The Israel Defense Forces is preparing for a scenario in which Palestinian terror groups will continue to launch rockets at Israeli communities following a weekend of violence, and perhaps even increase their range to target bigger cities.
Ten rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel Friday night, one of which struck a home in the southern city of Sderot. The rockets set off warning sirens in Sderot and other communities in Israel’s south as many families were gathering for Shabbat dinner.
Israel responded with airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, which reportedly killed one Palestinian and wounded two others.
But despite the prevailing assessment within the the military that the latest escalation is over, it is taking no risks and has changed the deployment the Iron Dome air defense system as well as other troops in preparation for more rockets at a longer range, Hebrew-language media reported Saturday night and Sunday.
Third-party mediators also reached out to both Israeli and Gaza officials in a bid to ease tensions.
Unite Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nikolay Mladenov, who has been a significant intermediary between Jerusalem and Gaza in the past two years, was due to visit the coastal enclave this week, for instance.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also defense minister, held a discussion over the weekend with security chiefs to prepare a response, and the security cabinet is set to convene on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the latest developments.
Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi called Saturday for a large-scale military operation in Gaza “including the elimination of Hamas leaders.” He said residents “have lived in this reality of ‘normalized emergency’ for nearly two years, and it’s long past time it was put to an end.”
MK Yair Lapid, No. 2 in the Blue and White party, and Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman on Saturday both blamed Netanyahu for the latest rocket fire.
The IDF said its retaliatory strikes hit “a wide range” of Hamas targets, including a naval base, a military compound and a weapons manufacturing plant.
Following the strikes, the Gaza-ruling Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror organizations warned Israel of possible consequences.
The Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror organizations on Saturday warned Israel following airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire at southern Israeli communities.
Hamas spokesman called the airstrikes a “dangerous escalation” and said the “Zionist enemy bears responsibility for its consequences and ramifications.”
Meanwhile an unnamed senior Hamas figure told Haaretz the rocket launches were carried out without Hamas’s approval and were not the work of one of the major Palestinian factions.
On Saturday afternoon Israelis hiking in a riverbed near the Strip discovered an explosive device hidden inside a book. Police sappers were called to the scene and destroyed the bomb in a controlled detonation. It was thought it may have been sent over the border tied to a helium balloon.
The Hamas-run health ministry said a Palestinian was killed and two were wounded in the Israeli strikes across Gaza Friday night; it did not say if he was affiliated with a terror group.
The strikes came after the army said 10 rockets were fired Friday night into Israel, one of which struck a home in the southern city of Sderot.
“The Israeli occupation bombardment and targeting of resistance sites and our people in Gaza is a continuation of a series of Zionist crimes and acts of aggression,” Barhoum said in a statement.
“We affirm the blood of our people is dear and no one will allow the enemy to violate it or to turn Gaza into an arena to export internal crises,” he said.
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