The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted two incoming projectiles fired at southern Israel by terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip in the predawn hours of Sunday, the army said, as Israeli fighter jets bombed a number of terrorist positions in the coastal enclave in response to an earlier rocket attack on southern Israel.
The first was launched shortly after 12:30 a.m., setting off sirens in the southern town of Sderot and surrounding Sha’ar Hanegev region and sending thousands of Israelis rushing to bomb shelters.
The second projectile was fired at Israel less than an hour later, triggering alarms in the Eshkol region, the army said.
Both were shot down by the Iron Dome, the army said
It was not immediately clear if the projectiles were rockets or mortar shells.
At 2:45 a.m., sirens again sounded in the Sha’ar Hanegev and Hof Ashkelon regions in southern Israel. It was not immediately clear if rockets had made impact.
Earlier on Saturday night, the army’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted a rocket fired at southern Israel by a terrorist group in the Gaza Strip, the military said.
A second rocket was also launched around the same time, but appeared to fall on the Palestinian side of the Gaza border, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The renewed rocket fire followed significant clashes on the Gaza border on Friday and a massive flare-up earlier in the week, in which Palestinian terrorist groups launched over 100 rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel and the military responded by striking over 65 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad sites in the Strip.
In response to the rocket attack on Saturday, the Israeli Air Force launched a series of strikes on targets throughout the Gaza Strip.
“The IDF, using fighter jets, attacked 10 terror targets in three compounds belonging to the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip. Among the targets that were attacked were two sites used to manufacture and store weapons and a military compound,” the army said.
According to the Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency, the planes struck sites in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, in the Nuseirat refugee camp and outside the city of Khan Younis.
The Palestinian Quds news site also reported Israeli strikes outside the city of Rafah.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
A video, posted on social media, reportedly showed the bombing of the targets in Shejaiya, which sent a large fireball into the sky.
#عاجل المشاهد الأولى لقصف طائرات الاحتلال الحربية لموقع اليرموك التابع للمقاومة في حي الشجاعية بغزة #شهاب_عاجل pic.twitter.com/7I7gODz3PU— وكالة شهاب (@ShehabAgency) June 2, 2018
The rocket launches appeared to be the first violation of a fragile ceasefire in effect since Wednesday morning, but came after a weekend of intense violence along the Gaza border.
The two rocket launches triggered sirens in Israel’s Eshkol region, near the south of the Strip, shortly before the end of Shabbat. The sirens came as Israeli firefighters were battling huge fires in along the border caused by Palestinian fire kites.
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