Rocket salvos fired after Hamas calls for attacks on Israel over Jerusalem unrest; barrages mark worst assault from Strip in many months; IDF lifts restrictions on border residents
Terrorists fired 36 rockets toward Israel from the Gaza Strip overnight with six projectiles intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday morning.
The barrages were the worst assault from the Strip in many months and while there were no Israeli injuries, the rockets did cause damage in a number of communities.
In response, the Israeli military struck multiple Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Saturday morning, including rocket launchers and underground infrastructure, the army said, in response to several salvos of rockets fired into Israel overnight.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the Gaza strikes.
נפילה שניה הלילה באחד היישובים באשכול. נזק גדול לכלי חקלאי ולמבנה. pic.twitter.com/hjPPWNghtu
— almog boker (@bokeralmog) April 24, 2021
Sirens sounded in numerous Israeli communities near the Strip overnight, including Ashkelon and the Eshkol, Sdot Negev, Sha’ar Hanegev and Hof Ashkelon regional councils.
The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted six of the projectiles. Some fell in communities while others landed in open areas.
Iron Dome is programmed to not deploy when rockets are projected to hit non-populated areas — it was unclear why it had not activated to intercept the projectiles that landed in the border towns.
According to the Haaretz daily, two terror groups in Gaza took responsibility for the rocket fire — Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades. Israel has stressed in the past it holds the ruling Hamas terror group responsible for all violence emanating from Gaza.
The attack followed days of tensions and clashes in Jerusalem and the West Bank that involved Palestinian and Israeli civilians as well as Israeli security forces.
Before the morning strikes, the military had not responded to the rockets throughout the night, except for a single tank strike after the first volley, that targeted a Hamas post.
The Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command initially instructed residents in areas under threat to remain close to shelters, ordered the closure of Zikim beach, banned outside gatherings and agricultural work near the security fence and limited groups to under 100 people indoors. However, it later removed the restrictions.
Additionally, the Sdot Negev Regional Council recommended residents avoided going to synagogue on Saturday morning.
ההסלמה בדרום: במועצה אזורית שדות נגב מבקשים להימנע מהגעה לבתי הכנסת@Itsik_zuarets
(צילום: ביטחון אשכול) pic.twitter.com/dEeG98mVBI
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 24, 2021
Miriam Rainan, a resident of the Nahal Oz border community, said the rockets meant residents had to stay home just as the easing of coronavirus restrictions was letting them return to normal life.
“It was a bad night and we slept in the bomb shelter. There was a lot of noise and one rocket fell on the kibbutz’s livestock. This is wrong, Iron Dome does not work properly,” she told Channel 12 news. “We were stuck at home because of the coronavirus [pandemic], and now we are stuck at home because of Hamas.”
The rocket barrages came hours after Hamas held a series of protests in the Strip and called for violence against Israel in the wake of fierce clashes Thursday in Jerusalem between police, extremist Jewish activists and Palestinian protesters.
Addressing the Gazan protesters, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar condemned the decision of some Arab states to normalize relations with Israel last year and lashed out at the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank for continuing its security coordination with Israel.
“After a long series of protests and demonstrations, we have reached the conclusion that without weapons, we cannot liberate our land, protect our holy sites, bringing back our people to their land or maintain our dignity,” he said.
The attacks came during a general lull in violence from the Gaza Strip in recent months, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and as the enclave grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.
A single rocket was fired into Israel from Gaza last Friday. Another was fired the day before. Neither rocket caused injuries or damage, and the IDF hit Hamas targets in response.
Last month, a rocket was fired toward Beersheba as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a campaign stop in the southern city ahead of the March 23 elections.
The last time a rocket barrage hit Israel was in September, when Palestinian terrorists fired 13 rockets in response to Israel signing peace deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Two Israelis were hurt when a rocket hit Ashdod, one moderately and another lightly.
Prior to that, the last major flareup occurred in November of 2019, after Israel killed Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior commander in the military wing of the Islamic Jihad terror group. The assassination led to days of rocket fire in which hundreds of projectiles targeted Israeli cities.
In both cases, Israel retaliated with waves of airstrikes in the Strip.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-hits-gaza-as-terrorists-fire-18-rockets-at-israel-ending-months-of-calm/.