The Israeli Air Force struck four terrorist targets in the southern Gaza Strip during Wednesday’s early morning hours. The strikes were in response to rockets fired from Gaza at Israel on Tuesday, May 26.
There remains some uncertainty about how many rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel on Tuesday. Initial reports claimed five rockets were fired. Hours later the IDF stated only one rocket was fired and it struck Gan Yavne, near the Israeli coastal town of Ashdod. Gan Yavne is approximately 23 miles northeast of the Gaza Strip.
The IDF foreign media spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner stated that the strikes against Gaza “are a direct response to Hamas and the aggression against Israeli civilians originating from the Gaza Strip.”
Lerner said that Hamas uses the Gaza Strip as a “staging ground to attack Israel,” which Lerner called “unacceptable and intolerable.”
“Israelis can not be expected to live in the perpetual fear of rocket attacks, the IDF will continue to operate in order to seek out those that wish to undermine Israeli sovereignty with acts of terrorism,” Lerner admonished.
Some claimed that the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad fired the rocket on Tuesday. However, Israel holds Hamas responsible, as the elected leadership of the Gaza Strip, for all violence emanating from that location.
It was 67 years ago today, May 27, that the order was issued by Israel’s first president to establish the Israel Defense Forces. Today the IDF continues to protect its citizens from all manner of efforts to harm its citizens.
As of publication time there were no reports of physical injuries from either set of rockets.