Rocket launched from Gaza, lands in open field

The Israeli military announced that a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel less than two weeks after a cease-fire halted hostilities with Palestinian terror groups.

By World Israel News Staff and AP

The IDF issued a statement on Monday that it had identified a rocket launch from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Earlier this month Israel carried out a targeted assassination of a senior Islamic Jihad commander in the Gaza Strip, and the terror group launched hundreds of rockets at Israel over two days in response. Israeli retaliatory airstrikes left at least 34 Palestinians dead, the majority of whom were members of Islamic Jihad.

Egypt and the United Nations brokered an unofficial truce. Similar understandings have led to months of calm between Israel and the Islamic terror group Hamas, which rules Gaza.

While Hamas ostensibly governs the Gaza Strip, having wrested control of the coastal enclave from its rivals in Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party in a bloody coup, other terror groups operate within the territory.

Bankrolled and trained by Iranian benefactors, Islamic Jihad has emerged in recent years as Hamas’ primary rival, openly criticizing Hamas leadership for not being extreme or Islamic enough.

ISIS and Fatah-linked splinter cells also exist in Gaza, with the various factions clashing periodically.

Following Israeli strikes on terror targets earlier this month, Islamic Jihad members confronted Hamas officials at the mourning tent of a slain terrorist, furious over Hamas’ refusal to launch rockets at civilians during the 450-plus projectile onslaught on Israel’s south.