In response to a rocket fired by terrorists into Israel early on Monday, Israeli Air Force fighter jets and helicopters struck several Hamas targets in Gaza.
The Iron Dome missile-defense system intercepted the rocket, and Israel retaliated striking at least one Hamas training site in northern Gaza.
“The IDF holds Hamas responsible for all that takes place in the Gaza Strip,” the army said in a statement following the incidents. The rocket launches allegedly occurred after the IAF hit two Hamas positions in eastern Gaza after an explosive device was flown into Israel attacked to a cluster of colorful party balloons on a model drone craft. The device landed in a carrot field in Sdot Negev and was neutralized by a police bomb disposal robot.
“The IDF will continue to act in defense of the citizens of Israel and against terrorism from the Strip,” the army said. Police urged residents of Israel’s south to maintain vigilance and to report any suspicious objects to law enforcement. Rioters from Gaza have launched hundreds of incendiary kites and balloons into Israel over the last nine months, causing arson fires which have burned thousands of acres of farm, residential, and protected natural lands and cause millions of shekels in damaged.
