From the BBC:
“Israel and Gaza militants in heaviest fighting for months”
Israel says Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired more
than 460 rockets at it, and that its military has hit over 130 militant targets
in Gaza, in the heaviest fighting in nine months. Six people were killed and 45
injured in Gaza, local medics say. Several were hurt rushing to shelters in
Israel, where most rockets have been intercepted or fell in open areas. It
comes a day after 15 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza,
including three Islamic Jihad leaders. The Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which is the
second biggest militant group in the territory after Hamas, had sworn to avenge
their deaths.
In a televised address on Wednesday night, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel's "campaign is not
over". "We have hit Islamic Jihad with the most significant blow it
has ever suffered," he said, referring to the simultaneous killings of the
three PIJ commanders in the early hours of Tuesday. Hours before Mr Netanyahu
spoke, Egyptian media reported that Egypt had brokered a ceasefire, but there
was no immediate confirmation from the two sides. Soon afterwards, another
rocket barrage was fired towards southern Israel and there were further strikes
in Gaza. An umbrella organisation representing armed factions in Gaza earlier
warned that "if Israel increases its aggression, dark days await it".
Palestinians said 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 PIJ
operatives travelling 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, the group
said, adding that 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 towards central Israel,
triggering sirens in the Tel Aviv area, 80km (50 miles) from Gaza. In one video
filmed in Old Jaffa, explosions could be heard as two rockets appeared to be
intercepted overhead. 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 defence 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 IDF launched Operation Shield and Arrow in the early
hours of Tuesday with several waves of strikes across Gaza that killed 13
Palestinians. Three were PIJ commanders who the IDF said were involved in
recent attacks against Israeli civilians and were planning more. But the other
10 dead were civilians, including four women and four children. Another two
Palestinians were killed on Tuesday afternoon in a strike that the IDF said
targeted militants planning to fire anti-tank missiles. The strikes were 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. There was a serious flare-up last week, as PIJ and other groups
fired more than 100 rockets into Israel over two days, following the death in
an Israeli prison of a Palestinian hunger striker. The Israeli military carried
out air strikes on sites it said were linked to Hamas in response. Tensions
also remained high in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, after Israel carried
out arrest raids overnight. Two Palestinians were killed in the town of
Qabatiya by Israeli forces, who said the pair fired at them. The IDF also said
a soldier was also seriously wounded during a separate exchange of fire with
Palestinian gunmen in Tubas.
^ 400 Missiles and Rockets have been fired from Gaza towards
Israel in the past 2 days (100 of them failed and landed inside Gaza) and the
Iron Dome shot down the others over Tel Aviv and other Israeli Cities.
Israelis living in large cities close to Gaza have a few
seconds to run to an Air Raid Shelter. ^
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