Israel under fire

Three people were injured when a mortar fired from Gaza hit a house in the town of Sderot at around 6:30 p.m Saturday evening.

A spokesman for the Magen David Adom Ambulance Service said that three people had suffered shrapnel injuries of varying degrees. One of them, a 52-year-old man, suffered moderate wounds after being hit in the chest, a 20-year-old girl sustained light to moderate injuries to her lower limbs, while a 14-year-old girl suffered facial wounds. The three were taken by ambulance to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.

A spokesman for the Sderot municipality said two mortars had hit the town, one scoring a direct hit on the house, while the other hit the courtyard of a synagogue without causing any injuries.

In the largest strike on the Gaza Strip since the 2014 Gaza war, IDF jets hit some 40 Hamas targets Saturday afternoon as dozens of rockets were fired into Israel.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “In consultation with the Minister of Defense, the Chief-of-Staff and the top security command of the State of Israel, we have decided on strong action against Hamas terrorism. The IDF has struck Hamas with the hardest blow since Operation Protective Edge and we will increase the strength of our attacks as necessary.”

The IDF said it had attacked four Hamas military compounds in a third wave of strikes following attacks overnight Friday and early Saturday morning.

Among the targets was a Hamas battalion headquarters in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip where the IDF said it had hit an urban warfare training compound, ammunition storage depots and command centers.  According to the IDF, the strikes also targeted Hamas naval facilities. Unconfirmed Palestinian reports said at least two people had been killed in the strikes.

The IDF said it had also targeted a rocket launch squad and a mortar shell launcher in the northern Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Hamas fired at least 60 rockets and mortars at Israel throughout the day. Around 15 were shot down by Iron Dome missile defense batteries, the rest fell in open fields.

The IDF strikes followed a night of clashes in which the IDF carried out two waves of attacks and Hamas fired some 17 rockets and mortars at Israeli communities in the south. The initial wave of IDF strikes came in response to an incident Friday in which an Israeli officer sustained moderate injuries in a cross border grenade attack as well as ongoing aerial arson attacks.

“In the wake of events overnight we have attacked 40 terrorist targets, including the destruction of the headquarters of the Beit Lahia Battalion,” said Chief IDF Spokesman Brig.Gen Ronen Manelis. “Some 20 terrorist targets in the compound were destroyed… we know how to do this against any battalion, at night or in daylight,” he added.

IDF jets hit several targets in the Gaza Strip including two terror tunnels and Hamas military infrastructure overnight between Friday and Saturday following a grenade attack in which an IDF officer sustained moderate injuries, as well as ongoing aerial arson attacks launched from the Strip.

The first tunnel was located in the south of the Strip inside Palestinian territory opposite Kerem Shalom, while a second tunnel in northern Gaza was hit early Saturday morning.

Some 17 rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza into Israel during and following the IDF strikes, leading the IDF to issue restrictions to Gaza Belt residents, among them closure of the popular Zikim Beach and a ban on open-air gatherings of more than 100 persons.

The IDF said five projectiles had been shot down by Iron Dome air defense batteries.

“The Hamas terrorist organization is continuing to conduct terrorist operations against IDF forces and security infrastructure and to attempt to harm Israeli civilians,” the IDF said in a statement, calling the Hamas attacks a “gross violation of Israeli sovereignty.”

IAF jets hit a high-rise building in the Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip early Saturday evening. An IDF spokesman said the building was used by Hamas for urban warfare training and sat above a tunnel that used for practicing underground combat.

The IDF said that building was hit only after its residents were warned in advance to leave.

A statement added that the strike “was further proof of the IDF’s intelligence and operational capabilities which would be escalated as required.

 

The full IDF statement:

At 1:36 AM (Israeli time), families in southern Israel awoke to the sounds of red alert sirens calling them into their bomb shelters. Men, women, and children, had 15 seconds to run and seek shelter in the middle of the night. These rockets were continuously launched at these communities until 6:15 AM, and they began again at 1:14 PM and have remained ongoing as of the time of this article, 4:30 PM. Hamas has launched more than 100 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli civilians.

Today, the IDF carried out the largest wave of daytime strikes since Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014. The IDF struck more than 40 terror targets in the Gaza Strip, including 2 terror tunnels, 2 large logistic centers, and a Hamas Battalion HQ in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

“All the Iron Dome batteries and other elements were deployed in the last few weeks and prepared for this situation and we are ready for all possible scenarios,” said Chief of the Aerial Defense Array Brigadier General, Zvika Haimovich.

Before the strikes began, the IDF Arabic Spokesperson, Maj. Avichay Adraee sent out warnings to the civilians in the Gaza Strip in Arabic, warning them to stay away from areas where they know that terror activity is taking place. So far, there are no known casualties on the Gazan side.

“A combination of terror along the security fence, arson terror, and rockets are what eventually caused us to retaliate against Hamas,” said Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, Head of the International and Social Media Branch. “The purpose of the strikes was to stop the terror against Israeli civilians, stop the terror on the fence, and to stop the arson terror.”

Since March 2018, the State of Israel has endured Hamas terror in the form of weekly violent riots, arson kites, incendiary balloons, and most recently, rockets. For months Hamas has targeted Israeli civilians on a weekly basis. The riots on the fence are becoming more violent, as an IDF officer was injured yesterday when an explosive device was thrown at him. He was wounded in the chest and is currently recovering and stable. This officer’s injury represents the increasingly violent nature of the riots along the security fence and Hamas’ true intentions behind the “Great Return March.”

The IDF holds Hamas responsible for everything occurring in and emanating from the Gaza Strip. The IDF will continue to defend Israeli civilians and sovereignty against those who seek to harm either.

 

Report:  IDF/TPS