The IDF struck Hamas military infrastructure on Sunday morning in response to rocket fire launched toward Ashkelon, the second time in two weeks.
The strikes, carried out by Israel Air Force jets and attack helicopters, targeted Hamas military sites including “two rocket manufacturing sites, underground infrastructure and a training facility for the Hamas terror group’s naval force,” the IDF said.
The army said it holds Hamas responsible for the rocket fire and it “will bear the consequences” for the rocket fire. Israel takes “all terror activity against Israel very seriously and is prepared and willing to act as resolutely as necessary against attempts to harm Israeli citizens and its sovereignty.”
Late on Saturday, a rocket was fired toward Ashkelon, sending thousands into shelters. No group claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.
During a video conference with the heads of the Gaza border communities along with Finance Minister Israel Katz and Interior Minister Arye Deri, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government would continue to support the residents of the area.
Netanyahu noted that despite the continued rocket fire, people continue to move to the area.
“People want to come… I think that says it all,” he said. “Our aggressive security policy – as expressed only yesterday, in response to any harm directed at us – along with strengthening civil resilience in the region, are the real answer to terror organizations. They come to uproot, we come to stay.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned that Hamas was walking a thin line, and should rocket fire continue there are many military options.
“The IDF carried out a large and powerful retaliation tonight,” he said. “There will be no coronavirus discounts in this matter. We live with a very wide range of operational plans to protect the people of the South and if these violations of sovereignty continue, Hamas and the people of Gaza will meet these plans soon and I strongly advise them not to do so.”
Shortly after the rocket fire, an IDF tank fired a shell toward a Hamas outpost without permission. The incident is being investigated by the military.
The military is also investigating why the Iron Dome missile defense system, which damaged a factory in the industrial part of the city, did not intercept the rocket as well as the rockets fired toward central Israel last week.
