The Israeli army overnight attacked three Hamas infrastructure facilities in southern Lebanon and more than 10 military targets of the radical organization in the Gaza Strip, more than 40 rockets were fired at the Jewish state from the Palestinian enclave since midnight. This was reported Friday by Israel's state-run Kan Radio, citing an army spokesman.
According to the radio station, the Israeli military used about 50 tons of ammunition to hit Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip. The army spokesman told Kan that a total of 44 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel overnight, eight of which were intercepted by the air defense system, nine missed the border of the Strip, 12 flew towards the sea, 14 landed in uninhabited areas and one exploded near the city of Sderot. On Friday morning, the Israeli military instructed residents of communities bordering Gaza to stay near bomb shelters until further notice, Kan Radio notes that aircraft traffic in Israel has been diverted to northern routes due to escalation in the south.
Tensions surrounding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have escalated in recent days following incidents involving Palestinians and Israeli police on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where thousands of Muslims are flocking these weeks for the holy month of Ramadan. Against that backdrop, over the previous two days Palestinian radicals had shelled Israeli territory at night from the Gaza Strip, and on Thursday afternoon a massive rocket attack was also fired from Lebanon into the northern part of the country. According to Israeli military calculations, at least 36 rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanese territory.
Faced with this situation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an urgent meeting of the military-political cabinet on Thursday evening and Defense Minister Yoav Galant instructed the defense establishment to prepare for any possible retaliation. The escalation came on the first day of the seven-day holiday of Pesach, the most important holiday for Jews, established to commemorate the biblical story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
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Photo: AP/TASS
Based on materials from TASS