Israeli army says 3 missiles lunched from Gaza into Israel

By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli military said on Friday that three rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip toward the city of Ashkelon and Otaf region in Israel.

A military statement reported that three projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip, adding that one was intercepted, while the other two landed in open areas.

The statement said that there were no casualties in the incident.

The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that a small fire broke out due to rocket shrapnel falling on the Ashkelon beach area.

The newspaper added that firefighting teams extinguished the fire.

Earlier, Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, said in a statement that they launched a rocket salvo at Ashkelon and the settlements surrounding Gaza, without providing further details.

In a separate statement, the Israeli military claimed it demolished a one-kilometer-long tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip.

“In recent days, a one-kilometer-long Hamas attack tunnel, that had an exit located inside a residential area in Beit Lahia, was dismantled,” it said.

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

Nearly 39,200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,400 injured, according to local health authorities.

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

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio