The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.
Commander with ties to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said killed in Israeli strike
One of those killed in the strike is identified by Palestinian media as Hamed Hamdan al-Khodari, who is said to be a Hamas field commander connected to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Israeli airstrike kills Hamas field commander — Palestinian media
Palestinian media reports that Israeli aircraft target a car in Gaza City, killing one person and injuring at least three others.
The reports say that one of those killed was a Hamas field commander.
This appears to be a return to Israel’s once common practice of directly targeting terrorist leaders.
Hamas claims responsibility for anti-tank missile attack that hit car
Hamas claims responsibility for an anti-tank missile attack on a car near Kibbutz Erez.
Earlier, reports said it was a rocket launched from Gaza that directly hit the vehicle. The IDF has said it is investigating the nature of the attack.
It isn’t yet clear whether the driver of the car is one of the two Israelis who have succumbed to critical wounds suffered in the attack and a rocket that landed inside a factory in Ashkelon.
Two lightly wounded as mortar directly hits home in Eshkol region
A mortar launched by terror groups from the Gaza Strip directly hits a home in one of the communities of the Eshkol region, the Eshkol Regional Council says.
Two people were lightly injured in the incident, it adds.
Palestinian media says 2 fatalities in Israeli strike are Islamic Jihad members
Palestinian media says the two men killed earlier in an Israeli airstrike are members of the Al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s military wing.
Two Israelis injured in rocket strikes die in hospital
Two Israeli men who were critically injured in separate attacks from the Gaza Strip have been pronounced dead in Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center.
Two men had been critically injured when a rocket fired from Gaza directly hit the factory in which they were working in Ashkelon. Another man at the site was moderately wounded.
In addition, a 60-year-old man was critically wounded as he was driving his car near the Gaza border. The IDF says it is looking into what hit his car, a rocket or an anti-tank guided missile. He sustained a serious shrapnel wound to the leg, causing significant blood loss, medics say.
It isn’t immediately clear which two of the three critically wounded men mentioned above have been pronounced dead. The third is undergoing surgery and his life is in danger.
Fresh rocket sirens heard in southern Israel
Rocket sirens are heard in the communities of Kibbutz Kissufim, Nirim and Ein Hashlosha, across from southern Gaza, as terror groups in the Strip continue launching rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel.
Rocket alarms triggered in Sderot
Sirens sound in the town of Sderot and the surrounding communities northeast of the Gaza Strip.
IDF says it has struck 40 Gaza targets in response to latest rocket salvo
The Israeli military says it has targeted some 40 additional sites throughout the Gaza Strip in response to ongoing rocket and mortar attacks from the coastal enclave.
In a statement, the IDF says the targets include tunnels and underground bunkers, military bases, weapons factories and rocket launching sites.
In addition, the military targeted a number of weapons caches that it says were hidden inside the homes of Hamas operatives “deliberately near civilian populations.”
“The IDF strikes continue,” the army says.
The IDF has reinforced troops along the Gaza border after close over 400 rockets were fired towards southern Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) from the Gaza Strip, killing one man and injuring close to 50 others.
According to the IDF troops from the 7th armored brigade “which would be ready to act as an offensive force within the Gaza Division.”
He was struck by shrapnel to his stomach and chest and was taken by Magen David Adom teams to Barzilai hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Speaking on Army Radio, his brother Shai Agadi, said that he “went out to smoke a cigarette between barrage and barrage [of rockets] and didn’t make it in time to the rocket shelter. They tried to resuscitate him but they lost him on the way to the hospital.”
Speaking on Army Radio, his brother Shai Agadi, said that he “went out to smoke a cigarette between barrage and barrage [of rockets] and didn’t make it in time to the rocket shelter. They tried to resuscitate him but they lost him on the way to the hospital.”
The targets struck by Israel’s military overnight included rocket launchers and a Hamas military position in the northern Gaza Strip.
The targets also included dozens of private homes belonging to Hamas and PIJ commanders. Attack tunnels, military compounds and emplacements, storage houses and weapons factories belonging to Hamas and PIJ.
The targets also included dozens of private homes belonging to Hamas and PIJ commanders. Attack tunnels, military compounds and emplacements, storage houses and weapons factories belonging to Hamas and PIJ.
On Sunday morning the two groups threatened to increase the range of the rocket fire, saying in a joint statement that they are considering firing rockets to cities over 40 kilometers from the blockaded coastal enclave.
“A barrage of about 50 rockets was fired at the area of Ashkelon, and we are weighing increasing the fire to more than 40 kilometers in the coming hours if the aggression continues,” the statement said.
Close to 500 rockets have been fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip since the security situation escalated over the weekend.
One person is dead and several more are in critical condition. Dozens are wounded.
One person is dead and several more are in critical condition. Dozens are wounded.
2:58 PM 05/05/19 - Rocket sirens sound in Nahal Oz and Alumim
2:51 PM 05/05/19 - Rocket sirens in the south urge residents to take shelter
2:34 PM 05/05/19 - Ashkelon residents hear rocket sirens wail
2:22 PM 05/05/19 - Air raid sirens warn residents in the south as four more are injured
2:10 PM 05/05/19 - Rocket sirens alert Israeli residents near Gaza border
2:51 PM 05/05/19 - Rocket sirens in the south urge residents to take shelter
2:34 PM 05/05/19 - Ashkelon residents hear rocket sirens wail
2:22 PM 05/05/19 - Air raid sirens warn residents in the south as four more are injured
2:10 PM 05/05/19 - Rocket sirens alert Israeli residents near Gaza border
2:06 PM 05/05/19 - Rocket alerts sound near Gaza border as almost 500 rockets rain on Israel
1:49 PM 05/05/19 - Sirens continue in Ashkelon and Beer Ganim
1:42 PM 05/05/19 - Rocket shrapnel hit the Oncology wing at the Barzilai Hospital
1:36 PM 05/05/19 - Rocket sirens alert Kerem Shalom residents near the Gaza border
1:08 PM 05/05/19 - Rockets fired towards Israel's center
1:02 PM 05/05/19 - More rockets fired towards Beersheba, Ashkelon, Gaza border communities
1:42 PM 05/05/19 - Rocket shrapnel hit the Oncology wing at the Barzilai Hospital
1:36 PM 05/05/19 - Rocket sirens alert Kerem Shalom residents near the Gaza border
1:08 PM 05/05/19 - Rockets fired towards Israel's center
1:02 PM 05/05/19 - More rockets fired towards Beersheba, Ashkelon, Gaza border communities
Even after firing over 450 rockets at Israel since Saturday, Hamas continues to demonstrate it maintains disciplined control over its arsenal, and has escalated the conflict with Israel in a measured and deliberate way.
The terror group’s long-range rockets have not yet been deployed — a message to Israel that there is still room for talks, and that the current crisis can be ended quickly. The group’s chief demand for doing so: allowing donated cash to enter the Gaza Strip with the start of Ramadan, which begins Sunday or Monday in different parts of the Muslim world.
In another sign of Hamas’s remarkable control over the situation, in the first day and a half after the group started firing at Israel, not one of its operatives or fighters were hurt. Indeed, despite over 200 strikes by the Israeli Air Force on targets tied to the group in the Gaza Strip, its military wing did not suffer a single casualty.
The entire organization has gone underground — literally, into the endless tunnels that crisscross the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has been preparing those tunnels for years in expectation of war, all the while showing it has the capacity to rain rockets continuously on Israel despite a massive air campaign against it.
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