Overnight IAF strike kills Islamic Jihad leader in response to rocket fire
IAF strikes Gaza Strip, kills 24-year-old Hamdan Abu-Mutlak and wounds 38 others, in response to four rockets launched on southern Israel overnight.
By Avi Issacharoff, Gili Cohen , Yaniv Kubovich and Yanir Yagna
The Israel Air Forces attacked six locations in overnight strikes on the Gaza Strip, killing an Islamic Jihad leader and wounding 38 Palestinians, including several children.
The strike, which killed 24-year-old Islamic Jihad leader Hamdan Abu-Mutlak, came in response to the firing of four Grad rockets launched overnight at southern Israel. Two rocket was taken down by the Iron Dome system, while the others exploded in an open area, causing no injuries or damage.
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Residents stand amid the rubbles of a targeted building in the northern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalia March 12, 2012. |
| Photo by: AFP |
The IAF also struck a weapons storage site, as well as five rocket-launch sites.
The Home Front Command decided to once more cancel classes in most of the towns near Gaza
On Sunday, residents of southern Israel suffered day under siege as Palestinians in the Gaza fired about 50 more rockets at the Negev.
Two Grad-type Katyusha rockets fell in Be’er Sheva after the Iron Dome battery that had been protecting it suffered a technical malfunction.
One rocket hit a school, which was empty since schools in the city were closed Sunday, and the other hit a parked car. Fifteen people were treated for shock, though there were no other casualties. The rockets ¬ and the ball bearings that they ejected hundreds of meters ¬ caused heavy damage to buildings and vehicles. Another rocket hit a chicken coop in Moshav Carmia in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, causing heavy damage.
In Gaza, medics reported that Israeli air strikes killed three Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy. A total of 18 Palestinians were killed in IAF strikes since Friday.
Since Friday, 104 rockets were fired toward Israel, 43 of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense systems. The IAF carried out 23 strikes in the Gaza Strip.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Sunday that “the current escalation is liable to be lengthy.” He said that he plans to have the Iron Dome anti-rocket defense system declared a “national emergency project,” so as to expedite the manufacture and deployment of additional batteries. A fourth Iron Dome battery is being prepared for deployment and is expected to be operational within weeks.
Some 200,000 pupils will remain at home again on Monday, as schools remain closed in Be’er Sheva, Ofakim, Ashdod, Yavneh, Ashkelon, Kiryat Malakhi and Netivot, and in all the other smaller communities that are between seven and 40 kilometers from the Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Sunday, security officials said the Iron Dome systems performed extraordinarily over the weekend. The systems use a missile called “Tamir” to intercept incoming rockets, and each missile is priced at approximately NIS 200,000.
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