IAF bombs Hamas targets in response to rocket attack

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman promised that Israel would no longer react lightly to rocket attacks from Gaza and has promised to change the way Israel fights Hamas.

Israel Air Force (IAF) aircraft attacked several terror targets in the Gaza Strip late Sunday night in response to rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists at Israel’s civilian population earlier in the day.

The two rockets exploded in Sderot’s industrial zone causing no injuries or damage. An organization linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group took responsibility for the attack.

The rocket fire “consists a threat to the security of the citizens of Israel and a harming of Israel’s sovereignty,” an IDF spokesman said. “Hamas is the sovereign in the Gaza Strip and will bear responsibility for all terror incidents emanating from it,” he said.

“Today Gaza terrorists launched a rocket at Israel. The rocket hit the town of Sderot where some 19,000 people live. Thankfully, despite the attacker’s intentions, the rocket failed to wound anybody. In response, the IDF responded and attacked two Hamas positions,” IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner stated.

“At the ‪‎Olympics, Usain Bolt ran and won the men’s 200m in less than 20 seconds. Now think about this: In the communities surrounding Gaza people have less than 15 seconds to reach a shelter and take cover,” he illustrated.

Palestinians sources report multiple strikes on Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets, which lightly wounded one person. There are reports that terror tunnels were bombed as well.

The late night IAF attack followed an earlier attack on Hamas terror infrastructure in Gaza and Israeli tank shells fired on Hamas targets shortly after the rocket attack.

The IAF’s late night attack is perceived as a harsher response than usual to rocket attacks, as the IDF usually suffices with one response and in a more limited scope.

Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi said his city would not accept a reality of intermittent rocket attacks and that he is counting on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the defense establishment to prevent a return to such a scenario. In an interview with Israel Radio, Davidi said that the message to Hamas has to be “a strong one.”

Since Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, there have been multiple rockets attacks from Gaza, and over 20 rockets have exploded in Israeli territory. Sunday’s attack was the third on the city of Sderot.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

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