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Gaza rocket hits southern Israel, fifth attack in last month
A rocket fired last night from the Gaza Strip landed near the Israeli community of Yad Mordechai. It was the latest of several rockets which have been aimed at Israel from Gaza during the past month.
The attack took place at around 10pm. Rocket warning sirens were sounded in Yad Mordechai, Karmiya, Zikim, and Nativ Ha’asara, sending local residents near the Gaza border hurrying for cover. The rocket landed in an open area near Yad Mordechai and did not cause any injuries or damage. Hours later, Israel’s Air Force carried out a strike on site in the northern Gaza Strip from which the rocket was launched, reporting a hit.
It was the fifth time in recent weeks that Gaza rockets have been fired into Israel. Like the previous attacks, which have included a Grad rocket which landed near Ashdod, responsibility for last night’s rocket was claimed by the radical Salafist group the Omar Brigade, which is sympathetic towards ISIS. The group has made clear that the attacks serve a dual purpose – targeting Israelis while challenging a recent Hamas crackdown on ISIS elements in Gaza, which saw a Salafist recently killed in a gun exchange.
Although the recent rocket attacks have caused little damage, Yair Farjun, chairman of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council said “We must not be complacent.” Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman warned that, “He who is willing to absorb ‘trickles’ will ultimately get torrential rain.”
Last night’s rocket attack comes the day after a commission appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) published its long-anticipated report into Operation Protective Edge. The report was widely criticised by Israeli leaders as inherently biased and for failing to recognise the difference between Israel’s efforts to minimise civilian casualties and the attempts by terror groups to maximise civilian suffering. IDF spokesman Peter Lerner commented, “One day after UN report … Israeli civilians were forced to once again find shelter, fleeing the incessant, in-discriminating and intolerable attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip.”