Gaza terrorists attack Israel with rocket, aerial firebombs

Hamas leader calls for more weapons for Palestinians and for Israel to be “swept away.”

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at Israel Sunday as Hamas leaders called for Arab and Islamic countries to supply them with weapons so that Israel could be “swept away.”

Shortly after 1:30 a.m. a rocket fired from Gaza exploded in an open area in Israel. There were no injuries or damage, the IDF Homefront Command announced. Israel retaliated two hours later, with the IDF Spokesperson’s Office saying that “an IDF aircraft attacked a Hamas terrorist position in the southern Gaza Strip. The attack was carried out in response to a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory tonight.”

The rocket attack came after dozens of aerial firebombs were launched from Gaza, sparking brush fires on the Israeli side of the border. Over the past several years Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have launched thousands of balloons over the border carrying either firebombs or explosives. Also on Saturday scores of rioters set fires and set off explosive devices on the Gaza-Israel border.

The surge in violence started when the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah canceled the Palestinian parliamentary elections that were scheduled for later this month. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for the cancellation, saying Israel’s refusal to allow Arab residents of Jerusalem to vote in the Palestinian elections was the cause.

The Hamas terror group in Gaza, which had been leading Abbas’s Fatah party in public opinion polls, put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the PA leadership, accusing Abbas of carrying out a “coup” against the will of the people.

However, with its focus no longer on elections, Hamas has again turned to carrying out its terror war against Israel.

Hamas leaders called for more violence against Israel in the final days of the month of Ramadan, encouraging riots in Jerusalem and calling for attacks against Israel.

“The decision has been made. The mortars are ready. Tel Aviv will become a ghost town, with the help of Allah,” the Hamas military wing posted on social media Saturday night.

Hamas politburo leader Khaled Mashal called Sunday for more weapons, saying: “There will be no calm in the region without the demise of the occupier.”

In a statement posted on the Hamas website Mashal said he was contacting Arab and Islamic countries and called on them “to provide financial, political and popular support and whoever can with weapons should do so.”

Mashal told the Palestinians he wanted “an uprising until the occupation is swept away.”