The early warning Code Red siren sounded shortly before noon Friday in the area of Netiv Asara and Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, sending residents to bomb shelters.

The “rocket” apparently was rifle fire from Gaza.

Residents also have reported they have heard sounds of tunnels being built underground.

Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorists received a blizzard of grim warnings Wednesday after a sniper attack launched a major battle with IDF soldiers guarding those working on the security fence near Kibbutz Nirim and Nir Oz.

Despite a blustery response, the terror group was also not entirely stupid: its commanders have once again begun to head underground into hiding, anticipating Israeli retaliation for their actions and forcing Gaza’s civilian human shields to live with the consequences.

Speaking at the Calcalist Conference, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said Israeli forces “responded appropriately and we will act in an appropriate and powerful manner as any incident demands.”

Gantz added there is a possibility “events will deteriorate and develop into a significant incident.”

Referencing links between Iranian-backed Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda-linked Salafi Army of Islam in Gaza and the Jabhat al Nusra terror group in Syria, and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist organization, Gantz also noted a “strong possibility of a connection between fronts – that an incident in the north will influence an incident in the south.”

“We will respond with force every time there is an attempt to disturb the quiet that was attained in the south after Operation Protective Edge,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a statement following the battle.

His statement was backed up by a similar warning from Strategic Affairs and Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz. “Hamas needs to understand that if it continues to undermine the security situation on the Gaza border, it risks a harsh Israeli response, which could turn into a comprehensive military campaign to demolish its government and military infrastructure,” Steinitz said.

The Hamas Izz a-Din al-Qassam military wing later issued its own statement from Gaza, accusing Israel of a “dangerous violation and a crossing of all red lines, as well as playing with fire… The enemy alone bears the responsibility of the repercussions of its uncalculated actions.

“It seems that this murderous enemy has not learned the hard lessons it was dealt by the resistance in the past. The enemy thinks that our people and the resistance are tired or exhausted after the last war,” the terror group added.

An allied terrorist organization, the Popular Resistance Movement, warned Israel would pay a ‘heavy price’ for killing one of its top commanders.

The clash began with a Hamas sniper’s bullet fired into the chest of an Israeli soldier on patrol. It led to an intense battle that included shelling from IDF tanks and Israeli air strikes as well.

Taysir al-Samiri 33, commander of the Hamas al-Qassam Brigades surveillance unit was killed in the battle, the terror group confirmed. Two other Gazans were also wounded, according to local medics.

But, “As a result of the attack, an IDF combat soldier from the Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion suffered a severe chest injury,” the IDF said in a statement. The soldier was airlifted to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva and his family was notified. He is listed in critical condition.

United Nations deputy Mideast envoy James Rawley has meanwhile expressed “concern” over the deteriorating situation on the Gaza border.

Carefully walking a tightrope of “neutrality” Rawley’s statement urged all parties to maintain and reinforce the August 26 “cease-fire” that ended Operation Protective Edge – but has already been broken by Hamas numerous times since then.

Rawley said in his statement that he is “deeply concerned by reports of exchange of fire between Palestinian militants and the IDF in the southern Gaza Strip today, which resulted in casualties on both sides.

“This follows a series of armed incidents since the end of November,” he noted – without pointing out that the “armed incidents” were actually unprovoked attacks launched solely by Gaza terrorists at Israelis.

A Hamas terrorist sniper seriously wounded a Bedouin combat soldier on patrol at the Gaza security fence Wednesday morning.

The family of the soldier has been notified but his name has not been released. He was serious wounded and was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva.

In response, IDF air and ground forces targeted Hamas positions in the immediate vicinity of the attack with machine gun and artillery fire.

Hamas confirmed that the commander of its lookout post was killed.

The army has ordered Israeli farmers to stop working and to evacuate the area until further notice.

The battle was the most serious since the end of the Operation Protective Edge counter-terrorist war against the Hamas terrorist infrastructure last summer.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, IDF Spokesman said, “This attack, the second of this week, is a lethal violation of the relative quiet along the Gaza border and is a blatant breach of Israel’s sovereignty. The IDF will continue to use all necessary means in order to maintain the safety of the citizens of southern Israel and will not hesitate to respond to any attempt to harm IDF soldiers.”

Hamas has tested several rockets the past several weeks. O landed in Israel last week, prompting an immediate strike on a Hamas weapons manufacturing building built with cement that Israel allowed to be shipped into Gaza on condition that it would be used for civilian purposes.

Ten truckloads of machinery for a new Coca-Cola plant in Gaza have been shipped from Jordan this week, under the watching eyes of Israel, for a new plant  to employ approximately 350 Gazans.

Pepsi already operates a bottling plant in Gaza, and Coca-Cola plans to launch operation this coming year.

The equipment was shipped from Germany and Turkey and then to Gaza via Jordan.

Total investment for the operation is estimated at $20 million.

Construction for the factory has continued for two years, interrupted by last summer’s war when Hamas launched missiles and rockets deep into Israel, reaching Jerusalem and north of Tel Aviv.

Hamas broke the  cease-fire, once again, last week with a rocket attack on the Gaza Belt in Israel. The IDF responded with a direct hit on a Hamas weapons factory built with concrete that Israel allowed to be imported, supposedly under United Nations supervision so that it would not be used for military purposes.

In response to the rocket launched from Gaza on Friday morning at Israel, the Israel Air Force hit multiple Gaza targets on Friday night.

The Gazan rocket, launched from Al Karara, landed Friday morning in the Eshkol region, and no injuries or damage were reported.

The IDF has identified the target hit by the IAF in the Khan Younis area as part of the Hamas terror infrastructure,  Arab sources reports that a storage facility for long range missiles was hit.

Electricity in that part of the city was knocked out.

The IDF has since identified the primary target as a Hamas cement factory that was being used to rebuild Hamas’s terror tunnels.

Since Operation Protective Edge ended, Hamas has been repeatedly testing rockets, launching them into the sea.

Hamas is working on building a multiple rocket launching system, in the hope they can overwhelm the Iron Dome system with a large volume of simultaneous rockets.

Hamas called Israel’s response to the Gazan attack a “serious escalation”.

Senior Hamas officials went into hiding underground, in fear of an IDF targeted strike against them personally.

NYC, NY – Rocket fire returned to southern Israel on Friday, disrupting the Sabbath preparations of local residents again, despite initial attempts by government officials to keep the news from leaking out.

The IDF announced in the morning hours it was checking reports to see whether the activation of the Red Alert system had been a “false alarm.”

It was the third such event to occur in southern Israel in recent weeks. It follows by a few days the European Parliament’s decision to remove Hamas from the European Union’s list of foreign terror groups.

Gaza’s ruling Hamas terror organization has been test firing its rapidly improving arsenal of mortar shells, rockets and missiles into the Mediterranean for months.

By early afternoon, Israeli military officials announced that this time Gaza terrorists had, in fact, aimed their weapons directly at southern Israeli civilians. It was the first time since the end of the summer’s counter terror Operation Protective Edge the IDF had admitted a rocket landed within Israeli territory.

This is also the third time a rocket has been fired at southern Israel, and has exploded on the Israeli side of the border, since the end of this summer’s 50-day war.

The Red Alert siren was heard blaring through communities in the Eshkol Regional Council district, located less than 15 seconds away by rocket fire from the Gaza border.

The Qassam rocket itself exploded in an open area, where it caused no property damage and no physical injuries to local residents.

An Eshkol resident commented that people living in the area have been holding their breath for months, waiting for the “other shoe to drop,” so to speak.

“The war ended… but nothing was done to change the reality,” Anat Hefetz told Ynet. “For four months already nothing has been done to prevent this… No initiatve was taken. We left the area on the other side to be controlled by Hamas… There are always infiltrations, attempts to shoot rockets and ‘false alarms.’ It does not surprise us,” she said.

Weeks ago, it became clear that Hamas has also resumed its terrorist tunnel building activity as well. The organization was able to pull materials for the construction from the limited goods allowed into Gaza by Israel due to pressure from the international community.

(Ed. Note: Story filed from New York before the start of the Sabbath.)
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For readers familiar with our wartime coverage, Friday’s rocket report log looked like this:

12:36 PM – Army admits that a rocket actually landed in Israel in an open area. This is the first time since Operation Protective Edge that the IDF admits that a rocket landed within Israel’s territory.

No injuries or damage reported.

11:46 AM A rocket alert was heard in the Eshkol region.

The IDF is checking if this is a false alarm or if there was a rocket launch, and if so, where did the rocket fall.

Israel’s police force must be exhausted after a hard week arresting Jewish children on the Temple Mount with candles and a Chanukiah or for daring to say a prayer out loud, because they were clearly unable to do anything about the Hamas rally on the Temple Mount today.

Arab social media sites are full of photos of an openly-held rally for Hamas on the Temple Mount, replete with dozens of masked men, green Hamas headbands and flags.

The only thing missing are the guns and rocket launchers.

If the police keep doing such a great job, maybe that’s next.

In an unrelated story, PM Netanyahu and DM Yaalon allowed entry of hundreds of Gazans into Israel today so they could visit the Temple Mount to pray.