BICOM

Late yesterday morning, Israel’s Air Force (IAF) struck two rocket launching sites in the northern Gaza Strip; hours after two rockets were fired from the area at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.

After the Code Red warning siren was sounded throughout the area, the Iron Dome anti-missile defence system intercepted one of the rockets, the other landed in an open area. On Sunday afternoon, two mortars from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip were fired into Israel, landing in an open area of the Eshkol region in the Western Negev.

In response to the rocket fire, the IDF said Israeli aircraft carried out precise strikes against two rocket launching sites. An Israeli military spokesperson said, “The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm the citizens of the State of Israel or its soldiers and will continue to operate against any element that uses terror against the State of Israel.” The statement made clear that although no organisation had taken responsibility for the attack, “The Hamas terrorist organization is the address and holds responsibility.” Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since it violently removed the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

This morning, the IDF will hold a routine test of the Code Red warning siren in areas near the Gaza border. Meanwhile, YNet reports Hamas has been replenishing its stockpile of M-75 rockets since Operation Pillar of Defence almost a year ago, during which Israel sought to stop an increased rate of rocket fire from Gaza on Israel. The M-75 rockets have a range of approximately seventy kilometres and YNet says Hamas has warned it has the capability to fire them on Tel Aviv and the surrounding area during a future conflict.