Israeli Prime Minister was forced to take cover in a bomb shelter for a short period on Wednesday during a campaign event in Ashkelon, after terrorists in the Gaza Strip launched a missile at the city.
The rocket was shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome air-defense system, according to the Israeli military. No damage or casualties were reported.
The IDF said that in response to the rocket launch, Israel had struck “a number of Hamas terror targets in Gaza.”
Wednesday’s attack marks the second time this year the Israeli premier has been forced off stage by rocket fire from Gaza. Just days before Israel’s Sept. 17 elections, Netanyahu was rushed off stage and into a bomb shelter in the coastal city of Ashdod when two rockets were fired at the city.
In November, Israel assassinated a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza believed to have been the one responsible for the attack on Ashdod in September.
When he returned to the stage some 15 minutes after being rushed off it, Netanyahu issued a threat to the Palestinian terror groups in Gaza.
“The person who fired the rockets last time is no longer with us,” said Netanyahu. “The person who fired one this time should start packing his things.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s political rival Blue and White leader Benny Gantz took a shot at the prime minister’s defense policy following the incident.
“The situation in which Israeli citizens live at the mercy of terrorists and the prime minister of Israel is unable to tour parts of his country is a badge of shame on the security policy in the south—and a loss of deterrence that no sovereign country can accept,” said Gantz, according to Reuters.
