Hamas rocket explodes near Tel Aviv.

Note: The original link has a photo which is quite spectacular but I doubt it is actually of this event. Here is a link to the Jerusalem post, the first media to report on this, which should be the most reliable report.

From Your Jewish News:

Rockets were launched towards Rishon Lezion, 10 miles south of Tel Aviv, and Ashdod on Thursday afternoon, and sirens were heard in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gedera and Gan Yavne. Another rocket landed in the Eshkol Regional Council, the eight rocket attack since Thursday morning.

IDF tanks shot into Gaza on Thursday, injuring one man, according to Palestinian sources, following five rockets launched from Gaza into Israel.
The strike came after the IAF struck four targets in Gaza Strip in the early morning,  after Palestinians fired about a dozen rockets and mortars across the border, striking deep into Israel.

The tanks were aimed at a Hamas facility in Gaza City, which reportedly burst into flames.

Earlier Thursday, the IAF bombed terrorists that were attempting to shoot rockets into Israel.

Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Thursday that Israel “will not be tolerant of any escalation.”

Speaking in the US, Ya’alon said that Israel will not tolerate “terrorist attacks or shooting rockets at our citizens.”

He said that the war against terror “requires a long battle, but it will not stop us from taking care of whoever shoots at Israel, as they have in the last few days or sends terrorists to the center of cities.”

“Whoever does this will not be immune to a decisive attack,” Ya’alon said. “Hamas is responsible for everything that is shot out of Gaza and if it does not take responsibility, it will pay the price.”

Since Thursday morning, three Kassam rockets, one Grad missile and a mortar shell were shot into Israel from Gaza. Grad missiles landed in Ashdod and south of Rishon Lezion.

Hamas said Israel targeted smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, as well as one of its training camps in central Gaza.

A third strike hit a power transformer, causing blackouts in the area, witnesses said. Medical workers said no one was injured in the strikes.

The IDF confirmed that the IAF strikes were carried out in Gaza in response to earlier rocket attacks and that direct hits on multiple targets were recorded.

On Wednesday, Israel vowed to retaliate for rocket attacks against Beersheba and Ashkelon as Hamas evacuated most of its manned positions throughout the Gaza Strip in anticipation of IDF air strikes.

At 5:30 Wednesday morning the first Grad-model Katyusha rocket slammed into Beersheba for the first time in almost a month, lightly wounding one person.

Several hours later, another rocket hit the Negev city.

Yet another rocket landed south of Ashkelon on Wednesday, a day after a rocket fell near Ashdod.

Authorities announced that schools would be closed in Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon on Thursday as a result of the security situation.

Also Wednesday, seven mortar shells containing white phosphorous hit the Eshkol region, followed shortly after by three more near a kibbutz in the Sha’ar Hanegev region. The IAF later destroyed the launcher that was used to fire the rocket into Ashdod.

The Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the missile fire, which came after Israel killed four terror operatives in a missile strike on Tuesday night. The four were behind the firing of two Katyusha rockets into Beersheba in late February, the IDF said.

Fearing a further escalation, the IDF Home Front Command ordered residents in Beersheba, Ashkelon and Ashdod to stay close to their homes and near bomb shelters, out of concern that additional rockets will be fired in the coming days from the Gaza Strip.

“The IDF will continue to act to protect Israeli citizens and will take preemptive action along the Gaza border,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. “There will be highs and lows; not everything will end tomorrow, but we are determined to restore quiet and security to the South.”

Meanwhile, police in the South increased the number of officers and patrol cars on the streets, in response to the threat of further rockets and shells from Gaza.

On Wednesday, the IDF’s Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration coordinated the transfer of an 8-year-old Palestinian boy from the Gaza Strip to Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot after he was injured in an Israeli mortar attack on Tuesday.

The boy was injured after IDF troops fired mortar shells into an open field in northern Gaza and accidentally hit a number of civilians nearby, killing four members of a family and wounding several others, including the boy, who was transferred Wednesday to Israel for medical treatment.

Yourjewishnews.com/Jerusalem Post

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

4 Replies to “Hamas rocket explodes near Tel Aviv.”

  1. I see a story saying they might deploy the “Iron Dome” next week. I can’t wait to see how effective that will be. I’m hoping it will be more effective the Maginot Line was in 1940. If it doesn’t work they can always fall back on the “Hammer of God”.

  2. Iron Dome and its baby sister, Iron Fist is controversial technology indeed. Not sure if I am ready to risk my life on it.

  3. Anti-Missile technology is primarily based on the idea that if you can guarantee a significant percentage of the missiles will be destroyed the missiles will never be fired. This idea works when you enemy is rational and doesn’t want to bankrupt themselves building enough missiles to swamp the defenses. With the smaller rockets coming Gaza the Israeli’s will have a smaller amount of time to acquire the target and fire the counter missiles, for close in defense you need something like an anti-missile laser. The US is suppose to have developed an anti-missile laser carried on a large aerial platform but Congress has refused to buy it and deploy it.

  4. Richard I posted a video of a test of the laser based anti missile system and it was quite spectacular. Of course one wonders if simply mirror coating the missiles deals with that but in any case check out the following STRATFOR sitrep:

    Israel: Iron Dome Defense System Might Deploy March 27
    March 25, 2011
    Israel Defense Forces (IDF) might begin to use the Iron Dome rocket defense system in the areas around the Gaza Strip as early as March 27, Israel National News reported March 25. IDF will assess the situation to decide where, if at all, to place the two batteries of the system with the final decision on deployment expected over the weekend of March 26-27.