Projectile damages parked cars; two people suffer shock attack comes after IDF targets 2 Hamas sites in response to earlier rocket-fire, reportedly wounding at least 14.
Projectile damages parked cars; two people suffer shock attack comes after IDF targets 2 Hamas sites in response to earlier rocket-fire, reportedly wounding at least 14.
A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in the Israeli town of Sderot Friday night, causing damage to several parked cars.
There were no casualties, though two people suffered shock.
“There was a huge explosion. I heard glass shatter and car alarms. The house’s walls shook,” a resident told the Ynet news website.
The rocket was the third launch of the evening, and came shortly after Israel struck Hamas targets in Gaza in response to the previous projectile-fire.
The Israel Defense Forces said it hit a Hamas training facility and a weapons depot belonging to the terror group.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that 14 people were wounded, suffering what it described as light to moderate injuries. Reuters reported that as many as 25 people were wounded, including six children.
Witnesses told the news agency that most of the casualties were not Hamas men but civilians who lived in a building near the training camp.
Hamas, an Islamist terror group which seeks to destroy Israel, has called for a new intifada in response to US President Donald Trump’s recognition on Wednesday of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh on Friday evening praised as a “blessed intifada” the violent protests held by thousands of Palestinians across the West Bank and in Gaza throughout the afternoon. Two Gazans were reported killed in what Israel said were violent protests at the Gaza border fence and a third was badly injured.
Israel holds Hamas responsible for all rocket fire and other attacks emanating from the Strip, which the terror group still overwhelmingly controls despite handing over some power back to the Palestinian Authority.
The strike on Hamas positions came shortly after the army said its Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza. Sirens blared in communities near the Gaza border soon afterwards, as a second rocket was fired. The army said it did not identify an impact.
The IDF said there were no injuries or damage from those earlier rockets.
The military had warned more rockets could follow, and told residents of the Gaza periphery to remain close to protected spaces and bomb shelters.
The Israeli army said around Palestinians “participated in violent riots at six locations along the border with the Gaza Strip.” It said troops shot at some of the rioters, but did not specify how many were wounded.
A number of rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza on Thursday, as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called for a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising. An IDF tank and aircraft carried out retaliatory strikes on two Hamas positions
Witnesses told the news agency that most of the casualties were not Hamas men but civilians who lived in a building near the training camp.
Jerusalem’s status is among the most difficult issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the US’s traditional position has been that it must be negotiated between the two sides.
While Israel has always considered Jerusalem its capital, with the prime minister’s office and parliament building located there, countries have avoided recognizing it as such to prevent damaging hopes for a two-state solution.
The Palestinians seek the eastern sector of the city as the capital of their future state.
Judah Ari Gross and agencies contributed to this report.
