On Wednesday, Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza exchanged rocket fire and airstrikes in the heaviest fighting the region has seen in nine months. Israel claims that Palestinian militants fired more than 460 rockets at the country, while Israel’s military says it hit over 130 militant targets in Gaza.
According to local medics in Gaza, six people were killed and 45 were injured. In Israel, several people were hurt while rushing to shelters, but most rockets were intercepted or fell in open areas.
The exchange of fire began on Wednesday morning with several loud explosions in southern Gaza, sending up large plumes of smoke. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said an aircraft targeted militants belonging to the Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group who were traveling in a vehicle to a concealed rocket launcher in the Khan Younis area. About an hour later, the IDF announced that it had started attacking underground rocket launchers belonging to PIJ across the territory in order to thwart planned attacks.
Palestinian media reported strikes in and around Gaza City, in the southern town of Rafah, and in the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun. The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza reported that six people were killed in Israeli strikes. Four of them were members of the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and two died in Khan Younis and the other two in Rafah. A 10-year-old girl was also killed in Gaza City in unclear circumstances.
As Israeli aircraft struck Gaza, militants began firing barrages of rockets from Gaza and rocket sirens sounded in communities in southern Israel. Later, rockets were launched toward central Israel, triggering sirens in the Tel Aviv area, 80km (50 miles) from Gaza.
The Israeli military said four houses suffered direct hits – two in Sderot, which is only 1km (0.6 miles) from Gaza, and two in Ashkelon, 7km from Gaza. Another hit the roof of a kindergarten in Nirim, on the edge of Gaza to the south, and a yeshiva (religious school) in Netivot, 11km east of Gaza. There were no injuries directly from rocket fire.
The IDF said one in four rockets fired at it had fallen short and landed inside Gaza. It said Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system had intercepted 153 rockets, three had hit urban areas in Israel and the rest landed in open areas.
The Joint Operations Room of armed groups in Gaza, which includes Islamic Jihad and Hamas, claimed in a statement that they had launched the rockets.
“The damage to the homes of civilians and faction fighters is a red line, and we will respond strongly to it. Resistance forces are ready for all options,” it said.
The exchange of fire comes a day after 15 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, including three Islamic Jihad leaders. The group had vowed to avenge their deaths. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s “campaign is not over”.
Tensions have been high between Israel and Gaza militants in recent weeks, with PIJ and other groups firing more than 100 rockets into Israel over two days last week, following the death in an Israeli prison of a Palestinian hunger striker. In response, the Israeli military carried out air strikes on sites it said were linked to Hamas.
The current exchange of fire is the deadliest since three days of hostilities between Israel and PIJ last August, in which 49 Palestinians were killed in Gaza. PIJ has been responsible for many of the rocket attacks on Israel in recent years and is sworn to Israel’s destruction.
Meanwhile, tensions remain high in the occupied West Bank after Israel carried out arrest raids.
