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Gaza terrorists fire rocket at Israel ahead of regional summit

Day before Sharm el-Sheikh summit to meet in bid to quell violence during Ramadan, terrorists in Hamas-ruled Gaza launch rocket at southern Israel.

By JNS

Arab terrorists fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip towards Israel on Saturday night, a day before a Middle East summit in the Sinai Peninsula.

The projectile struck an open field in Israeli territory.

Rocket alert sirens sounded in Kibbutz Nahal Oz along the border with the northeastern section of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave.

The Iron Dome missile defense system was not activated as the rocket did not pose a risk to populated areas.

The attack comes after two wanted Palestinians were killed on Thursday during an undercover daytime Israeli counterterrorism raid in Jenin in Samaria.

Members of the Border Police’s elite Yamam National Counter Terror Unit entered the Palestinian-controlled city and “neutralized” the terrorists after receiving intelligence about their whereabouts.

Authorities identified the fatalities as Nidal Hazem, a senior member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Youssef Khuraim from Hamas.

According to Israeli authorities, Hazem was involved in “significant terrorist activity,” and Khuraim in the production of bombs and shootings at IDF soldiers in Judea and Samaria.

Last week, Palestinians in Gaza fired one rocket towards the Jewish state, hours after Israeli forces killed another wanted terrorist during a similar operation in Jenin.

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That rocket triggered sirens in Nir Am, a kibbutz located north of Nahal Oz and near the city of Sderot. It was initially thought by the military to have misfired and hit the Gaza Strip. The IDF later said that it struck adjacent to the security fence in Israeli territory.

On Sunday, delegations from the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Jordan, the U.S., and Egypt are set to meet in Sharm el-Sheikh, on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, for a summit aimed at curbing violence during the upcoming Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The summit is a follow-up to a gathering in Aqaba in southern Jordan last month.