by Anna Ahronheim
Explosions were heard in the Tel Aviv and Rishon Lezion areas.
Two rockets launched from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip fell in the
Mediterranean Sea off the coast of central Israel early on Saturday
morning.
“Earlier this morning, two rocket launches were identified from the Gaza Strip toward the Mediterranean.
The rockets fell off the coast of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
According to protocol, no sirens were sounded and no interception took
place,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.
The rockets were heard in the cities of Tel Aviv, Holon, Bat Yam and Rishon Lezion.
According
to reports, one rocket fell near Tel Aviv while the other landed near
Palmahim, south of the city. There were no injuries and, despite the
smoke seen off the coast, no reports of damage.
Army
Radio reported that Egypt has sent a message to Israel that the rocket
fire was not intentional and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi
held situational assessments regarding the rocket fire.
Streaks
of lights are seen from Ashkelon as rockets are launched from the Gaza
Strip towards Israel May 19, 2021. (credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held consultations over Shabbat regarding the rocket fire, according to a political source.
Groups in the Gaza Strip said that the two rockets were caused by “weather conditions.”
Hamas
has used the excuse of lightning strikes causing rockets to be launched
toward Israel, including in November of last year. In that incident,
two rockets were fired and landed north of Ashdod and the other struck
Palmahim Beach. In response, Israeli jets struck military positions and
an underground structure belonging to Hamas.
Other incidents where lightning was blamed for rocket fire included
one in March 2019 where a rocket made a direct impact on a home in the
central town of Mishmeret in the Sharon Plain and injured seven people,
as well as another in October 2018 when a home in Beersheba was
destroyed after a rocket made a direct hit and another landed off the
coast of Israel.
All rockets had been aimed towards the Jewish state and were preemptively primed.
The
rocket launches come as the Israeli military said that this had been
the longest period of operational quiet in relation to the four most
recent operations in the coastal enclave.
In
the six months following the 11 days of fighting in May, known as
Operation Guardian of the Walls, only five long-range rockets were fired
from the Hamas-run coastal enclave toward Israel.
In
comparison, 22 rockets were fired following Protective Edge in 2014,
196 rockets were fired following Cast Lead in 2009, and 76 were fired
following Pillar of Defense in 2012.
Despite
the relative quiet, it remains tense in southern Israel with Hamas
continuing to hold large-scale military drills, firing rockets toward
the sea in an attempt to improve their rocket arsenal and threaten
Israel.
In August,
a Border Police officer was shot at point-blank range during a violent
protest along the Gaza border fence. He died nine days later.
On Wednesday, senior officials from the terrorist group met with
Hezbollah officials in the Lebanese capital of Beirut and vowed that
they are preparing for a military confrontation with Israel.
Later
that day, an Israeli civilian doing maintenance work on the newly
completed border fence in the northern sector was lightly wounded after
he was shot by a sniper.
In
response, Israeli tanks fired artillery shells towards a Hamas post
near Gaza City, wounding several farmers. The IDF also closed roads next
to the border fence out of concern over additional attacks and ordered
farmers to stay away from land near the border.
Anna Ahronheim
Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-690299
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