Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip launched at least two rockets into southern Israel early Thursday, the military said. The projectiles fell in an open area, and no injuries were reported.
The rocket fire came after Israeli aircraft bombed a Hamas base in the northern Gaza Strip around 3:30 a.m. Thursday in retaliation for a wave of balloon-borne incendiary devices that were launched into Israel from the Strip the day before, which sparked at least two fires.
“Earlier today, explosive and arson balloons were launched from the Gaza Strip,” the army said. “In response, overnight, an IDF fighter jet and an IDF aircraft struck a number of terror targets in a Hamas military compound in the northern Gaza Strip.”
The Israel Defense Forces said it held Hamas, the de facto ruler of Gaza, responsible for all violence emanating from the Strip.
There were no immediate reports of Palestinian injuries.
At 5:37 a.m., warning sirens sounded in the communities of Alumim and Nahal Oz in the Sha’ar Hanegev region. The IDF said it had detected at least two launches into Israel. A spokesperson for the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council said the rockets apparently landed in open fields and caused no injuries.
One impact site was later located in an agricultural field in the nearby Sdot Negev region, according to officials there.
The projectile “didn’t even cause light damage” to the nearby irrigation pipes, a Sdot Negev official said.
The Israeli Air Force strikes came after two brushfires broke out in the southern Eshkol region on Wednesday night, caused by an incendiary device from the Gaza Strip, the fire department said.
The larger of the two blazes began in a field between the Eshkol National Park and Kibbutz Urim, spreading throughout the grasslands and into a wooded area, according to Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Eli Cohen.
The fires were extinguished by teams from the Fire and Rescue Services, the Parks Authority and the Jewish National Fund. Once they were put out, investigators determined that they were caused by balloons carrying incendiary devices that had been launched from Gaza.
“The IDF takes seriously all attempts to harm Israeli citizens and will continue to take action against these terrorist acts,” the army said.
The arson attacks came amid heightened tensions between Israel and terror groups in the Strip, after a rocket was launched from the coastal enclave, landing several kilometers off shore on Monday night.
Throughout the day, Palestinians launched dozens of incendiary devices, carried by balloons, into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, a fire broke out near Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the Sha’ar Hanegev region. That blaze was caused by a balloon-borne incendiary device launched into Israel from Gaza.
Also Tuesday, the Israeli military deployed Iron Dome missile defense batteries throughout the country, following a rocket attack from Gaza the previous night and ahead of what is expected to be a sensitive next few weeks.
The military expects the coming days to be particularly tense, as they will see the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the international Eurovision song competition in Tel Aviv, Israel’s Memorial and Independence days, and the first anniversary of the opening of the contentious US embassy in Jerusalem.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhaleh has warned that should Israel harm or kill members of armed Palestinian factions, Islamic Jihad will respond with force and target major cities in the Jewish state.
Nakhaleh, who was named the new Islamic Jihad chief in September 2018, made the comments after the Israel Defense Forces accused operatives in the terror group of firing a rocket that landed off the Israeli coast Monday evening.
Asked by Dar al-Hayat, an Arabic-language news site, whether Islamic Jihad feared Israel carrying out assassinations against its members, Nakhaleh stated: “If you intend by your question to [refer] to the threats in recent days connected to rocket-fire, I clearly state that we will respond with force and attack major cities, if any harm is done to [members of] the resistance or premeditated assassinations are carried out against them, regardless of their organizational roles.”
Islamic Jihad, which is backed by Iran, is considered the second-most powerful terror group in the Gaza Strip after Hamas, the coastal enclave’s de facto rulers; it has an arsenal of rockets that can reach deep into Israel.
The IDF said on Tuesday that the group had “intentionally fired” the rocket from northern Gaza in an effort to derail ongoing efforts to maintain a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and other terror groups.
This is Bahaa Abu-Ala’ta, the #Gaza Commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Last night, his operatives fired a rocket at #Israel to bring about an escalation. Thankfully, the rocket landed in the sea.
The IDF remains ready and committed to defend Israel against such terror. pic.twitter.com/rLD27pK8CG
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 30, 2019
The IDF also specifically accused operatives under the command of Bahaa Abu al-Ata, a senior official who is responsible for the group’s military activities in northern Gaza, of firing the rocket.
The IDF identifying Abu al-Ata by name could be seen as a tacit threat; the military also tweeted out his photograph. The IDF has targeted Abu al-Ata in the past, including during the 2014 Gaza war.
Islamic Jihad official Walid al-Qatati, however, denied later on Tuesday that the terror group stood behind the rocket fire.
“The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, has not announced that it shot a rocket toward the occupation,” Qatati told the Islamic Jihad-linked Palestine Today. “This accusation is a fabrication that the occupation wants [to use in order to achieve] specific goals, most important of which is inciting against Islamic Jihad.”
Nakhaleh also said that if members of terror groups were harmed, Islamic Jihad would respond with force and target large Israeli cities “irrespective of whether understandings have been reached or will be reached.”
Last month, Israel and Hamas reached unofficial Egyptian-brokered ceasefire understandings, under which terror groups in the Strip would scale back violence along the Gaza border in exchange for economic and humanitarian concessions by Israel.
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