BICOM

Air raid sirens have been heard around 20 cities and the Iron Dome intercepted five missiles over Tel Aviv this morning, after around 200 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza yesterday. An unprecedented salvo from Gaza yesterday evening reached as far north as Hadera, while Israel hit a further 160 targets on the second night of Operation Protective Edge, including senior Islamic Jihad leader Hafiz Hamad, according to reports. Meanwhile, Hamas gunmen were prevented by IDF forces from reaching an Israeli kibbutz having infiltrating Israel by sea yesterday afternoon.

Israel announced Operation Protective Edge on Monday night after Hamas launched a huge burst of rocket fire at southern Israel. With rockets having targeted Israel on an almost daily basis during the past two weeks, last week Israel handed Hamas an ultimatum to stop the rocket attacks or face the prospect of increased military action.

The situation escalated significantly on Tuesday. Areas of southern Israel spent much of the day under rocket fire. Meanwhile, Israel has targeted underground rocket launchers, attack tunnels and the homes of Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders in the Gaza Strip in strikes launched by air and sea. Palestinian reports said that around 20 people were killed in Tuesday’s strikes, including some civilians.

During Tuesday evening, an salvo of rockets was launched at Israel’s major population centres including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where air raid sirens sent local residents hurrying to bomb shelters. For the first time a rocket was fired reaching Hadera, around 100km north the Gaza Strip. This is by far the furthest a rocket has been fired from Gaza. The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted 23 rockets last night, including those over the major cities of Tel Aviv, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Rishon L’Zion. During the evening, the IDF called up around 40,000 reservists who are slated to replace conscripted forces in the West Bank, enabling their deployment to the Gaza border.

Also yesterday, IDF forces intercepted a Hamas commando unit which attempted to infiltrate Israel by sea at Zikim Beach, just north of the Gaza Strip. Israeli security forces killed several of the attackers in the incident, who appeared to be targeting Kibbutz Zikim. In total, Israel’s Air Force and Navy has hit 440 targets in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge.