WarSclerotic

Three rockets were fired toward Israeli communities north of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday afternoon, in the second such attack from the Palestinian enclave in as many days, the army said.

One of the projectiles struck inside an Israeli community, causing light damage to a home. The other two appeared to have landed in open fields. There were no reports of injuries, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.

In response, the Israel Defense Forces targeted two Hamas observation posts in northern Gaza.

“An IDF tank attacked two military posts belonging to the Hamas terror group in the northern Gaza Strip. This attack was carried out in response to the rocket launches at Israeli territory,” the army said in a statement.

Palestinian media reported that several people were injured in the Israeli retaliatory strike, but that was denied by the Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry, which said that there were no casualties.

The rocket attack triggered sirens in the communities of Netiv Ha’asara and Yad Mordechai, sending hundreds of residents running to bomb shelters.

A window shattered by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in a home in the Hof Ashkelon region of southern Israel on September 11, 2019. (Hof Ashkelon Region)

One rocket struck inside a community in the Hof Ashkelon region of southern Israel. Fragments of the projectile hit a home, breaking one of its windows, according to a spokesperson for the region.

A police sapper was called to an agricultural field in the Hof Ashkelon region to remove one rocket that landed there. The third impact site was not immediately located.

A police sapper removes the remains of a projectile fired from the Gaza Strip that struck an agricultural field in the Hof Ashkelon region of southern Israel on September 11, 2019. (Israel Police)

In the predawn hours of Wednesday morning, the Israeli Air Force launched strikes on 15 targets belonging to the Hamas terror group, which rules the Gaza Strip, in response to an attack earlier in the night in which terrorists fired two rockets at the southern cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding an election rally.

The IDF said the targets included “a number of targets in a military base producing arms, a number of targets in a compound belonging to the naval forces and a terror tunnel belonging to the Hamas terror group.” The army said it held Hamas responsible for the rocket fire, as it is the de facto ruler of the enclave.

Palestinian sources reported heavy strikes and explosions in Beit Lahiya just north of Gaza City, Deir el-Balah in central Gaza and in Khan Younis in the south. There were no reports of injuries.

The IDF reprisal strikes came after Netanyahu, who is also defense minister, met with army chiefs, along with the heads of the Mossad and the Shin Bet security agency, at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv

Israeli analysts said it appeared that Gaza terrorists deliberately targeted the southern cities, knowing that Netanyahu and other politicians were holding rallies there. Netanyahu’s rally was announced in advance and was live-streamed on his Facebook page.

Most recent rocket fire from the Strip has targeted surrounding communities, only firing at large Israelis cities during major flareups or if trying to provoke a heavy Israeli response.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd R) meets, following a rocket attack from Gaza, with his defense chiefs at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv on September 10, 2019 (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

One woman, 46, in Ashdod was treated for anxiety after failing to reach shelter, medics said, but no other injuries or damage were reported.

Netanyahu — who bills himself as “Mr. Security” — was widely panned by his political rivals for being forced offstage by a gaggle of security guards as the sirens sounded.

In nearby Ashkelon, Blue and White MK Gabi Ashkenazi had to cut a campaign event short due to the rocket fire. The city opened its public bomb shelters after the sirens went off as a precautionary measure in case rocket attacks persisted.

Netanyahu warned Hamas on Saturday that Israel would respond forcefully to any attempt to harm its citizens and soldiers, following two days of violent incidents on and near the Gaza border.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Two of Donald Trump’s top lieutenants said Tuesday he is ready to meet his Iranian counterpart without preconditions after the US president sacked his hawkish national security adviser, while insisting there will be no easing of pressure on Tehran.

Even as the removal of national security hardliner John Bolton triggered speculation that Trump might soften his approach to Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joined Israel in alleging “possible undeclared nuclear activities” by Tehran, and the US administration imposed new terrorist designations on leaders of some groups linked to the Islamic republic.

Amid the fraught political climate, Trump loyalists signaled he is prepared to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani — something that French President Emmanuel Macron had proposed in an effort to salvage a 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran from which Trump withdrew the United States.

“Now the president has made clear, he is happy to take a meeting with no preconditions, but we are maintaining the maximum pressure campaign,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, just days after Iran announced it had fired up centrifuges to boost its enriched uranium stockpiles.

Pompeo, standing alongside Mnuchin in the White House, said “sure” when asked whether Trump could meet Rouhani later this month at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In this photo released by the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Iran, September 4, 2019. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

The remarks came just 90 minutes after Trump announced he had sent Bolton packing, and Pompeo and Mnuchin cautioned that Bolton’s exit should not be seen as heralding major policy shifts.

“I would say Secretary Pompeo and myself and the president are completely aligned on our maximum pressure campaign,” Mnuchin said.

Tehran reacted swiftly to Bolton’s departure, with a Rouhani aide saying it signaled Washington’s pressure was failing.

“Bolton’s marginalization and his subsequent removal isn’t an accident but a clear sign of the defeat of America’s maximum pressure strategy” against Iran, Hesameddin Ashena tweeted.

“Have no doubt that we have the power to manage the US approach towards Iran and will never back down. The blockade of Iran will break.”

Going ‘soft?’

If Tehran sees optimism in Bolton’s ouster, some hawkish US lawmakers warned that easing the squeeze on Iran would be an enormous mistake, enabling Europe to, in Senator Ted Cruz’s words, “send an economic lifeline to the Ayatollah.”

Cruz tweeted that he hoped Bolton’s departure “does not mean that the deep-state forces at State and Treasury — who have been fighting tooth and nail to preserve the Obama Iran nuclear deal — have finally convinced the president to go soft on Iran.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced new terrorist designations against leaders or operatives of organizations with close ties to Tehran, among them Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and Hezbollah.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin laugh as they speak with reporters in the briefing room of the White House during a briefing on terrorism financing Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The US also designated leaders of groups within the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, and the operational arm of Hamas.

“You know we’ve done more sanctions on Iran than anybody, and it’s absolutely working,” Mnuchin said.

Tensions have been escalating between Iran and the United States since May last year, when Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran and began reimposing sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.

On Tuesday, Washington joined Israel in accusing Iran of new deceptions about its nuclear program, a move that further strained European-led attempts to salvage a multinational deal.

Iran denounced the accusations leveled on Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said that the clerical regime operated a previously undisclosed site aimed at developing nuclear weapons but destroyed it after it was detected.

Pompeo, without directly referencing Netanyahu, urged Iran to comply with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“The Iranian regime’s lack of full cooperation with @iaeaorg raises questions about possible undeclared nuclear material or activities,” Pompeo tweeted.

“The world won’t fall for it. We will deny the regime all paths to a nuclear weapon.”

A potential summit between Trump and the Iranian leadership sparked interest from the mogul-turned-president, but it is adamantly opposed by Netanyahu, who faces elections next week and sees Iran as an existential threat.

In a live television address, Netanyahu showed pictures of an alleged site near Abadeh, south of Isfahan, where he said Iran conducted experiments to develop nuclear weapons.

Netanyahu said Israel found out about the site during a daring raid into Tehran and that the regime demolished the site sometime between late June and late July after realizing that Israel was aware.

The IDF launched a series of  airstrikes on the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, just hours after Gaza terrorists fired two rockets the southern cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding an election rally there.

The IDF said warplanes hit 15 different targets across the Strip “including a number of targets in a military base producing arms, a number of targets in a compound belonging to the naval forces and a terror tunnel belonging to the Hamas terror group.”

The army said it held Hamas responsible for the rocket fire.

Palestinian sources reported heavy strikes and explosions in Beit Lahiya just north of Gaza City, Deir el-Balah in central Gaza and also in Khan Younis in the south.

There were no reports of injuries.

The strikes came after Netanyahu who is also defense minister met with the IDF chiefs, along with the head of the Mossad and the Shin Bet Security agency at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv

Netanyahu was forced to seek shelter during a campaign event in Ashdod on Tuesday night as rocket sirens went off.  Both were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Israeli analysts said it appeared that Gaza terrorist deliberately targeted the southern cities, knowing that Netanyahu and other politicians were holding rallies there. Netanyahu’s rally was being live-streamed on his Facebook page.

Most recent rocket fire from the Strip has targeted surrounding communities, only firing at large Israelis cities during major flare-ups or if trying to provoke a heavy Israeli response.

Early Wednesday, Palestinian media reported that an IDF tank had fired a shell at empty Hamas position in southern Gaza, causing no injuries. There was no comment from the IDF.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd R) meets, following a rocket attack from Gaza, with his defense chiefs at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv on September 10, 2019 (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

One woman, 46, in Ashdod was treated for anxiety after failing to reach shelter, medics said, but no other injuries or damage were reported.

The rocket fire came as Netanyahu was about to begin a speech to Likud supporters a week before Israelis head to the polls.

In an extraordinary scene captured on video, Netanyahu can be seen being whisked away from the stage by a gaggle of security guards as sirens sound.

“Leave quietly,” Netanyahu told the crowd before calmly walking off the stage.

He returned minutes later to resume his speech.

However, Netanyahu was still widely panned by his political rivals for being forced off stage.

In nearby Ashkelon, Blue and White MK Gabi Ashkenazi had to cut a campaign event short due to the rocket fire.

The city of Ashkelon opened its public bomb shelters after the sirens went off as a precautionary measure in case rocket attacks persisted.

On Sunday, a rocket was fired from Gaza at southern Israel, but landed inside the enclave, short of the border.

The attempted rocket attack came as an Egyptian military intelligence delegation visited Gaza on Sunday in a bid to calm heightened tensions between Israel and terror groups in the Strip.

Egypt has in the past helped broker unofficial ceasefires between Israel and Hamas.

Netanyahu warned Hamas on Saturday that Israel would respond forcefully to any attempt to harm its citizens and soldiers, following two days of violent incidents on and near the Gaza border.

The weekend saw a string of violent incidents along the Gaza border, after several weeks of relative calm.

On Friday night, incoming rockets set off sirens in Israeli communities along the Gaza border. The Israel Defense Forces said it had identified five projectiles that had crossed the border into Israeli territory. Israeli artillery and aircraft attacked several military targets belonging to the Hamas terror group in the northern Gaza Strip in retaliation, the IDF said.

The exchange of fire came hours after two Palestinian teens were reportedly killed in clashes with Israeli troops along the border, in what the IDF called “especially violent” riots.

The deadly clashes came just days after Israel lifted restrictions on fuel deliveries to Gaza, a week after curbing them by half due to rocket and mortar fire from the coastal enclave.

Since the outbreak of protests on the Gaza border last year, Israel has intermittently taken a number of steps to stem outbreaks of violence from the coastal territory, such as closing border crossings, cutting fuel shipments, and reducing the permitted fishing area off the coast of the Strip. It has rolled back such moves following decreases in violence.

A deal was brokered several months ago by UN and Egyptian officials to end several violent flare-ups in recent months between Israel and Hamas, which have fought three devastating wars since 2008, and to help stabilize the territory and prevent a humanitarian collapse.