(PresidentialWire.com)- Sirens warned of incoming rockets in the Negev Desert last Thursday after a projectile fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the south of Israel, according to a statement from the nation’s military. It follows weeks of relative calm on the border and indicates that tensions could once again flare up.
Thankfully, no casualties or damage were reported.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) confirmed that the rocket landed in an open area close to Nir Am, and footage of the rocket being launched was published online. Take a look at the clip below.
IDF confirms that 1 rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel. It landed and exploded in an open area near Nir Am.
Footage of the rocket being launched : https://t.co/QW5Tfn0LBL— World Conflict Tracker (@EastTracker) April 15, 2021
Israel responded on Friday morning by firing rockets at three facilities that belong to Hamas, the extremist Islamic group that rules Gaza. The rockets targeted a military training site, and a tunnel used for smuggling arms.
“In response to the rocket fired from Gaza at Israel earlier tonight, our forces just struck Hamas terror targets including a training facility, an anti-aircraft missile launcher post, a concrete production plant & terror tunnel infrastructure,” the IDF confirmed on Twitter.
In response to the rocket fired from Gaza at Israel earlier tonight, our forces just struck Hamas terror targets including a training facility, an anti-aircraft missile launcher post, a concrete production plant & terror tunnel infrastructure.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 16, 2021
So far, no Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israel believes it comes from Hamas – which it usually does.
Given the weeks of relative calm at the border and the fact that the attack occurred right at the end of Israel’s Independence Day, it indicates that the attack was launched by Islamic militants punishing the Israeli people for celebrating the founding of the nation by the 1948 British Mandate.
Israeli army carries out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in response to rockets being fired from there into Israel pic.twitter.com/zIv4HVHCbW
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) April 16, 2021
On Friday, the Palestinian Maan news agency said that the Israeli attack began with a shelling of a town in central Gaza known as Juhr al-Dik and that missiles and drones targeted sites including “agricultural lands” in the southeastern region of Al-Zaytoun.
In recent weeks, Israel also engaged in night-time raids against Hamas positions in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
In late March, the Israeli military confirmed that fighter jets and helicopters had taken out a rocket manufacturing site used by Hamas as well as a military post, responding to a rocket fired from Gaza.
