The Israel Defense Forces conducted retaliatory strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight after Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket towards the Jewish state.
The IDF said that it struck a Hamas weapons manufacturing site and another facility used by the Palestinian terrorist group to produce and store chemicals included in missiles.
Twelve projectiles were fired from Gaza as Israeli fighter jets conducted the strikes, according to the military. Eleven of the projectiles exploded in open areas or mid-air, and one fell short in the Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli strikes delivered a significant blow to Hamas’s ability to strengthen and arm itself, said the military, which reiterated that Israel holds the Palestinian terror group responsible for all attacks emanating from Gaza.
“All [rocket and mortar] fire at the State of Israel or other attempts to harm the residents of the south will be met with the full force of the IDF,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wrote on Twitter on Thursday morning.
חיל האוויר השמיד הלילה אתרי ייצור ואחסון אמצעי לחימה של חמאס.
כל ירי על מדינת ישראל או נסיון לפגוע בחייהם של תושבי הדרום יתקל בעוצמתו של צה״ל.
— יואב גלנט (@yoavgallant) February 2, 2023
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that he was not satisfied with the IDF’s response and urged a different path forward.
“Hamas needs to know that the new government is changing the equation. For every rocket fired, there will be targeted assassinations. I’m in the Cabinet and I could bring down the government, but of course we need to see how to achieve the most,” Ben-Gvir told Israel National News on Thursday.
The bombing runs came hours after Palestinian terrorists fired one rocket from Gaza at Israel, setting off sirens in the city of Sderot and in Kibbutz Nir Am and the village of Ibim nearby.
The rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system.
The Magen David Adom emergency service treated a woman in her 50s who fell while running to a bomb shelter in Sderot.
מטוסי קרב תקפו הלילה אתר ייצור ואחסנת חומרי גלם כימיים המשמש את מערך הייצור הרקטי של ארגון הטרור חמאס, ואתר לייצור אמצעי לחימה, הממוקמים שניהם במרכז רצועת עזה.
התקיפה בוצעה בתגובה לשיגור הרקטה, שיורטה על ידי לוחמי ההגנה האווירית מוקדם יותר היום, משטח רצועת עזה לשטח ישראל>> pic.twitter.com/FvpUxJaHmM
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 2, 2023
בנוסף, מצורף תיעוד של תקיפת אתר לייצור אמצעי לחימה של ארגון הטרור חמאס: pic.twitter.com/amDsA2PkTa
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 2, 2023
The exchange comes after a barrage of rockets was launched from the Palestinian enclave at Israeli communities last week, prompting retaliatory strikes by the IDF against Hamas military assets.
That, in turn, followed deadly clashes between Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Israeli troops in Jenin in northern Samaria last Thursday morning.
The latest attack risks further heightening tensions following two Palestinian terrorist shootings over Shabbos. JNS
Ben Gvir has it right
It does not make a difference to these murderers they live in luxury in the Gulf and in Turkey and incite murder and misery of the population of Gaza for their own selfish material interests.
It does not make a difference to these murderers they live in luxury in the Gulf and in Turkey and incite murder and misery of the population of Gaza for their own selfish material interests.
It does not make a difference to these murderers they live in luxury in the Gulf and in Turkey and incite murder and misery of the population of Gaza for their own selfish material interests.