Terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip launched over 174 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel throughout Saturday, the majority of them exploding in open fields, but with some landing inside Israeli communities, injuring three people and damaging buildings, officials said.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched its largest bombing campaign against Hamas targets in the Strip since the 2014 Gaza war, hitting dozens of targets, including two border-crossing attack tunnels and an urban combat training facility, the military said.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, two Palestinian teenagers were killed in the Israeli strikes — in a building over a Hamas tunnel — and 25 others were injured by shrapnel.
From 1:30 a.m., over 174 rockets and mortar shells were fired at southern Israel from Gaza. The majority of them, well over 100, landed in open fields. Over 30 of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. A number landed within the fences of communities in southern Israel.
The three Israelis were wounded when rockets hit a home and a synagogue in the border town of Sderot. They were evacuated to the hospital in moderate condition.
A number of other projectiles that landed inside communities in the Eshkol region of southern Israel caused light damage to buildings and infrastructure. In some communities, the mortar shells knocked down power lines, causing temporary outages, a spokesperson for the regional council said.
“A team from the regional council and the electric company fixed the damage immediately, under continued mortar fire,” the Eshkol region spokesperson said.
In light of the flare-up, Israeli authorities called for a number of precautionary measures for residents of, and visitors to, southern Israel.
Though day camps were allowed to be held as normal on Sunday, all field trips to the Hof Ashkelon, Eshkol, Sha’ar Hanegev, and Sdot Negev regions were cancelled, the Education Ministry announced.
The Zikim beach, which lies just north of the Gaza Strip, was closed to bathers, the army said.
In addition, people were forbidden from holding large gatherings in the areas closest to the Gaza border.
In open fields, no more than 100 people could be together at the same time. In closed areas inside communities, gatherings had to be kept smaller than 500 people, local government officials said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Saturday that Israel would step up its strikes on Gaza until the Palestinian terror groups halt all violence coming out of the coastal enclave.
Netanyahu said that after consultations with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and the IDF chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot it was decided to take “powerful action against Hamas terror.”
“The IDF hit Hamas with the harshest blow since Operation Protective Edge and we will intensify our reaction as much as necessary,” Netanyahu said Saturday evening, after the IDF attacked dozens of targets in the Strip on Saturday, amid relentless rocket fire from Gaza, in the most extensive daytime assault since the 2014 conflict.
“If Hamas does not understand the message today, it will understand tomorrow,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.
Throughout the day Palestinians fired more than 100 rockets and mortar shells at Israel. Three Israelis were wounded when rockets hit a home and a synagogue in the border town of Sderot. They were evacuated to hospital in a moderate condition.
Also, Palestinians reported that two teens were killed when the air force bombed a multi-story Hamas training complex in the Gaza Strip, completely destroying the building and exposing a tunnel complex underneath.
The Hamas-run health ministry identified the dead as 15-year-old Amir al-Nimra and 16-year-old Louay Kahil. It said 14 others were wounded in the more than 40 Israeli strikes throughout the day.
Hadashot TV news reported late Saturday that while Hamas leaders have told Egyptian mediators that they will keep firing rockets into Israel until the IDF stops its military actions, and bragged about the rocket fire, the Egyptians told Hamas that Israel is ready for an escalation of the conflict if necessary, and that therefore if Hamas wants the exchanges to stop, it will have to halt first. The TV news report also speculated that while Hamas might now be looking for a ceasefire, the small Islamic Jihad terror group was not.
The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system downed two rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel, the IDF said early Sunday morning, hours after a ceasefire was due to go into effect to put an end to a flare-up between the Hamas terrorist group and Israel.
The rockets had triggered warning sirens across the Eshkol Regional Council bordering on the Gaza Strip, sending tens of thousands of residents running for bomb shelters in the second night of repeated missile attacks.
Earlier in the night, two mortar shells fired from Gaza landed in Israel. In response, the Israeli military said it “attacked the mortar from which the shells were launched.”
There were no immediate reports of Palestinian injuries.
It was not immediately clear which Palestinian terrorist group was responsible for the rocket or mortar attacks.
The strikes came hours after Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups announced that they agreed to a ceasefire with Israel, following talks with Egypt and other international bodies.
“The regional and international mediation has led to an end of the current escalation between the resistance and the occupation forces,” Hamas said.
A senior Israeli defense official would not directly comment on the reported ceasefire, but said: “Facts on the ground will determine our continued response.”
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