Army says terror group’s underground facilities among targets of two waves of attacks; Iron Dome defense system shoots down 1 of 2 projectiles fired from the coastal enclave into Sderot, second lands in open area
IDF warplanes attacked Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip late Tuesday night after two rockets were launched at Israel from the coastal enclave controlled by the terror group.
One of the rockets was intercepted by the Iron Dome and the other landed in an open area.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that some of the targets in the two waves of airstrikes included Hamas underground military facilities.
“We deem a rocket that does not cause damage to be the same as a rocket that does,” Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said Wednesday morning.
Rocket alert sirens sounded in the southern city of Sderot and the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council at around 8:50 pm, followed shortly by two loud explosions.
Hamas responded on Wednesday to the airstrikes, calling the Israeli military ‘delusional’ for trying to allegedly impose new conflict rules on the organization.
“The Israeli enemy is delusional if it thinks it could impose new conflict rules on Hamas” said the terror group. “Hamas and its military wing have the capabilities to prove the Israeli leadership’s ignorance.”
The army later issued an official statement confirming the launch, which comes just two weeks after the latest cross border flare-up between Israel and the Palestinian factions in the Strip.
One woman appears to have been hurt while making her way to a bomb shelter and needed medical treatment. No other casualties or damage was reported.
On Monday the military also said a rocket launch from Gaza was detected but the projectile landed in an open area outside the Eshkol Regional Council close to the Gaza border. Rocket alert sirens did not sound prior to that.
For the past two weeks a tenuous ceasefire has been observed after yet another round of violence on the volatile border.
The latest round of fighting was triggered when Israel killed a top commander from the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, deeming him an imminent threat.
The IDF said the operation, dubbed “Black Belt,” was a successful mission, involving personnel from across the branches of the military working together with “initiative, subterfuge and surgical precision.”
As reported by Ynetnews