IDF launches massive strike against Gaza, bombs Hamas chief’s home

Hamas rocket barrages on southern and central Israel continued throughout the day on Saturday with almost 300 projectiles flying toward Israel. Rocket sirens sounded in parts of the West Bank, in central and southern Israel and near Netanya on Saturday night, after Hamas threatened earlier in the night to put Tel Aviv in a “curfew” at midnight.No injuries were reported due to direct hits or shrapnel in the barrage on Saturday night, although 10 people were injured while running to bomb shelters.Shortly after the barrage of rockets, the IDF began a wave of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, hitting over 150 targets, including the home and office of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, with Palestinian media reporting a number of deaths and injuries.On Sunday morning, sirens went off again in southern Israel. No injuries or direct hits were reported.On Saturday, a man was killed in the central city of Ramat Gan after Hamas fired a volley of close to 30 rockets at central Israel in a large afternoon barrage on the sixth day of fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas.A rocket shot from Gaza into Israel lands in a populated area of Ramat Gan, killing one 55-year-old man. (Avshalom Sassoni/Maariv)

Hamas said it launched the barrage towards Tel Aviv in response to “the massacre of women and children at the Shati refugee camp.”

The airstrike on the Shati refugee camp killed ten people including eight children. The IDF said that the strike was against an apartment that “serves as terror infrastructure” for Hamas. “The IDF takes precautions to minimize possible harm to civilians during its military activities,” the statement added.

Other rockets fell in the Arab-Israeli town of Taibe and others near the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Tulkarem.

Shrapnel also fell near the Safari in Ramat Gan.Damage from a rocket falling outside of IKEA in Rishon Lezion Israel can be seen, May 15, 2021. (Anna Ahronheim)

Close to 300 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip between 7AM on Saturday until 9 p.m. with about 40 of them falling short into the Gaza Strip. Dozens of other rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Over 2,000 rockets have been launched from the Hamas-run enclave since the start of the fighting on Monday.

An apartment in a high-rise residential building in the southern city of Beersheba was heavily damaged Saturday morning during a rocket salvo from the Strip. No one was injured since the family had been sleeping in the bomb shelter when rockets hit the city.Rockets landed in Ramat Gan and Yavne Saturday morning, and a rocket hit a cow shed in the Eshkol Regional Council killing three cows and causing damage.

Another rocket damaged the electric grid in the southern part of Beersheba on Friday afternoon as it was undergoing repairs, according to the Beersheba City Council. The outage left tens of thousands of people across the city without electricity.

A car caught fire on Friday afternoon after sustaining a direct hit from a rocket in the Beersheba region. One person was lightly injured and received medical treatment on site. Another rocket fell close to the Airforce Technical School, also located in the south of the city.

In Ashdod, which was the target of several rocket barrages overnight, the sixth floor of a multi-story residential building was hit as was a factory in the city’s port. 

Homes in the town of Sderot were also damaged, one extensively, when rockets were fired towards the city. Another rocket damaged a store. 

 Damage to a house in the Israeli city of Sderot which was hit by rockets fired by Hamas militants in Gaza, into Israel. May 15, 2021. (AVI ROCCAH/FLASH90)

Sirens sounded in the town of Kiryat Gat during the funeral of 5-year-old Ido Avigail, who was killed two days ago when a rocket made a direct impact on his home in Sderot, penetrating its safe room where they were sheltering..

Ten civilians and one soldier have been killed since Monday. Another 564 people have been injured, six of them seriously.