Several sites in the Gaza Strip were reportedly struck by Israeli Air Force jets after three rockets were fired from the Hamas control enclave towards southern Israel on Saturday night.
According to the Israeli military all of them intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
Incoming rocket sirens were activated at around 9 p.m. in Sderot and surrounding communities bordering the northern part of the blockaded coastal enclave. Locals reported hearing blasts, and video shared on social media showed at least two interceptions. The third projectile is believed to have fallen in open territory, causing no damage. Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller reported that paramedics and EMTs treated a 40-year-old woman and her daughter, 10, and a 27-year-old male. All were lightly injured. Another two people were treated by MDA for stress symptoms. According to KAN Radio, IAF aircraft were scrambled to the northern Strip three times on Saturday following reports of suspicious activity near the border but returned to base after checking that there had been no infiltration into Israel. Also on Saturday, the IDF said troops arrested two unarmed Gazans who crossed the border fence in southern Israel. They were arrested and taken in for questioning. The rockets come a day after Hamas resumed the Great Return March protests after a three-week break following Operation Black Belt between the IDF and Palestinian Islamic Jihad which saw over 400 rockets fired towards southern and central Israel, including Tel Aviv. On Friday, an estimated 4,000 Gazans took part in the protests, with hundreds rioting and throwing explosive devices and rocks at IDF troops deployed at the fence who responded with riot dispersal means. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said that 27 Palestinians were injured. Also on Friday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi met with the mayors of communities bordering the Gaza Strip and said that following the last round of violence, in which Hamas did not fire one rocket, there is a chance to negotiate a long-term ceasefire with the terrorist organization. “The IDF’s actions in ‘Black Belt’ succeeded due to the resilience of residents of the Gaza periphery and your leadership, and it allows us a special opportunity to create a different reality in the region,” Kohavi said. Kochavi was joined by the head of the Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Hertzi Halevi and the Gaza division commander Brig.-Gen. Eliezer Toledano.
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