Sderot home damaged as Gaza rockets fly after fresh IDF airstrike
TOI STAFF
Gazan terrorists fired rockets at Israeli homes and warplanes struck the Palestinian enclave early Friday morning, as already-simmering tensions flared, threatening to bring the restive region to the brink of a wider conflagration.
The Gazan rocket attack was the third apparent volley in hours, and came as Israel carried out airstrikes for the second time since late Thursday night, in a marked escalation of violence after weeks that have seen hundreds of incendiary devices flown into Israel, sporadic rocket attacks, and near-nightly IDF reprisal raids.
The Magen David Adom rescue service said at least three people were being treated for shock after at least one rocket was shot from Gaza toward the city of Sderot at around 2:30 a.m. Another woman was treated for light injuries sustained while running to a bomb shelter.
According to initial reports, a home in the city suffered light damage. It was unclear if the damage was caused by a rocket strike or shrapnel from an interception.
Videos and pictures on social media showed several Iron Dome interceptor missiles being launched over the city and light damage to the outside of a home.
Other pictures and videos, which could not be immediately verified, showed a kitchen blown apart, windows smashed and large holes in walls and a roof.
“We didn’t hear the siren and suddenly there was a loud blast,” Shlomo Malka, the owner of the house, told Ynet news. “We got out of bed and ran to the bomb shelter. When we came out we saw everything was destroyed. The whole kitchen is in shambles, the food for Shabbat is ruined.”
The army said rocket warning sirens sounded in Sderot and surrounding communities. It was not known if more than one projectile was launched.
The rocket attack came shortly after Israeli planes carried out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, hitting a rocket production facility, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The Hamas-linked Shehab news agency said the strikes occurred west of Beit Lahiya in the northern Strip. There were no immediate reports of damage.
The Israel Defense Forces struck Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Thursday night for the tenth day in a row amid ongoing arson balloon attacks and several rocket launches on southern Israel, as the tense border region appeared to heat up.
The strikes were preceded by a failed rocket attack and drew three more launches, which were intercepted by the Iron Dome air-defense system, in a marked escalation of already high tensions. There were no casualties or damage.
The IDF said fighter jets and other aircraft struck “a concrete plant used for building underground infrastructure and tunnels for the Hamas terror group.”
It said the strike was in response to balloons carrying incendiary devices and explosive launched into Israel throughout the day.
Palestinian media reported that the Israeli strikes targeted a Hamas military wing facility in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. Palestinian sources reported light damage but no casualties.
The reported strikes came shortly after the army confirmed that several rockets had been fired fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, but apparently landed inside the coastal enclave.
The earlier rockets did not trigger warning sirens in any Israeli communities near the Hamas-run coastal enclave and there were no reports of injuries.
The three rockets that followed the Israeli strikes did trigger alarms in communities surrounding Gaza, but they were shot down by the military’s Iron Dome system, the IDF said.
The launches capped a day where at least 42 fires were sparked by balloon-borne incendiary devices lofted from Gaza, according to the Fire and Rescue Service. A statement from the fire service said most of the blazes were small and didn’t pose any danger to people or property.
Over the past few weeks, terrorists in the enclave have again begun launching balloon-borne incendiary and explosive devices into southern Israel, sparking dozens of fires that caused environmental and property damage in the region.
There have also been several rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns, which so far have caused no casualties and little damage.
Those attacks have drawn daily retaliatory Israeli strikes against Hamas installations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would respond to airborne arson attacks in the same manner it does rocket attacks, and warned that there could be another major flareup in Gaza.
“I regret that we are also preparing, to the extent necessary, for the possibility of a round or rounds [of fighting]. I hope that we will not get there,” he told local leaders of Gaza-area communities.
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