WarSclerotic

A senior army official warned Thursday morning that Israel was nearing a full-blown military confrontation in the Gaza Strip after hundreds of rockets were launched overnight by Palestinian terror groups, adding that the government could begin evacuating communities near the coastal enclave in preparation.

“We are nearing a confrontation in no small steps,” the IDF senior officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Hamas is making serious mistakes, and we may have to make it clear after four years that this path doesn’t yield any results for it and isn’t worth it.”

Authorities said over 150 rockets and mortar shells were launched at Israeli communities since Wednesday evening. The barrages by the Hamas terror group continued throughout the night and into Thursday, seriously injuring a woman when a projectile hit a home in the Eshkol regional council.

According to IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, at least seven people in total were injured in southern Israel by the Gaza rocket attacks, including a woman who was seriously injured when a projectile struck her home in the Eshkol region of southern Israel.

In response to the attacks, the Israeli army said it struck over 140 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight.

The military said its raids targeted training compounds as well as weapons manufacturing facilities and storage warehouses. The air force also targeted sites from which rockets were being launched, including a car that the army said was being used by a cell of terrorists. One Hamas operative was reportedly killed in the airstrike. Unconfirmed reports claimed he was the relative of a senior Hamas commander.

Hamas said a 23-year-old pregnant woman and her infant daughter were killed in an IDF strike. The woman’s husband was reported moderately injured.

Conricus said he could not comment on the case, but stressed that the air force was bombing “only military targets” in the Gaza Strip.

At least six other Palestinians were injured as a result of the IDF strikes, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

“We have more capabilities in our arsenal,” the anonymous senior officer threatened. “We are ready to continue attacking, attacking and attacking. Our strikes deeply affect Hamas, it would be better off returning to the understandings reached after Operation Protective Edge [in 2014].”

The military said a large number of additional forces were being deployed to the Gaza area. However, no additional reservist units have been called up as of Thursday morning, Conricus said.

According to the spokesman, the military was ready to evacuate communities in southern Israel if war breaks out.

“This is something that we are prepared to do, but this is not something that is in process or that we are eager to do,” Conricus said.

The woman who was seriously injured in Israel was a 30-year-old foreign worker from Thailand. She suffered injuries to her abdomen and limbs. Another person was lightly injured in the same barrage, and several were treated for shock.

Most of the rockets fired from Gaza hit open areas. The Iron Dome defense system — which targets only missiles projected to strike communities — destroyed 25 of the rockets.

Conricus said the system was operating as well as the military had expected, but stressed that it could not provide perfect, “hermetic” protection.

Indeed, several hit homes and factories in Israeli communities, causing damage. One barrage that slammed into the city of Sderot Wednesday evening injured at least three Israelis. Thirteen others were treated for panic attacks, including two pregnant women who went into premature labor.

The current round of violence “is definitely not over,” Conricus said.

“We are in the midst of a new round, the end of which I cannot see yet,” the anonymous official added. “We struck a range of targets, including tunnel shafts and many military compounds belonging to Hamas. What we wanted to destroy was done very well.

“Meanwhile, there are talks on calming the situation down and reaching an agreement. This morning, I understand, Hamas is distancing itself from an agreement, and nearing a conflict in which it will suffer a hard blow. Its two million hostages will be the ones suffering.”

Following the attacks from Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman met overnight with senior officers from the IDF and other security services at the military’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, to discuss the situation and decide on a course of action.

The security cabinet was also due to hold a special session on Thursday afternoon regarding the ongoing violence.

Sirens sounded in Israeli communities throughout the night, and thousands of families slept in bomb shelters and protected spaces.

Israel Police officers search for pieces of rockets that were fired from the Gaza Strip and struck the southern Israeli town of Sderot on August 8, 2018. (Israel Police)

Overnight six rockets exploded in Sderot, including two that hit homes and one that hit a factory. Another hit a house in the Hof Asheklon regional council. In all cases the rockets caused damage but no casualties. In addition, a rocket hit a factory in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, breaking through the roof and damaging equipment inside, a spokesperson for the region said. The factory was empty of people at the time of the rocket attack.

Residents of southern Israel were told to remain close to bomb shelters in case of additional rockets or mortar shells from Gaza.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, saying it was avenging the deaths of two operatives killed in an Israeli strike the day before — a strike that came in response to what the IDF initially identified as a shooting attack on its forces, but which was apparently an internal Hamas exercise.

The United Nations condemned the Hamas rocket fire.

Nikolay Mladenov, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, speaks during a press conference at the UNESCO headquarters in Gaza City, September 25, 2017. (AFP/MOHAMMED ABED)

“I am deeply alarmed by the recent escalation of violence between Gaza and Israel, and particularly by today’s multiple rockets fired towards communities in southern Israel,” UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement.

He called on all sides to step “back from the brink” and restore calm.

US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt also condemned Hamas in a tweet. “Another night of terror & families huddling in fear as Israel defends itself,” he said.

“This is the Hamas regime’s choice. Hamas is subjecting people to the terrifying conditions of war again.”

The recent rocket fire represented a major uptick in tensions along the border, amid intensive talks between Israel and Hamas for a long-term ceasefire.

Such an agreement is meant to end not only rocket launches and shootings from Gaza but also the regular incendiary kite and balloon attacks from the Palestinian enclave that have burned large swaths of land in southern Israel and caused millions of shekels of damage.

Judah Ari Gross and Adam Rasgon contributed to this report.

A fresh wave of incoming rocket sirens sounded throughout southern Israel on Thursday morning, including in the coastal city of Ashkelon, as rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip penetrated deeper into Israeli territory.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the latest attack.

Residents of southern Israel reported hearing explosions and seeing signs that the Iron Dome missile defense system had been used to intercept incoming projectiles.

Throughout Wednesday night and the predawn hours of Thursday morning, nearly 200 rockets and mortar shells were fired at southern Israeli communities by Hamas, which rules Gaza, and other terrorist groups in the coastal enclave, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

In response to the attacks, the Israeli Air Force targeted upwards of 100 “terror sites” in the Gaza Strip, including tunnels and weapons manufacturing facilities, the IDF said.

One woman was seriously injured early Thursday morning when a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip hit her home in the Eshkol region of southern Israel, just outside the Palestinian enclave.

The woman was a 30-year-old foreign worker from Thailand. She suffered injuries to her abdomen and limbs. Another person was lightly injured, and several were treated after they suffered panic attacks.

Throughout the night, rockets struck homes and factories in Israeli communities, causing damage. One barrage that slammed into the city of Sderot Wednesday evening injured three Israelis. At least eight others were treated for panic attacks, including two pregnant women who went into premature labor.

The military said its retaliatory raids targeted training compounds as well as weapons manufacturing facilities and storage warehouses. The air force also targeted one car that the army said was being used by terrorists to launch rockets at southern Israel from the Strip. One Hamas operative was reportedly killed in the airstrike. Unconfirmed reports claimed he was the relative of a senior Hamas commander.

Hamas said a 23-year-old pregnant woman and her infant daughter were killed in another strike. The woman’s husband was reported moderately injured. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Following the attacks from Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman met overnight with senior officers from the IDF and other security services at the military’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, to discuss the situation and decide on a course of action.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, the military was deploying additional Iron Dome batteries in the region in preparation for Hamas possibly increasing the range of its targets. During past wars rockets have reached as far as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beersheba.

Sirens sounded regularly in southern Israeli communities throughout the night, and thousands of families slept in bomb shelters and protected spaces.

Overnight six rockets exploded in Sderot, including two that hit homes and one that hit a factory. Another hit a house in the Hof Asheklon regional council. In all cases the rockets caused damage but no casualties. In addition, a rocket hit a factory in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, breaking through the roof and damaging equipment inside, a spokesperson for the region said. The factory was empty of people at the time of the rocket attack.

Hamas claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attacks, saying it was avenging the deaths of two operatives killed in an Israeli strike the day before — a strike that came in response to what the IDF initially identified as a shooting attack on its forces, but which was apparently an internal Hamas exercise.

“In response to Israel aggression, the Palestinian resistance has launched a large number of rockets in recent hours at the enemy,” a statement by the group said. “There was a promise [to respond] and now it has been fulfilled.”

The United Nations condemned the Hamas rocket fire.

“I am deeply alarmed by the recent escalation of violence between Gaza and Israel, and particularly by today’s multiple rockets fired towards communities in southern Israel,” UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement.

He called on all sides to step “back from the brink” and restore calm.

“If the current escalation…is not contained immediately, the situation can rapidly deteriorate with devastating consequences for all people.”

US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt also condemned Hamas in a tweet. “Another night of terror & families huddling in fear as Israel defends itself,” he said.

“This is the Hamas regime’s choice. Hamas is subjecting people to the terrifying conditions of war again.”

An IDF aircraft also targeted a car that the military said was being used by a terror cell launching rockets at Israel.

One Palestinian man was reportedly killed in the strike, 30-year-old Hamas operative Ali al-Ghandour was killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

A Palestinian toddler and her pregnant mother were killed in another strike, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Enas Khammash, 23, and her 18-month daughter Bayan were killed in an airstrike in Jafarawi in central Gaza, the ministry said. The husband was moderately injured.

At least six other Palestinians were injured as a result of the IDF strikes, according to the ministry.

The Israeli military said the terror group, with which it was fought three wars in the past decade, would bear the consequences of any further violence from the Gaza Strip.

“The IDF sees with severity the terrorist activities of Hamas. The IDF is prepared for a variety of scenarios and is determined to fulfill its mission of defending the citizens of Israel,” the army said in a statement.

Residents of southern Israel were told to remain close to bomb shelters in case of additional rockets or mortar shells from Gaza.

The rocket attacks came amid a period of heightened tensions along the Gaza border, following months of clashes and exchanges of fire. On Tuesday, Hamas vowed to avenge the deaths of two of its members killed by IDF tank fire after the army mistakenly thought a military exercise had been a cross-border attack.

On Wednesday afternoon, the military warned that it was anticipating a revenge attack by Hamas after spotting members of the terror group evacuating posts likely to be targeted by Israel in reprisal raids.

Hours later, shots were fired from the northern Gaza Strip at a number of civilian construction vehicles along the border, damaging one of them, the army said.

In response, an IDF tank shelled a nearby Hamas observation post.

Wednesday’s rocket fire represented a major uptick in tensions along the border, amid intensive talks between Israel and Hamas for a long-term ceasefire.

Such an agreement is meant to end not only rocket launches and shootings from Gaza but also the regular incendiary kite and balloon attacks from the Palestinian enclave that have burned large swaths of land in southern Israel and caused millions of shekels of damage.

Throughout Wednesday, at least 11 fires were sparked in southern Israel by airborne arson devices launched from the Gaza Strip. Israeli firefighters extinguished all of them, according to a spokesperson for Fire and Rescue Services.

Times of Israel staff and Adam Rasgon contributed to this report.