By Neri Brenner and Yoav Zitun
IAF aircrafts stuck Hamas terror hubs in south Gaza Strip overnight, in response to Monday's rocket and machinegun fire at Israel. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit confirmed the strike.
The Palestinians reported that two targets were struck, one in Rafah and one in Khan Younis, adding that at least one of them was a Hamas military wing command post. No injuries were reported.
Shots fired from the Gaza Strip Monday evening struck two vehicles and a restaurant wall at a commercial plaza located near the Yad Mordechai Junction in southern Israel. No injuries were reported.
The IDF reported returning fire. Later, the IDF said that the shells found at the scene were fired from a 0.5-caliber automatic machinegun. The alert level in the area was raised following the incident, while large IDF and police forces canvassed the area .
The army is looking into the possibility that whoever fired the shots did not plan to hit the restaurant, as it cannot be seen directly from the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.
Adi, a shift manager at the commercial plaza that was hit, said "at first we heard blasts and thought that children playing with firecrackers, but then we saw white smoke billowing from the places that were hit. We heard another round of gunfire and ran into the restaurant."
Near-death experience
Orit, the owner of one of the damaged vehicles, arrived at the restaurant with her husband and son. "We heard a few blasts but we continued eating. People ran in and said shots were fired, but we didn’t believe them. Later, police officers entered the restaurant and said our car had been hit. Now it won't start."
Yochabad, the owner of another vehicle that was hit while it was parked in the plaza, said the bullets penetrated the roof and hit the dashboard, "meaning that had I been in the vehicle, I would have probably been killed."
About 10 minutes after the incident, the Color Red system, which warns residents of incoming rockets from Gaza, was activated in communities located within the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. However, security forces did not identify an explosion.
Earlier Monday, Palestinians in Gaza reported that a man sustained moderate wounds from IDF fire east of Khan Younis. The sources said that prior to the incident, a terror cell situated in the area fired a missile at Israeli army vehicles. Soldiers returned fire, they claimed.
______________________________
Arab Sniper Miraculously Hits Empty Baby Seat
Source: Arutz Sheva
By Chaya Ya'ar
A Palestinian Authority Arab sniper aimed at the junction to Kibbutz Yad Mordechai on Monday evening, and scored a direct hit into the back windshield of a car, pumping bullets into the back of the vehicle. At least one went dead center into the back of a baby's car seat.
But the seat's 7-month-old occupant miraculously wasn't there. According to the IDF Spokesperson, a total of 10 bullets were fired at the vehicle.
Israeli authorities temporarily raised the alert level for border towns near Gaza following the attack, which also damaged the wall of the restaurant located at the junction, but the level was returned to normal after soldiers patrolled the area, the IDF Spokesperson said.
"The IDF will act with strength and determination against anyone who uses terror against the residents of Israel,” warned the IDF on its website. “The Hamas terror organization is solely responsible for any terror activity emanating from within the Gaza Strip.”
The sniper fire came as part of a spate of terror attacks aimed at southern Israel on Monday. Earlier in the day, an anti-tank missile was fired at a group of Israeli farmers working near the security fence in the Eshkol district, along the border across from Khan Younis. No one was physically wounded, although several people suffered trauma symptoms.
Later in the evening, PA Arab terrorists in Gaza launched a rocket attack on the Israeli coastal region. A short-range Qassam rocket exploded in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council district. As in the prior attacks, no one was physically injured, but numerous people suffered anxiety, and symptoms were triggered in those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Numerous research studies have shown that the majority of residents living in southern Israel, including the children, are suffering from trauma-related conditions as a direct result of having lived under the unabated threat of terrorist rocket fire for so long.
