Israeli army says rockets fired from Gaza targeted southern Israel

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army said Tuesday that three rockets were launched from northern Gaza towards southern Israel.

“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in southern Israel, approximately three launches were identified crossing from northern Gaza,” the army said in a statement.

“One launch was intercepted, and the rest fell in open areas,” the statement added, reporting no injuries.

Shortly before this, sirens sounded in Ashkelon, Zikim, Sderot, Nir Am and several other settlements near the Gaza Strip, according to Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

The newspaper added that a rocket was fired from Gaza towards Sderot and was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

In a related development, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, Saraya al-Quds, announced Tuesday that it had fired a barrage of rockets at the settlements of Ashkelon, Sderot and Nir Am.

Additionally, Hamas's military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have targeted an Israeli military outpost at the Netzarim Junction between northern and southern Gaza using short-range rockets.

On Monday, Israel's official broadcasting authority, KAN, reported that Hamas, after 10 months of war, managed to launch more than 40 rockets in four days.

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 attack last October by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

More than 39,600 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,600 injured, according to local health authorities.

Almost 10 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, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio