Ongoing rocket sirens in southern Israel since 19:00 pm Wednesday.
IDF spokesperson reports over 70 rockets launched during the evening, most of which landed in open territory and 11 of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
15 Israelis have been injured from the rocket launches and many families are spending the night in the home shelters.
Hamas in a statement: “We are delivering on our promise. The resistance accepted the responsibility to even the playing field with the enemy and it is succeeding in doing so.”
IDF spokesperson reports over 70 rockets launched during the evening, most of which landed in open territory and 11 of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
15 Israelis have been injured from the rocket launches and many families are spending the night in the home shelters.
Hamas in a statement: “We are delivering on our promise. The resistance accepted the responsibility to even the playing field with the enemy and it is succeeding in doing so.”
IDF spokesperson announced that since midnight on Wednesday, 80 rockets were fired at southern Israel.
This brings the total amount of rockets fired by Hamas in this round of fire to over 150.
25 of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, IDF spokesperson confirmed.
Several rockets landed in open territory, causing no harm. Others landed in civilian areas, including direct hits in homes in Sderot and Hof Ashkelon. 17 Israelis were injured.
In response, IDF carried out over 100 strikes targeting Hamas terror cells, rocket launch pads and tunnels.
3 Palestinians were reported dead by the Palestinian health ministry, including 30 year old Hamas activist Ali Ghandour, son of senior Hamas commander Abu Anas Ghandour.
Rockets were continually fired from Gaza towards Israeli towns throughout the night, the most recent salvo being at 05:45am Thursday morning.
This brings the total amount of rockets fired by Hamas in this round of fire to over 150.
25 of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, IDF spokesperson confirmed.
Several rockets landed in open territory, causing no harm. Others landed in civilian areas, including direct hits in homes in Sderot and Hof Ashkelon. 17 Israelis were injured.
In response, IDF carried out over 100 strikes targeting Hamas terror cells, rocket launch pads and tunnels.
3 Palestinians were reported dead by the Palestinian health ministry, including 30 year old Hamas activist Ali Ghandour, son of senior Hamas commander Abu Anas Ghandour.
Rockets were continually fired from Gaza towards Israeli towns throughout the night, the most recent salvo being at 05:45am Thursday morning.
According to Israeli media reports, a rocket from Gaza hit a house in Ashkelon Regional Council in the early morning hours of Thursday.
Rockets were fired by Hamas in Gaza towards southern Israel incessantly since 19:00 on Wednesday and all through Thursday.
The IDF carried out targeted strikes in response. Three Palestinians were reported dead by Palestinian sources, including son of senior Hamas commander Abu Anas Ghandour.
Rockets were fired by Hamas in Gaza towards southern Israel incessantly since 19:00 on Wednesday and all through Thursday.
The IDF carried out targeted strikes in response. Three Palestinians were reported dead by Palestinian sources, including son of senior Hamas commander Abu Anas Ghandour.
This is a developing story.
As rocket launches top 150, IDF says it struck over 100 Hamas targets
Israelis near Gaza sleep in shelters as sirens blare through night; army boosts Iron Dome deployment, preparing for longer-range rockets; Hamas says pregnant woman, daughter killed
The Israeli army struck over 100 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip Wednesday night in response to continuous barrages of rockets fired at Israel from the territory, the IDF said early Thursday.
The military said over 150 rockets and mortar shells were launched at Israeli communities since Wednesday evening. Most of the rockets hit open areas. The Iron Dome defense system — which targets only missiles projected to strike communities — destroyed 25 of the rockets.
However, several hit homes and factories in Israeli communities, causing damage. One barrage that slammed into the city of Sderot Wednesday evening injured three Israelis. At least eight others were treated for panic attacks, including two pregnant women who went into labor.The military said its overnight raids targeted training compounds as well as weapons manufacturing facilities and storage warehouses. The air force also targeted one car that the army said was being used by terrorists to launch rockets at southern Israel from the Strip. One Hamas operative was reportedly killed in the airstrike. Unconfirmed reports claimed he was the relative of a senior Hamas commander.
For the last 6 hours, thousands of Israeli civilians living in these cities have been running for shelter as more than 70 rockets were launched at them from the Gaza Strip pic.twitter.com/AyS8seiSsD
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) August 8, 2018
Hamas said a 23-year-old pregnant woman and her infant daughter were killed in another strike. The woman’s husband was reported moderately injured. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Following the attacks from Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman met overnight with senior officers from the IDF and other security services at the military’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, to discuss the situation and decide on a course of action.
According to the Haaretz newspaper, the military was deploying additional Iron Dome batteries in the region in preparation for Hamas possibly increasing the range of its targets. During past wars rockets have reached as far as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beersheba.
Sirens sounded in Israeli communities throughout the night, and thousands of families slept in bomb shelters and protected spaces.Overnight six rockets exploded in Sderot, including two that hit homes and one that hit a factory. Another hit a house in the Hof Asheklon regional council. In all cases the rockets caused damage but no casualties. In addition, a rocket hit a factory in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, breaking through the roof and damaging equipment inside, a spokesperson for the region said. The factory was empty of people at the time of the rocket attack.
Hamas claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attacks, saying it was avenging the deaths of two operatives killed in an Israeli strike the day before — a strike that came in response to what the IDF initially identified as a shooting attack on its forces, but which was apparently an internal Hamas exercise.
“In response to Israel aggression, the Palestinian resistance has launched a large number of rockets in recent hours at the enemy,” a statement by the group said. “There was a promise [to respond] and now it has been fulfilled.”
The United Nations condemned the Hamas rocket fire.
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