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Hamas nears Israel’s industrial heartland with two missile attacks on Kiryat Gat, home to a huge Intel factory. No one was injured.
Hamas neared Israel’s industrial heartland Thursday night with two missile attacks on Kiryat Gat, home to a huge Intel factory. No one was injured, and the IDF already has retaliated with an aerial strike on terrorist targets.
One of the missiles exploded at a cattle barn outside of the city just one second after the Color Red siren sounded. The system is supposed to give residents 20 seconds to scurry for bomb shelters.
Kiryat Gat is located halfway between Be’er Sheva, the capital of the Negev, and Rehovot, the southern edge of metropolitan Tel Aviv. Hamas has not struck Kiryat Gat since Israel’s counterterrorist Operation Cast Lead campaign two and a half years ago.
These latest missile attacks are not a lone incident. Three other rockets exploded south of the port city of Ashkelon, where oil and natural gas facilities are located. One other rocket exploded between Ashkelon and Kiryat Gat Wednesday night.
Hamas has slowly escalated the number of its rocket attacks in the past month, attacking Israel with four times the number of missiles than it did in June.
The terrorist organization may be testing Israel as the United States pressures the Netanyahu government and Hamas' rival Mahmoud Abbas to find a mechanism allowing a return to direct talks for creating a Palestinian Authority state so as to abort Abbas’ threat to circumvent reaching a peace agreement by appealing to the United Nations for recognition.
Hamas also might be trying to determine if the Israeli government is in too weak a position to stage a large-scale retaliation because of the growing social protest movement. Hamas has been holding military exercises and maneuvers.
Recent history has shown that IDF retaliation to rocket attacks is limited so long as there are no injuries or heavy property damage from Hamas missiles. However, the closer Hamas reaches metropolitan Tel Aviv, the higher the chances that the IDF may react more harshly in an effort to prevent the next missile attack from causing a tragedy and sprarking an all-out war.
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In what has become routine over the past several days, the IDF struck terror targets in Gaza early Friday morning.
The IDF Spokesman said that IAF aircraft attacked three terror tunnels in northern Gaza, a center of terror activity in central Gaza, and an additional terrorist target in southern Gaza.
All the targets were hit and all planes safely returned to their base, the Spokesman said.
The attacks came after terrorists upped the offensive on Thursday and neared Israel’s industrial heartland with two missile attacks on Kiryat Gat, home to a huge Intel factory. No one was injured.
Unlike previous incidents, this time the IAF immediately targeted the launch site where the terror squad which had fired the rocket was located. Military sources reported, however, that the squad members were seen fleeing the scene.
Kiryat Gat is located halfway between Be’er Sheva, the capital of the Negev, and Rehovot, the southern edge of metropolitan Tel Aviv. Hamas has not struck Kiryat Gat since Israel’s counterterrorist Operation Cast Lead campaign two and a half years ago.
Three other rockets exploded on Thursday south of the port city of Ashkelon, where oil and natural gas facilities are located. One other rocket exploded between Ashkelon and Kiryat Gat Wednesday night.
Hamas has slowly escalated the number of its rocket attacks in the past month, attacking Israel with four times the number of missiles than it did in June.
