Multiple targets within a military compound connected to the Hamas naval force were pounded by Israeli airstrikes early Sunday morning, following renewed rocket attacks by the terror organization on Israeli civilian areas.
Video of one of the IDF responses showed a large fireball in the sky over Shejaiya, a city that is a long-time stronghold of Hamas.
Four separate attacks on southern Israel sent thousands of Israelis rushing to bomb shelters throughout the night. Three of the mortar shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile-defense system, and another landed in an open area. No injuries or damage were reported.
The military escalation is seen as shattering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, following last week’s series of rocket attacks by Hamas against Israel, and Israeli reprisal attacks on terror targets in Gaza. Palestinian terror groups launched more than 100 rockets and mortar shells last week into southern Israel, and Israel responded by targeting more than 65 Hamas and Islamic Jihad sites.
On Saturday night, Israeli firefighters and civilians worked to put out a massive fire near Kibbutz Carmia, near northern Gaza. The fire was started by incendiary “terror kites,” which Gaza terrorists have been flying across the border in order to kindle fields. The fire is estimated to have burned between 500 to 740 acres of fields and parts of a nature reserve.