Hamas fires rocket into Israel amid tension

By Nour Abu Eisha and Hani al-Shaer
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Tuesday fired a volley of rockets into southern Israel in response to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, the group’s military wing, said in a statement that the rocket attacks targeted the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod.

The rocket fire “comes in response to the ongoing Israeli aggression on civilian homes and resistance fighters,” the statement said.

Israeli media reported that one Israeli was killed and 8 people were injured, one of them seriously, due to the rockets.

According to an Anadolu Agency reporter in Gaza, Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes in Gaza following the rocket fire.

A source with the Palestinian civil defense authority in Gaza said that two people were killed and six others injured in an attack targeting a residential apartment west of Gaza City.

There was no comment yet from the Israeli military on the development.

According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation network, two Israelis were injured from rocket fire in Ashdod.

Until Tuesday afternoon, at least 26 Palestinians were killed, including 9 children, and scores injured in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army claimed that it has so far targeted 130 positions in Gaza and killed 15 members of the Hamas group in strikes on Gaza.

The Israeli army said late Monday that it had launched a military operation, code-named "Guardian of the Walls", to respond to what it said rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

Tension moved from East Jerusalem to Gaza after Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza vowed to retaliate Israeli assaults on Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood if not halted.

Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara