Israel strikes Gaza in response to rocket fire that hits South

Amid rising tensions in the North, IDF attacked in northern Gaza on Sunday night as a response to a rocket fired from Gaza that fell in Southern Israel earlier on Sunday, the IDF confirmed.

The IDF also added that the targets belong to Hamas, and that one of the targets was the office of a Hamas battalion commander.

תיעוד פלסטיני: התקיפה הלילה בצפון רצועת עזה pic.twitter.com/L93VNor9AT

— ynet עדכוני (@ynetalerts) August 25, 2019

The security cabinet is expected to meet Monday to discuss the security situation.

According to the army, three projectiles were fired from the Strip towards southern Israel. Two were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, while the third fell next to Route 34 outside Sderot, causing a fire.

מטוסי קרב של צה”ל תקפו מספר יעדי טרור במתחם צבאי של ארגון הטרור חמאס בצפון רצועת עזה, ביניהם משרד מפקד גדוד של חמאס.

התקיפה בוצעה בתגובה לירי הרקטות ששוגרו מרצועת עזה מוקדם יותר הערב

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 25, 2019

The Red Alert alarms were heard in the city of Sderot, in Ibim, Or HaNer, Nir Am, Gevim and at Sapir College.

MDA provided treatment to 7 people in Sderot, including a woman who was moderately injured on her way to a bomb shelter.

Videos shared on social media shows the moment the Iron Dome missile defense system stopped two rockets above a concert.

According to KAN, the festivities were cut short due to the rockets.

A pair of Iron Dome Tamir interceptors streak above a festival in the southern Israeli city of Sderot attempting to target rockets fired from #Gaza. #Israel @MatanTzuri pic.twitter.com/2C1S1OPo71

— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) August 25, 2019

Earlier on Sunday the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror organization, which rules the Gaza Strip, warned Israel of a response to Israel’s actions in the North, saying that the detonation of an Israeli drone carrying explosives in a residential neighborhood in the southern suburb of Beirut was an act of “aggression and provocation” by Israel.

The rocket fell in Israel just one day after a Qatari envoy visited the Strip over the weekend in an effort to bring calm.

The envoy distributed money to the Ministry of Social Development in an attempt to ease “the suffering people of the Gaza Strip in light of the difficult humanitarian conditions they are living, particularly on the eve of the beginning of the new academic year for school and university students.”

Khlaed Abu Toameh and Anna Ahronheim contributed to this report.