JERUSALEM (JTA) — A rocket fired from Gaza at a southern Israeli community was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
The rocket was fired shortly after midnight on Wednesday night.
The Israel Defense Forces responded early Thursday morning, using fighter jets to bomb what it called in a statement “an underground terrorist infrastructure on a military compound belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the southern Gaza Strip.”
Also on Wednesday, at least six fires were started in southern Israel by incendiary balloons launched from Gaza, reportedly causing significant damage to farmland. Another Gaza balloon carrying a bomb which detonated while flying over an Israeli community, causing alarm.
In response to the latest wave of incendiary balloons, the IDF on Wednesday imposed a full naval closure on Gaza, which prevents local fisherman from entering the sea.
The balloons are an apparent violation of the informal cease-fire between Gaza and Israel.
The IDF statement concluded: “The IDF will continue to act against attempts to harm Israeli civilians and considers the terrorist organization Hamas responsible for everything that is happening in and out of the Gaza Strip.”
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