Five people were wounded on Monday, two of them seriously, as heavy barrages of rockets were fired by terrorists in the Gaza Strip at towns in southern and central Israel, including one that exploded near Ben Gurion International Airport.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated four people wounded in Ashkelon by rocket impacts, including a 75-year-old man in serious condition, two men aged 55 and 30 in moderate condition, and one person who was lightly hurt.
In Ashdod, MDA said its medics treated a woman in her 50s who was seriously wounded as a result of a rocket impact.
Sirens were heard in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ra’anana and as far north as Baqa al-Gharbiyye.
It was the first time sirens were heard in many of the locations since Saturday.
There were multiple explosions, caused either by impacts or interceptions by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
One rocket fell in an open area near Ben Gurion Airport. However, the airport said it was operating normally.
The barrages came a day after Israel formally declared a state of war as the death toll from the massive Hamas attack rose above 700 and was expected to rise further, with the fate of over a hundred people abducted and taken into the Gaza Strip still unclear.
Alongside the invasion, carried out by terrorists in convoys of pickup trucks and motorbikes as well as speedboats and motorized gliders, Gazan terrorists fired thousands of rockets at Israel, hitting homes in Tel Aviv and elsewhere.
The 700 dead included at least 73 soldiers, including top officers, and 34 police officers.
The number of wounded has also continued to tick upward. The Health Ministry said that as of Monday morning, 2,382 people have been treated at hospitals, including 22 people in critical condition and hundreds more also fighting for their lives.
Fears that terrorists could still be roaming free throughout the country remained rampant, keeping much of the country on edge.
Tthe military’s top spokesman said Monday that Israeli troops have regained control of all towns on the Gaza border, but that terrorists may remain in Israeli territory. A short time later the Israel Defense Forces said troops killed a Palestinian terrorist in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, close to the border with the Gaza Strip.
“Exchanges of fire continue between our forces and the terrorists,” the IDF said in a short statement.
Gun battles between military forces and holed-up terrorists raged throughout Saturday and Sunday, with the army slowly recovering from its shock and killing and capturing numerous attackers, after long hours in which the gunmen ravaged towns.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said incidents of clashes between troops and Palestinian terrorists on Monday morning have been “isolated.”
Hagari said that in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council three terrorists were killed by troops; in Be’eri one was killed; in Holit and Sufa five were killed; and in Alumim four were killed.
“It is possible there are still terrorists in the area,” Hagari said, but said that there was no ongoing fighting in any of the towns.
Some of the terrorists have been in Israel since the preliminary attack on Saturday, while others crossed the border over the past two days.
Hagari says breaches of the Gaza border barrier will be physically secured by tanks supported by combat helicopters and drones.
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