Israeli Air Force aircraft targeted and struck four terror sites in the central Gaza Strip as well as one in the northern section of Gaza in the very early morning hours on Friday, April 4.
The Israeli Defense Forces issued a statement that the strikes were in retaliation for an upsurge in violence directed towards civilian areas of Israel over the past month. Most recently, Palestinian Arab snipers targeted security personnel near the security fence in the northern Gaza strip which caused damage to an armored vehicle.
On Thursday evening, four rockets launched from Gaza struck southern Israel.
In the wake of Thursday’s attacks, the IDF responded.
“Civilians in southern Israel were forced to begin this month with an unacceptable barrage of rockets,” said IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner.
“Hamas has a responsibility to cease and prevent acts of aggression emanating from the Gaza Strip. The IDF will retaliate, reciprocate and when required initiate the use of force in order to defend the civilians of the State of Israel from these unlawful terrorist actions,” Lerner stated.
Nearly 125 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel during the month of March. Of that number, 77 struck Israel. Between March 12 – 14 alone, 70 rockets fired from Gaza hit southern Israel.