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IDF strikes 15 terror targets in Gaza Strip after rocket attack on Israeli cities

IDF fighters swooped in and blasted terrorist sites in the Gaza Strip following a rocket attack on Israeli cities.

By World Israel News Staff

IDF fighter jets struck 15 terror targets in the northern and central Gaza Strip in the early hours of Wednesday morning following a rocket attack on Israeli cities.

The targets included a military weapons manufacturing site, several targets in a naval force military compound and an offensive terror tunnel belonging to the Hamas terror organization.

“The IDF will continue operating against attempts to harm Israeli civilians, and holds the Hamas terror organization accountable for events transpiring in the Gaza Strip and emanating from it,” the Israeli Army said.

The airstrike was in response to a rocket attack on Tuesday evening. The IDF reported that two rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system.

A rocket landed near Ashkelon, whose mayor Tomer Glam ordered all bomb shelters opened for residents of the city.

A second rocket’s trajectory forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to evacuate a campaign event in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.

The rocket siren wailed in the middle of Netanyahu’s address, after which the prime minister reportedly urged audience members to “quietly leave the area.”

The “optics” of Netanyahu as he was forced to leave the hall played into the hands of his political opponents, who have warned throughout the election campaign that Israeli deterrence has eroded.

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Gabi Ashkenazi, a leading member of the Blue and White party, who was holding a campaign event in Ashkelon the same night said, “There was now a conference with Bibi in Ashdod.  There was, was a conference.

“We don’t flee. We’re obligated and we’re here. We’re continuing with our conference in Ashkelon as normal. We’re not afraid – not from Hamas and not from Hezbollah. This is exactly the answer” to terror, he said.

Party sources who defended Netanyahu’s actions said that the prime minister is a “protected person,” and as such doesn’t have a choice when Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet, decides a situation is dangerous as protocols don’t leave room for discussion.

They said that Ashkenazi, as a private citizen, can make such decisions for himself.