BICOM

A rocket was fired yesterday from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, without causing any reported damage. Israel’s Air Force responded overnight, hitting two strategic Hamas targets in Gaza.

The rocket triggered warning sirens in Sderot and surrounding communities. However, the projectile eventually landed in an open area in the Sha’ar Hanegev region and is not thought to have caused any injuries or damage. At around 1am last night, Israeli jets struck two Hamas targets, one in the northern Gaza Strip and the other in the centre. No injuries were reported.

Although no group has taken responsibility for the rocket fire, an IDF statement said that it holds Hamas responsible for such attacks as the de facto authority in Gaza and it will “continue to act severely against any attempt to disturb the peace of communities in the South.” There has been relative quiet in Gaza and southern Israel since a ceasefire ended Operation Protective Edge last summer, but infrequent rocket fire from Gaza persists.

Meanwhile, a report on the IDF’s actions during the conflict last summer was published over the weekend by the High Level Military Group — a group of retired generals and defence officials from UK, Germany, Colombia, India, Spain, Australia, the United States, France and Italy. It concluded that not only did the IDF operate within the laws of armed conflict, but that “Israel’s conduct in the 2014 Gaza Conflict met and in some respects exceeded the highest standards we set for our own nations’ militaries.”

Also over the weekend, Hamas published what it claimed is a letter from IDF soldier Oron Shaul to his family, urging them to press for his release. Shaul was declared killed in action following a battle in Shejaya during Operation Protective Edge, but his body is thought to have fallen into Hamas’s hands. The IDF said that the letter was forged, but the Shaul family held a press conference yesterday asking Hamas for proof their son remains alive.