The Israeli military deployed additional troops and tanks to the Gaza Strip border on Monday following the largest barrage of rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel from the coastal enclave in a single day.
The army was reportedly given a green light from policymakers to pummel terror groups in the Strip if they continued with the barrages, as the terror organizations in the Strip vowed to do.
“The resistance factions’ joint command center is holding a serious conversation about expanding its range of fire. Ashkelon is just the beginning. Approximately one million Zionists will be within the range of our missiles if the Zionist enemy’s decision is to continue its aggression,” said Abu Obeida, a spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, over 300 rockets and mortar shells were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip as of 10 p.m. Monday — a number that was expected to rise as barrages continued throughout the night. The attack began shortly after 4:30 p.m., when terrorists fired a Kornet anti-tank guided missile at an Israeli bus near the border, seriously injuring an IDF soldier who was on board at the time.
The IDF said dozens of incoming projectiles from Gaza were shot down by the Iron Dome air defense system. Most of the rest landed in open fields outside Israeli communities, but a number struck homes and buildings in cities and towns across the south. Two homes were hit in Ashkelon, lighting injuring the occupants, officials said.
The strikes on buildings in Netivot and Sderot caused significant damage and sparked fires in the surrounding area.
In addition to the seriously wounded soldier, at least 22 Israelis were injured in attacks from the Gaza Strip, either by shrapnel caused by rockets and mortar shells or in accidents while running to bomb shelters for cover, medical officials said.
Dozens of people also received treatment after they suffered panic attacks brought on by the rocket and mortar strikes.
In response to the attacks, the Israeli military launched a series of strikes against dozens of targets inside the Gaza Strip, including a number of multi-story buildings and houses belonging to senior Hamas officials deep inside populated areas in the Strip — a move the IDF typically foregoes in favor of attacks on facilities on the outskirts of cities in order to avoid potential collateral damage.
The army also said it targeted three attack tunnels operated by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the two largest terror groups in the Strip.
Three Palestinians — each identified by terror groups as a member — were killed in the army’s initial strikes and three others were reportedly injured, but no casualties were reported in the IDF’s latest round of strikes inside Gazan cities.
In one case, the IDF bombed the headquarters of the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa television station in Gaza City in the central Gaza Strip, which it said was “used by [Hamas] for military activities, including sending messages to terrorist operatives in the West Bank, calls for terror attacks and instructions on how to commit them.”
“This is an attack on a central government property for Hamas, which was conducted as part of additional attacks that the IDF carried out and as a response to the terror attack that the Hamas terror group is leading against Israeli citizens,” the army said.
The military also said the outlet broadcasts “incitement against the State of Israel and its citizens.”
“The IDF is determined to fulfill its mission of defending Israeli citizens, and is prepared and ready for a variety of scenarios, as necessary,” the army says.
On Monday evening, large numbers of tanks and other military vehicles were seen being moved down to the Gaza border on the backs of large trucks. Earlier in the day, before the barrages began, the army also ordered extra infantry battalions to the region.
Additional Iron Dome air defense batteries were also deployed in southern Israel on Monday morning.
The Israeli military threatened Hamas in the evening in response to the hours-long barrage, saying the terror group would “feel the power of the IDF’s response in the coming hours.”
Israeli aircraft bombarded the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV headquarters in Gaza City on Monday evening, destroying it, Palestinian news outlets said and video from the enclave showed.
Israeli aircraft first fired a “warning missile” at the multi-story building, allowing people to leave the site, before destroying it with a number of additional missiles, the reports said.
The IDF confirmed that it destroyed the structure.
“This is an attack on a central government property for Hamas, which was conducted as part of additional attacks that the IDF carried out and as a response to the terror attack that the Hamas terror group is leading against Israeli citizens,” the army said.
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