Gazan terrorists fire over 250 rockets at Israel; IAF strikes back – Be’er Sheva under attack
Gaza-based terrorists have launched over 250 rockets at Israeli cities and towns throughout south since Saturday morning, firing almost insistently at civilian targets with one Israeli killed.
A direct hit of a rocket from Gaza in the Israeli community of Nahal Oz near the Israel-Gaza border. Photos were taken earlier today by Kobi Richter/TPS.
While dozens of rockets were intercepted by Iron Dome defence systems, several Israelis were injured and some residential buildings sustained direct hits. One of the victims is an 80-year-old woman who was seriously injured in the city of Kiryat Gat.
60-yr-old Moshe Agadi was killed and over 80 Israelis were injured.
In response to the attacks, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has carried out some 120 attacks against terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, including training and weapons manufacturing compounds, a Hamas naval compound and headquarters, and a terror tunnel that ran from Gaza into Israel. At least two terrorists were killed in the strikes.
The IDF stated that the Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror groups are responsible for the attacks on Israel.
IDF Spokesperson’s announcement:
“The IDF attacked an office building of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations in the Rimal neighbourhood
A few minutes ago, IDF fighter planes attacked an eight-story building in the Rimal neighbourhood of the northern Gaza Strip, which houses the offices of Hamas and the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees.
The building was used by Hamas’ headquarters in the West Bank, which is responsible for terrorist operatives in the Judea and Samaria region by carrying out terrorist attacks, building terror infrastructures, transferring terrorist activity and transferring funds and logistical responses to terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens.
In addition, senior officials of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization used offices in the building for terrorist purposes.”
We have just started carrying out an aerial strike of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets across Gaza.
If you want to know why, take a look at what it feels like to be an Israeli living in southern Israel today and you’ll understand: pic.twitter.com/HpboJpaNkn
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 4, 2019
All school on Sunday in the south has been cancelled by the IDF, and workplaces will open only if they have access to a bomb shelter.
IDF spokesman Ronen Manelis stated that the IDF is prepared for an escalation, including rocket fire on Tel Aviv.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated that Islamic Jihad and Hamas are committing a double war crime by intentionally targeting Israeli civilians while hiding behind local civilian population.
The Estonian Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the “multiple rocket attacks from Gaza towards Israel. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians are completely unacceptable.”
French Ambassador to Israel Helène Le Gal stated her “solidarity with the people of southern Israel, hard hit by the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.”
The German Foreign Ministry stated it “strongly condemns the massive rocket fire from Gaza to Israel. There is no justification for attacking civilians. Israel has the right to defend itself and protect its people.”
“The rocket fire from Gaza towards Israel must stop immediately,” European Union spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic says in a statement. “A de-escalation of this dangerous situation is urgently needed to ensure that civilians’ lives are protected.”
Photo: Kobi Richter/TPS
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon appealed to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General António Guterres to “take decisive measures against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip and support Israel’s right to self-defence and defensive actions.”
“The State of Israel has the duty and the full right to do all that is necessary to protect our people and our sovereignty, and we will continue to do so at all times,” Danon wrote, calling on the Council to “take this opportunity to finally condemn terrorism against Israel, designate Hamas as a terrorist organization and support the fundamental right of Israel to self-defence.”
These latest attacks on Israel occur just days after it marked its Holocaust Remembrance Day and days before it will celebrate its Independence Day.
The IDF deployed Iron Dome defence systems throughout the country a few days ago, acting on intelligence that the Islamic Jihad plans to launch an attack against Israel during its Independence Day and during the Eurovision Song Contest slated to be held in Tel Aviv in two weeks.
In recent weeks, the Islamic Jihad has been taking steps to disrupt the un-announced understandings between Israel and Hamas, which rules the trip. The terror group has been trying to drag the area into deterioration, the IDF said.
President Reuven Rivlin stated that “as a tense and worrying Shabbat ends, I am praying for those injured and thinking of those sheltering from rockets in their safe spaces.”
Israel will “continue to stand against this dreadful terror and will respond forcefully and unwaveringly to any attack on the security of our people,” he vowed.
The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) has condemned the barrage.
President of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Jeremy Leibler said “Palestinian terror organisations Hamas and Islamic Jihad have the blood of innocent Israeli civilians on their hands. Over the past few days, southern Israel has been bombarded with incessant rocket attacks which has resulted in death and injury to tens of civilians.
In addition to civilians who have sustained physical injuries from shrapnel, many of the injured are also being treated for anxiety. This is an unfortunate reminder of the deep psychological trauma which is ever-present in southern Israel where civilians are regularly forced to take shelter from Hamas attacks.”
Hamas is committing a double war crime. Not only is Hamas targeting Israeli civilians, but it is firing its rockets from densely-populated civilian areas in Gaza and using its inhabitants as human shields. The international community’s silence in the wake of these warm crimes is deafening.
If not for the Iron Dome air defence system, many more innocent Israeli civilians would have been murdered at the hands of Palestinian terror. We are thankful to the brave soldiers of the IDF and the Iron Dome which have ensured that the number of casualties was significantly lower.
Our thoughts are with the family of Moshe Agadi, who was killed after a rocket hit his home in Ashkelon as well as the people of southern Israel who have been bombarded with hundreds of terrifying rockets over the past few days.”
