90 projectiles launched from Gaza in IAF and Hamas confrontation

Three Israelis were injured Saturday after a projectile launched from the Gaza Strip made a hit a home in town of Sderot as over 100 rockets and mortars were fired into southern Israel over the weekend.

According to Magen David Adom, one 17 year-old girl was wounded with shrapnel wounds to her face, a 20 year-old girl with injuries to her limbs and a 52yr-old man with a chest injury. All were evacuated by MDA to Barzilai Hospital

Another rocket struck a courtyard of a synagogue in Sderot without causing any injuries.

Over the course of the day on Saturday over 100 projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip since early Saturday morning, with 20 of them intercepted by the Iron Dome Missile Defense System.

“In the last few hours Hamas has chosen to fire projectiles towards communities close to Gaza border but you can’t take it for granted they will stop there,” a senior Israel Air Force officer said, warning that Israel would respond in a tougher manner if Hamas increase their distance of rocket fire.

Some 90 projectiles have been launched from the Gaza Strip since early Saturday morning, with 20 of them intercepted by the Iron Dome Missile Defense System, a senior Israel Air Force officer said.

“In the last few hours Hamas has chosen to fire projectiles towards communities close to the Gaza border but you can’t take it for granted they will stop there,” he said, warning that Israel would respond in a tougher manner if Hamas increase their distance of rocket fire.

Due to the flare-up along the southern border IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt.- Gen. Gadi Eizenkot held an situational assessment in the Gaza Division on Saturday with the participation of the Head of the Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Hertzi Halevi, the Head of the Operations Branch, Maj.-Gen. Aharon Haliva, the Commander of the Gaza Division Brig.-Gen. Yehuda Fuchs and other commanders.

Earlier in the day the IAF carried out the largest daytime operation against Hamas targets since Operation Protective Edge in 2014 following several barrages of rockets and mortar shells towards southern Israeli border communities on Friday and Saturday.

According to IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis, Israeli fighter jets hit 40 Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip in four military compounds.

The Israel Air Force carried out the largest daytime operation against Hamas targets since Operation Protective Edge in 2014 following several barrages of rockets and mortar shells towards southern Israeli border communities on Friday and Saturday.

According to IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis, Israeli fighter jets hit 40 Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip in four military compounds.

“There are three vectors here that we see in severity and can not allow them to continue: fire terrorism, terror along the fence and rocket fire. We intend to stop it,” Manelis said, warning that “we will increase the power as much as necessary.”

While “it’s too early to talk about a broad military operation, we have understood in recent weeks that this day will come, and once relevant conditions have been created, we will act,” he added.

The wave of airstrikes focused on the headquarters of the Beit Lahiya Brigade. Jets struck and destroyed training areas, weapons storage warehouses, war rooms and offices. Other strikes targeted Hamas’s naval terror wing.

“This attack is an expression of the intelligence and operational capabilities of the IDF, which can intensify and expand according to need and assess the situation,” the military said, adding that it was carried out “in response to the terror attacks carried out by the Hamas terrorist organization against Israeli citizens” as well as attacks against the security infrastructure of the fence and the ongoing launching of aerial incendiary devices.

The strikes came as incoming rocket sirens continued to wail in the southern Israeli communities of Sha’ar HaNegev, Sdot Negev, Eshkol, Hof Ashkelon Regional Councils, as well as in Ashkelon’s Industrial Zone and Kerem Shalom near the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday. 

The incoming rocket sirens began at at 1.36 AM until around 6AM before they resumed at noon. 

One firefighter was lightly wounded after falling while trying to take cover and damage was caused to vehicles and to a chicken coop in a settlement in the Eshkol Regional Council.

As a precaution, the IDF instructed residents in Gaza border communities to remain within 15-seconds of bomb shelters or safe rooms, closed the Zikim beach on Saturday and restricted gatherings of more than 100 people in open spaces and more than 500 people in closed spaces across the Gaza border communities.

The Head of the IDF Arab Media division Major Avichay Adraee warned Gazans on social media to keep their distance from buildings and persons who serve “terrorists organizations.”

“This a special announcement for Gaza’s residents. You are requested to immediately remove yourselves from every facility or infrastructure that are used by terror organizations, to stay away from every person that is known as a terrorist and from every space in which terror organizations operate.

“Beware, you have been warned,” he said, “The sights of 2018 could be much more horrific than the sights of 2014.”

The large scale daytime operation against Hamas came several hours after the IAF struck several Hamas terror targets, including two offensive terror tunnels in the northern and southern Gaza Strip.

“The IAF fighter jets attacked a Hamas terror tunnel in the Southern Gaza Strip as well as several targets in military compounds, among them locations where the Hamas terror organization assembles incendiary balloons and a Hamas training camp,” read a statement by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit early Saturday morning.

“The IDF retaliated against the terror attacks that were committed during the violent riots on the Gaza border fence on Friday and the ongoing balloon terrorism,” it added.

The military said that the Iron Dome Missile Defense System intercepted six of 31 projectiles fired from the Hamas-run enclave overnight. One projectile landed inside a kibbutz in the Shar HaNegev Regional Council area. No damage or injuries were reported.

According to official Palestinian news agency WAFA, IAF jets struck sites across the entire Gaza Strip, causing significant damage and lightly injuring one Palestinian in the Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza.

The IDF said that Hamas, which is responsible for all violence emanating from Gaza, “continues with its terror acts against troops and against security infrastructures attempting to hurt Israel’s citizens.”

The military accused Hamas as using Gazan civilians as human shields and continues to endanger them by carrying out terror attacks against Israel.

“It is a grave violation of Israel’s sovereignty. Hamas’s actions endanger Israel’s citizens and IDF soldiers as well as hurt Gaza’s residents by sabotaging the humanitarian efforts which Israel enables,” read the statement released by the IDF.

“The Hamas terror organization is responsible for the events transpiring in the Gaza Strip and emanating from it and will bear the consequences for its actions against Israeli civilians and Israeli sovereignty. The IDF views Hamas’s terror activity with great severity and is prepared for a wide variety of scenarios,” the army said.

The overnight strikes came after violent clashes took place along the security fence separating Israel and the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave over the course of the day on Friday.

During the clashes, an IDF major was moderately injured by a grenade thrown at him and his troops by Palestinians rioters near the old Karni crossing near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. He was hit by shrapnel in his upper body and airlifted to the Soroko Medical Center in stable condition.

In response the troops opened fire towards the Palestinians who threw the grenade, with one hit  identified.

The IDF is investigating the incident, which is one of the most serious to have occurred since the weekly demonstrations began on March 30 as part of what organizers have called the “Great March of Return.”

Demonstrators have launched hundreds of kites, balloons and helium-filled latex condoms with incendiary and explosive devices on a daily basis into Israeli territory, sparking fires that have destroyed thousands of acres of farmland, parks and forests.

Hamas officials have said that the protests, which also demand an end to a grinding Israeli and Egyptian blockade on Gaza, will continue until their demands are met.

According to official Palestinian news agency Wafa, two Palestinian youths were killed Friday and another 200 were injured. The two fatalities were identified as Mohammad Nasser Shurrab, 20, from Khan Younis and 15-year-old Othman Rami Halles.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said their deaths brings the total killed by Israel since the start of the protests at the Gaza border to 139.

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