BICOM

Israel’s Air Force (IAF) carried out a strategic strike in the Gaza Strip last night after two rockets were fired into southern Israel during a 24-hour period, adding to an already tense situation in the Gaza border region.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, a rocket launched from Gaza landed in an open area near the city of Ashkelon. This was followed by a further rocket fired yesterday, which also landed in an open field in the Ashkelon region. No injuries or damage was reported in either incident, but the Code Red warning siren was sounded in the area on both occasions, prompting civilians to take cover.

In response, Israel’s Air Force last night launched an airstrike against “terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip,” according to an IDF statement, which identified the targets as “A weapon manufacturing facility… in the Central Gaza Strip, and a weapons storage facility… in the Northern Gaza Strip.” Direct hits were recorded at both sites, while a Hamas report said that a training camp belonging to an unnamed organisation was also targeted.

Speaking yesterday at an IAF graduation ceremony, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that “We will strike those who attack us along with those who sponsor them… There will be no immunity for anyone.” Netanyahu specified that “Israel holds Hamas responsible” for the attacks. Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 when it violently overthrew the Fatah faction.

Yesterday’s developments follow several days of violence in the Gaza border region. Late Sunday, a rocket was fired into southern Israel while on Tuesday a Palestinian sniper killed Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, an Israel Defence Ministry contract worker who was carrying out repairs on the border fence. The IDF struck strategic targets in the Gaza Strip in response. Meanwhile, Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defence system was deployed near the southern cities of Beersheba, Sderot and Ashdod as a precaution in case of an escalation in the violence.