Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired three mortar shells into southern Israel on Wednesday, but caused no injuries or damage, the army and police said.
The launches took place over a period of four hours. In all three cases the army said it spotted the launches, but that the exact impact sites of the shells had yet to be found.
Warning sirens only wailed during the third launch. It was not immediately clear where the third mortar landed. Police said that the previous two landed in open fields in the Eshkol region.
Warning sirens were not triggered by the first two launches, apparently because the shells were heading toward unpopulated areas.
This was the fifth projectile from Gaza to hit Israeli territory in under a week. There have also been a number of unsuccessful attempts, in which rockets were launched at Israel but failed to clear the border, landing instead inside Gaza.
On Monday night, terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at Israel that also hit an open field in the Eshkol region, causing neither injury nor damage.
On Friday, terrorists in Gaza fired three mortar shells at southern Israel, apparently in an attempt to interrupt a ceremony for a fallen IDF soldier whose remains are being held by Hamas in the coastal enclave. Two of the mortars were shot down by the Iron Dome missile defense system, while the third struck an Israeli community on the border, causing light damage to a building.
On Wednesday, the military completed an investigation of the Friday attack, determining it to have been the work of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.
Israeli jets overnight Wednesday-Thursday carried out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for mortar fire earlier in the day.
Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip had fired three mortar shells into southern Israel on Wednesday, but caused no injuries or damage, the army and police said.
In a late-night statement, the army said the overnight raids targeted “significant terror infrastructure,” without elaborating.
“The IDF will continue to use all the measures at its disposal, above and below ground, to thwart attacks against Israelis,” the military said. “We are prepared and ready for a variety of scenarios and will act against any attempts to violate Israeli sovereignty.”
There were no immediate reports of injuries from the Israeli airstrikes.
The launches from Gaza on Wednesday took place over a period of four hours. Police said two shells landed in open fields in the Eshkol region, and it was not immediately clear where the third landed.
Warning sirens were not triggered by the first two launches, apparently because the shells were heading toward unpopulated areas.
This was the fifth projectile from Gaza to hit Israeli territory in under a week. There have also been a number of unsuccessful attempts, in which rockets were launched at Israel but failed to clear the border, landing instead inside Gaza.
Mortar shells fired at Israel from Gaza on Friday appear to be the same Iran-made variety used in a November 30 barrage fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, indicating the terrorist group was responsible for both attacks, The Times of Israel has learned.
According to army assessments, those recent attacks show that Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has apparently lost its ability to prevent other terrorist groups from carrying out attacks from the coastal enclave.
Israel’s retaliation policy in recent years has mostly been to strike Hamas in response to attacks carried out from Gaza, the idea being that the group, which rules the territory, is ultimately responsible for any attack emanating from it. The army believed that such strikes would force Hamas to rein in more radical groups.
The Iran-backed Islamic Jihad has vowed to avenge the deaths of 12 of its operatives, including two senior officers, who were killed when the Israel Defense Forces blew up a cross-border attack tunnel dug by the group on October 30. Two Hamas members were also killed in the blast.
No comments:
Post a Comment