Gaza-based, Iran-backed terror group issues video showing members loading projectiles into a rocket launcher, as well as footage of Ashdod port and Haifa refineries
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The military wing of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad terror group on Saturday released a video threatening rocket attacks on the nuclear facility in Dimona and other sensitive sites in Israel, amid continuous rocket firefrom the enclave and IDF strikes in response.
The release of the video, which shows members of the Iran-backed group loading projectiles into a rocket launcher, comes amid a round of fighting between Israel and terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
In addition to the Dimona reactor, the video also shows footage of Ben Gurion Airport, the Ashdod port and refineries in the northern city of Haifa.
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To this day, Israel has never acknowledged that it has a nuclear arsenal, produced at Dimona about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Tel Aviv, instead maintaining a policy of “nuclear ambiguity” while vowing that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons in the Middle East.
During the 2014 conflict between Hamas and Israel, terror groups from the Palestinian enclave targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, located 12 kilometers southeast of Tel Aviv, and briefly grounded flights.
The Haifa bay area is home to some of the heaviest industry in the country, and residents there have long feared an incident that could endanger the northern port city.
The video was released hours after the terror group threatened to disrupt the Eurovision Song Contest, due to take place in Tel Aviv between May 14 and May 18.
“We will prevent the enemy from succeeding in establishing any festival aimed at harming the Palestinian narrative,” PIJ said in a statement as delegations began arriving Saturday for the contest which is expected to attract thousands of tourists to Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday afternoon launched a series of strikes on the Gaza Strip from both land and air, as 200 rockets were fired from the enclave.
Meanwhile, a woman, aged around 50, was in serious condition after being hit by shrapnel from a rocket in Kiryat Gat, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of the Gaza Strip. A man was moderately injured by rocket fire on the coastal city of Ashkelon.
Shortly after 3 p.m. the army said fighter jets and tanks had struck 30 “terror targets” in the Strip belonging to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups. The operations were ongoing.
The army said it targeted several Hamas compounds in Gaza City used for training and for weapons production. It said one of the sites was used by the organization’s naval force.
It also struck several Islamic Jihad compounds throughout the Strip, and a number of rocket launchers and outposts near the border.
The strikes came after IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi held talks with Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman, Southern Command chief Herzi Halevi and other top brass. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also defense minister, held consultations at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv with senior defense officials.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/islamic-jihad-threatens-attack-on-dimona-nuclear-facility-ben-gurion-airport/.
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