack, but rather another “organization attempting to sabotage efforts to achieve calm in recent days.”
Initial reports had indicated that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group was responsible for the rocket fire. Hebrew-language media reported that Fajr missiles were launched, which PIJ has in its arsenal.
However, that terror group also denied that it was behind the fire. PIJ spokesman Daoud Shehab called the reports “baseless lies and claims.”
Hamas and PIJ told Egyptian security officials who were in the Strip to discuss a long-term truce that they were not responsible for the rockets, Al-Jazeera reported.
The Home Front Command did not give any special instructions to Israelis and said they could continue to carry on as normal. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai urged the public to remain calm, but added that public bomb shelters would be opened shortly.
All emergency response organizations in the Tel Aviv area increased their alertness following the incident.
Palestinian media reported that Hamas was evacuating military posts in Gaza in preparation for the Israeli response to the rockets. It also reported that the Egyptian delegation had left Gaza quickly after being instructed to evacuate by the IDF. There was no confirmation of the unsourced reports.
The missile launches come less than a month before the April 9 Knesset elections, and two months before Tel Aviv is due to host the Eurovision Song Contest, a major international event that is expected to draw many thousands of tourists from all over Europe.
It was the first time rockets were fired at Tel Aviv since Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, though launches directed at residents of Israeli communities near Gaza have remain relatively frequent. A rocket fired from Gaza last October fell out at sea across from the greater Tel Aviv area.
As reported by The Times of Israel