Palestinian terrorists fired rockets at Ashkelon from the Gaza Strip on Sunday afternoon, sending some of the Israeli city’s 150,000-plus residents running to bomb shelters for the first time in three weeks.
Air-raid sirens were activated in parts of southern Ashkelon, according to the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command. The last time alerts were triggered in the industrial area was on Sept. 14, per military data.
“Several launches were detected that crossed [into Israel] from northern Gaza,” the IDF confirmed in a post on X, adding that one rocket was intercepted by air defenses and the remainder struck in open areas.
On Sept. 14, two rockets were fired at Ashkelon from Gaza. One of the projectiles was intercepted while the other rocket fell into the Mediterranean Sea, according to the IDF. There were no casualties reported in the attack.
On May 12, three people were lightly wounded in Ashkelon when a rocket scored a direct hit on a home in the southern part of the city.
IDF ground forces entered Gaza on Oct. 27 following weeks of airstrikes in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion, in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and abducted more than 250.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defined the war goals for Gaza as returning the hostages, eliminating Hamas’s capabilities and ensuring that the coastal enclave will never again constitute a threat.
Israeli forces are on high alert ahead of the Oct. 7 anniversary, with intelligence indicating the possibility of rocket fire, including towards Tel Aviv and the central region.
