Hamas fires salvo on Ashdod, breaking 2 months of calm

The Hamas terror group claimed responsibility for the salvo targeting Ashdod, in which at least eight rockets were fired.

By World Israel News Staff

Air raid sirens wailed in the southern city of Ashdod for the first time in two months on Monday afternoon, followed by sirens warning of an incoming suicide drone were heard in the Upper Galilee.

The Hamas terror group claimed responsibility for the salvo targeting Ashdod, in which at least eight rockets were fired. According to the Magen David Adom emergency response organization, no Israelis were wounded in the attack.

The IDF confirmed that two of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, while the remainder of the rockets fell in open areas in and around the city.

Ashdod, which is located 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) north of the Gaza Strip, has been a frequent target of Hamas rocket fire in recent years.

“As a resident of Ashdod who has lived through all of the escalations and fighting since [Operation] Cast Lead [in 2008], the siren that happened now after almost three months of ‘quiet’ in the city startled me,” Daniel Karakazov, a local, told Hebrew-language news outlet Ma’ariv.

Karakazov said he thought that “many other residents of the city” were also shocked by the siren, as rocket attacks from the Strip have significantly decreased in the last few months.

“It [feels like] this is the first time we’ve heard a siren, mainly because there’s never [before] been a situation in our lives where we’re at war and there’s a long period of ‘quiet’ in terms of sirens,” he added.

Approximately 15 minutes after the rockets fired at Ashdod, a suicide drone penetrated Israeli airspace from Lebanon, triggering alarms in about a dozen communities along the northern border.

The hostile aircraft was presumably launched by Hezbollah, which has targeted Israel’s northern border on a near-daily basis since October 8th.