The Israel Air Force bombed two Hamas weapons factories in northern Gaza early Sunday morning in retaliation for a missile attack on the coastal city of Ashkelon Saturday night.

The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system intercepted the missile, which was headed straight for the heavily-populated city.

The Color Red incoming rocket alert siren activated in a number of other southern Israeli communities in the Ashkelon regional council district as well.

No one was physically injured and no property damage from falling shrapnel was reported.

This was the second rocket attack on southern Israel in as many days, along with numerous attempts to infiltrate into Israeli territory.

“The IDF holds Hamas responsible for any act of aggression from the Gaza Strip,” said IDF Spokesperson Lt.-Col. Peter Lerner. “This weekend we have seen clear incitement encouraging the breach of Israel’s sovereignty, violent confrontation against Israelis and threatening the residence of southern Israel.

“The IDF will continue to act, preempt and defeat those that plot to harm the civilians of Israel.”

An Iron Dome anti-missile defense battery was also deployed Friday in Be’er Sheva.

The rocket attack aimed at Ashkelon came after a day in which Gaza Arabs were shot by IDF soldiers after a mob stormed the security fence along Israel’s southern border.

At least six of the terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israel in the attack on the border fence were killed; more than two dozen others were wounded.

Nearly a dozen managed to infiltrate Israel after breaking through the border fence, but all were caught and returned to Gaza. Five of those captured were taken into custody by IDF soldiers; they were transferred to security officers for interrogation.

(JNi.media) On Tuesday night, a rocket was launched at Southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. The rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome Aerial Defense System. No injuries or damage have been reported.

An ISIS affiliate in Gaza claimed responsibility for the launch.

Alarms sounded in Ashdod, Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, and the Yavne and Lachish regions before the rocket landed. This was the first time since the 2014 operation Protective Edge that alarms sounded in these areas. No injuries or damage were reported.

In response, the IAF targeted four Hamas terror sites in the Gaza Strip, IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner announced. “This evening, the third day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, a rocket was fired at Southern Israel sending the residents of Ashdod as well as several surrounding communities to nearby bomb-shelters. Hamas is responsible and will be held accountable for every attack emanating from the Gaza Strip. The IDF will continue defending all Israelis who are repeatedly attacked by such blatant acts of aggression,” Lerner said in an email statement.

Tuesday night’s launch was the fourth such event in recent weeks, following an attack a week ago Monday, when a rocket exploded in an open area in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. The rocket did not cause the activation of the “color red” alert system because there was no fear that the rocket would fall in populated areas.

A few days earlier, a rocket exploded in Sderot and the fragments caused damage to a bus and an adjacent building. Also, a woman in her 40s was treated for shock. A few hours later, the Iron Dome system intercepted a rocket in skies of Ashkelon. The ISIS affiliated group took responsibility for that attack.

12:50 AM Reports that Hamas has gone underground (literally) and that IDF jets are buzzing Gaza.

11:05 PM Single interception above Ashdod.

10:50 PM Iron Dome launched. Reports of 2 explosions.

10:48 PM Second rocket alert.

10:47 PM Rocket Alert – Ashdod region.

Details to follow.

In the wee hours of Monday morning, at around 3 am, a Grad Katyusha missile was fired at southern Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza, and landed in an open area in the Ashkelon coastal region.

No one was injured and no damage was reported — but no one was warned that the rocket was heading their way, either.

The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system did not fire, and there was no Color Red incoming rocket alert sounded, presumably because it was determined the rocket would land in an open area without people.

Security personnel who searched the area found missile had landed in an open area, near some greenhouses, in the Ashkelon coastal region.

Just three days ago, the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system was called into action to intercept a similar attack launched from Gaza by Palestinian Arab terrorists.

In that instance, the missile was heading straight for the city of Ashkelon, a heavily populated area. The Color Red incoming rocket alert siren wailed its warning from one end of the city to the other.

The missile was intercepted in mid-air and the threat was neutralized, while nearly 120,000 city residents waited safely in their bomb shelters.

Israeli fighter pilots bombed three terror targets in Gaza early Saturday in retaliation for rocket attacks fired at southern Israel just after the start of the Sabbath on Friday.

Among the targets struck by the IAF in northern Gaza was a Hamas telecommunications site.

The Da’esh (ISIS)-linked Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigades terror organization announced it was responsible for Friday night’s rocket attacks.

The group is named after Sheikh Omar Hadid, who aided Abu Musab al-Zarqawi found and operate the Iraqi branch of the international Al Qaeda terror organization ten years ago.

Nevertheless, Israel holds Gaza’s ruling Hamas terror organization responsible for any violence or terror attacks that emanate from its territory.

A rocket exploded in the city of Sderot, less than a mile from the Gaza border at approximately 8:30 pm Friday evening.

People were sent fleeing to bomb shelters by the wail of the Color Red incoming rocket alert siren at around the same time they reported hearing the rocket explode in a residential area of the city.

The family whose home was hit by the rocket was home – and inside their home – at the time of the attack, according to local sources, but reportedly were not physically hurt. A number of people at the scene suffered from severe trauma, however.

Both the home and a bus that was parked nearby were damaged in the attack.

A similar Code Red incoming rocket alert was triggered across the coastal city of Ashkelon three hours later, sending nearly 120,000 residents racing for cover, their Sabbath dessert abandoned on the tables.

The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system launched an interceptor missile that successfully neutralized the missile that was fired from Gaza directly at the busy city.

No one was reported injured and no damage was caused in the second attack.

An Iron Dome anti-missile defense system has been redeployed outside the southern port city of Ashdod, according to Israel’s Channel 10 TV.

Various batteries of the mobile all-weather air defense system are moved around the country to different areas as needed.

This past summer, the system received an unspecified upgrade to “widen the capacity and improve the performance” of the equipment, according to the Defense Ministry.

The move comes in advance of Friday’s upcoming “Day of Rage” declared this week by Gaza’s ruling Hamas terror organization.

Other terror groups also support the scheduled day of violence against Israel, intended to echo daily Arab violence aimed at Jews from Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount.

Arab Muslims trashed their own house of worship in order to use broken cement blocks as weapons against Israeli police and Jewish visitors to the compound.

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas seized the opportunity to regain the Arab spotlight, vowing Wednesday to “protect” Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.

“Al-Aqsa is ours and the Holy Sepulcher is also ours,” he declared at his office in the PA capital city of Ramallah. “They have no right to dirty the mosque with their filthy feet, we won’t let them do it.

“We will do whatever we can to defend Jerusalem,” he told activists from the eastern part of Israel’s capital.

The United States Embassy in Tel Aviv is warning Americans against traveling to the Golan Heights and the Upper Galilee.

The travel advisory issued Saturday followed rocket fire from Syria on Thursday that struck northern Israel.

“Due to the launching of rockets from Syria toward Israel and other cross-border activity in northeastern Israel and northern Golan Heights on August 20 and 21, we urge US citizens to carefully consider and possibly defer travel in the Upper Galilee area of northern Israel… until the situation stabilizes.”

Iron Dome anti-missile defense batteries have been deployed in Ashdod, Ashkelon and Be’er Sheva in southern Israel as well, due to the possibility of rocket fire emanating from Gaza as well.

Two of the rockets fired at Israel on Thursday exploded in the Galilee Panhandle, and two others landed in the Golan Heights. Fires were ignited in open fields in both regions as a result.

The IDF attacked 14 Syrian positions in retaliation for the rocket fire. The IDF struck the central Golan Heights region on the Syrian side late Thursday night using tanks, artillery and the Air Force.

The rocket fire was launched by an Islamic Jihad terror group, funded by Iran, according to the IDF Spokesperson, who added the attack was an infringement on Israeli sovereignty.