Hamas is sending a signal that the “truce” is due to expire, then it’ll be business as usual. KGS Jewish Policy Center: Two Days Before End of Truce, Gaza Vicinity Residents Wake Up to Another Reminder of Shaky Situation with at least Seven Rockets Hitting Eshkol Regional Council. One Rocket Lands in Ashkelon; No Injuries or Damage Reported
Palestinian gunmen fired 10 Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel on Wednesday. Seven rockets landed within the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries or damage. Shortly afterwards, a mortar shell landed within the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, without causing injuries or damage. Another rocket landed in the same area after noon.
A rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip in the late morning hours landed in an open area near a factory in Ashkelon’s southern industrial zone. Three factory workers were evacuated to the city’s Barzilai Medical Center after suffering from ringing in their ears.
Another Qassam landed in an open area within the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council without causing any injuries. The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which has become particularly shaky in the past few weeks, is slated to expire over the coming weekend.
Eshkol Council head Haim Yalin told Ynet, “Yesterday everyone watched the ‘Big Brother’ final, but the Qassams landing here are not a reality show. This is most likely the promo waiting for us ahead of the official expiry of the alleged lull.”
“We woke up to the sounds of the Color Red alert system and explosions,” Ella Fox, a community manager in one of the council’s kibbutzim, told Ynet. “We are strong, but this situation is unbearable. Instead of starting our day like any other citizen in the State of Israel, we’re forced to start it like this.”
“Adults and children can’t even wake up to a regular morning, and once again we have to check what’s happening with the children who have to go to school. The children in the kindergartens can’t even go out to the yard today. This is life not everyone in Israel knows, it’s something completely different,” Fox said.
Israel responds to Palestinian terrorist attacks.
Night time strikes target weapons cache in Jabaliya, metal workshop used to manufacture rockets and mortars in Khan Younis; no injuries reported, but targets damaged extensively. Four rockets fired from Strip hit western Negev region, but cause no injuries or damage
Israeli aircraft conducted two nighttime air strikes against terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip for the first time in six months, this following rocket fire on the western Negev region.
The raids, conducted during the early hours of Thursday morning, targeted a weapons cache in the north Gaza town of Jabaliya and a metal workshop used to manufacture rockets and mortars in Khan Younis, located in the southern part of the Hamas-controlled enclave.
The strikes caused extensive material damage but no injuries, witnesses and medical sources said. The Israeli military confirmed the air strikes and said they were carried out by warplanes and helicopters.
