JERUSALEM (EJP)—‘Operation Protective Edge’ against Hamas rocket fire into Israel entered its sixth day Sunday, with no end in sight.
Hamas fired rockets throughout Saturday, hitting southern and central Israel, with a major barrage on the Tel Aviv area in late evening.
Four IDF commandos were lightly wounded after their team became the first foot soldiers to enter the Gaza Strip. The commandos, specially trained in various anti-terrorist tactics, attacked a building in Gaza overnight where, according to the IDF spokesman, dozens of long-range rockets have been fired at Israel reaching the skies over Tel Aviv and even further north.
The specialized incursion force was met with fire from Hamas operatives as they carried out their mission and returned fire. The target was destroyed and the four wounded soldiers were evacuated to Brazili Hospital in Ashkelon.
An American tourist died of a heart attack after sirens wailed in Jerusalem, a day after a Haifa woman died in similar circumstances.
Some one million Israelis woke up to the sound of alarms after 6 am on Sunday morning, as Code Red sirens blared in cities across central and southern Israel: Rehovot, Rishon LeZion, Modi’in, Ashdod, Lod, Ashkelon, Ramle, Ben Gurion Airport, and other smaller communities.
The shockwaves from the explosions were heard as far as the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. Four rockets were intercepted during the salvo – three over Lod and one in the skies of Ashdod.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that the Israeli Air Force attacked the launchers used for the early morning rocket fire.
The air raid sirens wailed overnight Saturday in the Eshkol, Sha’ar HaNegev, and Sdot HaNegev Regional Councils from midnight until 5 am – a total of 10 rockets landed in open spaces in the Gaza border region. Two of the rockets exploded inside Eshkol, causing light damage to a house and a public structure. No one was injured in the rocket salvo.
Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, 605 rockets fell inside Israel (84 on Saturday) and 143 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system (at least 6 on Saturday).
After 9 pm, 10 rockets were fired at central Israel in two volleys. Rocket alert sirens were sounded in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak, Petah Tikva, Herzliya, Rehovot, Yavne, Nes Tziona, Lod, Ramle, among others.
The IDF has begun alerting tens of thousands of residents in northern Gaza to vacate the area ahead of more intensive IAF attacks on rocket launchers and commanders there, a senior army source said Sunday.
“This is a place that fires significantly more rockets than other areas. We plan to increase our attacks,” the source said.
The IDF spokesman’s Unit later released an English translation of the leaflet the military said it was dispersing to residents in northern Gaza, urging them to move away by noon Sunday from Hamas operatives and command centers used by the terror group.
“It’s our assessment a huge majority of rockets are being launched (at Israel) from northern areas” in Gaza, said IDF spokesman Lt.Col. Peter Lerner.
Some 1,320 targets have been hit since the start of the six-day operation to extinguish Hamas rocket fire on Israeli cities, including 735 underground rocket launchers, 130 command and control centers, 163 tunnels, 64 training camps, and 58 rocket storage and production centers.
The Israel Air Force struck 62 Hamas regime buildings and 14 command rooms since Monday.
There are 154 casualties in Gaza, the source said, two-thirds of whom are terrorists, he added, including the nephew of former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh who was reported to have been about to launch a rocket on Israel when he was killed.
In addition rocket fire from Gaza, three 122mm Katyusha rockets were fired from Lebanon at Western Galilee. One caused damage to a moshav, another fell near a kibbutz, and the third fell near Shlomi. A Lebanese security source said three rockets had been fired from Lebanon.
The IDF responded to the rockets with artillery fire towards the source of the rockets lauching.
Israel has also reported the rockets to UNIFIL forces in the area.
In New York, the United Nations Security Council called unanimously for a cease-fire, while British Foreign Minister William Hague said he will discuss cease-fire efforts with his American, French and German counterparts on Sunday.
The statement approved by the Security Council’s 15 members calls for “the reinstitution of the November 2012 cease-fire,” which was brokered by Egypt, but gives no time frame for when it should take effect.
Arab League Foreign Ministers will hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Monday.