The IDF struck Hamas tunnel excavation workshops in the Gaza Strip Monday morning after two rockets were fired toward Israel, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reported.
The rockets landed harmlessly in open areas near Ashdod, and warning sirens were not activated.Video footage reportedly taken at the scene of one of the IDF strikes in Gaza was published on Palestinian social-media outlets Monday morning.תיעוד: ירי הרקטות הלילה לעבר ישראל@Itsik_zuarets(צילום: דדי פולד)https://t.co/xDLyaTgxla pic.twitter.com/GnO3WJkt2R
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) January 18, 2021
الطيران الحربي يستهدف أرض زراعية قرب الحدود مع المناطق الشرقية برفح جنوب قطاع غزة. pic.twitter.com/DiCjGvmDv5
— معتز أبوريدة_غزة (@Abuabraa2110198) January 18, 2021
“The IDF takes all terrorist activity against Israel very seriously and is prepared and ready to act as resolutely as necessary against attempts to harm Israeli citizens and its sovereignty,” the IDF said in a press release. “The Hamas terrorist organization bears responsibility for what is happening in and out of the Gaza Strip, and it will bear the consequences of terrorist actions against the citizens of Israel.”
Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS), a nonpartisan movement of retired IDF generals and their Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Mossad and Israel Police counterparts, on Monday said the rocket launches “make it clear that as long as Israel continues to leave the initiative in the hands of Hamas and other terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip, we will continue to see provocations from these elements... for some time toward Israel.”CIS called for a long-term strategy with a broad plan of action, combining ceasefires, economic and humanitarian rehabilitation and a gradual return of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip. It recommended that the normalization agreements signed with countries in the region should be used to form a regional coalition to assist in implementing this alternative strategy.Last Wednesday, terrorists shot at IDF engineering units operating along the Gaza border. In response, IDF tanks fired at three Hamas positions.Also on Tuesday, a Hamas official confirmed that another $30 million Qatari cash grant for families in the Gaza Strip had been renewed for a full year and that Qatari envoy Mohammad al-Emadi would visit the Gaza at the end of January, Palestinian media outlets reported. No specific date for the arrival of the money was reported.#شاهد.. آثار القصف "الإسرائيلي" قبل قليل شرق خانيونس جنوب قطاع غزة pic.twitter.com/I01RfDL165
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) January 18, 2021