The IDF Iron Dome fighters shot down two of the three rockets that were fired at southern Israeli Jewish communities from northern Gaza close to 11:30 pm Thursday night.
The third rocket landed in an open area in the Shaar HaNegev Regional Council District. Security personnel also identified a small fire which was in the process of being extinguished.
The Red Alert incoming rocket siren blared through multiple communities in Nir Am, Sderot, Gavim, Sapir College, Ibim and Yad Mordechai, sending hundreds of people racing for cover, and forcing parents to once again rip sleeping children from their slumber to drag them to safety with only seconds to reach a bomb shelter.
Earlier in the day, IDF aircraft and tanks attacked a number of Hamas terrorist observation posts on Thursday afternoon that were being used to gather intelligence in the southern Gaza Strip.
That attack was carried out in response to balloon bombs that were flown into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip and used to attack an IDF observation post.
