Israeli soldiers speak next to tanks as military armoured vehicles gather in an open area near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip October 18, 2018. . (photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
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The IDF began lifting roadblocks, and trains resumed their service in southern Israel, as a shaky ceasefire seemed to hold Tuesday, a day after heavy rocket fire from the Gaza Strip pounded communities.
Earlier in the day, a senior Israeli security official denied reports of a ceasefire with Hamas and that Israel was planning further strikes.
“There is no agreement regarding a ceasefire; we are prepared to strike with even harder blows,” the source was quoted by Ynet News as saying.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who landed back in Israel after he cut short his trip to Washington, “has been updated on the latest developments during the flight and was in constant contact with the IDF chief of staff.” the source added that, “the instruction was to continue the strikes; the last word has to remain with Israel. Hamas has made various proposals for a ceasefire through intermediaries, and even offered to stop the clashes on the Gaza border.”
Netanyahu met with senior security officials at the Kirya Military Headquarters in Tel Aviv shortly after he landed, and addressed the AIPAC Policy Conference via a satellite connection.
IDF rocket hits Hamas building in Gaza, March 26, 2019 (Reuters)
“We responded with great force,” he said. “In the last 24 hours, the IDF destroyed major Hamas terrorist installations on a scale not seen since the end of the military operation in Gaza four years ago.”
The latest escalation between Hamas and Israel began Monday morning when a long-range J-80 missile that was launched from Rafiah in the southern Gaza Strip struck and destroyed a civilian home some 120 km. away in the central Israeli community of Mishmeret, injuring seven members of one family and a neighbor.
Militants fired over 60 rockets into southern Israel, and the Israeli military carried out hundreds of strikes in the Gaza Strip overnight.
WATCH AND LISTEN: Hamas fires a barrage of rockets at Israeli civilians last night. pic.twitter.com/iUrD9LxXBx
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 26, 2019
IDF fighter jets, combat helicopters, tanks and naval vehicles struck on Tuesday morning, attacking additional terrorist targets in a military compound belonging to Hamas in Dir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, as well as a military compound belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Beit Lahiya, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
IDF tanks, attack helicopters and naval vessels also targeted several Hamas military posts.
“The Hamas terrorist organization is responsible for all the goings on in and out of the Gaza Strip. The IDF is determined to carry out the task of protecting the citizens of Israel, and is prepared for various scenarios and intensifying its operations as necessary,” the IDF said.
Incoming rocket sirens blasted throughout communities in Sderot, and the regional councils of Eshkol, Hof Ashkelon and Shaar HaNegev, as at least 30 rockets were fired towards Israel between 10.p.m. and 3.15 a.m., after Hamas said it had accepted an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that would have began at 10 p.m.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Israeli army radio on Tuesday morning that “rumors of a ceasefire are incorrect” and that Israel “will continue to exact a very heavy price from Hamas for its attacks on Israeli citizens.”
The military said the majority of the projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system while the rest fell in open territory.
One home in the city of Sderot suffered a direct hit by a rocket, but there were no injuries.
The Home Front Command published updated guidelines for residents in the Gaza border region Tuesday morning, restricting gatherings of more than 300 people in closed spaces across the Gaza border communities. Schools in the region as well as in Ashkelon, Ofakim, Netivot and the regional councils of Bnei Shimon, Merhavim and Hof Ashkelon had also been cancelled.
Israel began it’s retaliatory strikes at around 5.20 p.m., striking Hamas targets in Shati, Beit Hanoun, Saja’iya and other locations throughout the Gaza Strip. The targets included military compounds, tunnel shafts that were used to transport weapons, military positions and rocket launching positions.
Another target struck by Israeli jets was the offices of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Rimal neighborhood of the northern Gaza Strip, as well as a building that served as an office for military meetings and as the headquarters of Hamas’s internal security forces.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit stated that another target was a three-story building that served as a “secret headquarters” of Hamas where militants belonging to the security and intelligence divisions of the organization were located.
The Palestinian News agency WAFA reported that three Palestinians were wounded in the Israeli strikes and had been transported to al-Shifa Hospital for medical treatment.
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