Israeli army detects 2 rockets fired from Gaza towards Sderot

By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army said on Friday that it detected two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, according to media reports.

The two rockets were fired at Sderot city, with one being shot down by the Iron Dome air defense system, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said, citing a military source.

The incident triggered the activation of rocket-incoming sirens in Sderot and other settlements around the Gaza Strip, the daily added.

So far, no injuries or material damage have been reported in connection with the incident.

Earlier, the Islamic Jihad group's armed wing, Al-Quds Brigades, said in a brief statement that it had fired rockets and hit Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip.

Despite a decrease in rocket firings from Gaza as a result of the Israeli army's ground offensive in Gaza on Oct. 27, the Israeli army occasionally announces the detection of rockets fired from Gaza.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Over 37,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 86,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar