Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
At least ten rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel late on April 6 in the largest such barrage since the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) resumed operations in the Palestinian enclave last month.
The rocket attack originated from the area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and targeted the coastal settlements of Ashkelon and Ashdod.
Five of the ten rockets were intercepted by Israeli air defenses, the IDF said in a statement, adding that at least one of the other five hit Ashkelon.
A 30-year-old man was slightly wounded by shrapnel. The Magen David Adom emergency services also said that two other people were injured while running to shelters, while several people were treated for acute anxiety following the attack.
The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Gaza-ruling Hamas Movement, claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, saying in a brief statement that it was carried out in response to “Zionest crimes against civilians” in the Strip.
Following the attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he had ordered the IDF to further expand its renewed operations against Hamas.
The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, later issued an evacuation warning for Palestinian civilians in Deir al-Balah, saying that it was a “final warning” before the IDF carried out strikes there.
The military then said it carried out a drone strike targeting the rocket launcher used to carry out the attack on Ashkelon and Ashdod.
Separately, an Israeli strike hit a tent within the journalists’ camp at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Two more journalists were reportedly killed in the strike, and several others were wounded.
Disturbing footage that surfaced online later showed one of the journalists consumed by fire as civilians and rescue workers tried desperately to put it out. Reports identified the victim as Ahmed Mansour, a father and a journalist for Palestine Today.
“[Israeli] Missiles burned Colleague Ahmed Mansour and is still in intensive care, suffering from severe burns as a result of the targeting of the tent where he is sitting in the journalists’ camp at Nasser Hospital,” Wael Abo Omar, a Palestinian journalist in the blockaded enclave, said in a post to the X social network.
Mahmoud Bassam, a photojournalist based in Gaza, said that Mansour “needs a miracle” to recover from the severe burns.
On April 6, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that at least 32 people had been killed in strikes over the past day, including over a dozen women and children.
In total, at least 1,300 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF renewed its operations in Gaza on March 18, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that was brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar last January. The military has so far occupied several key parts of the Strip without facing any real resistance.
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the alawites should do this themselves with the traitorous pig bashar the ass ad.
this pig in the form of the ass betrayed his people and advised them not to fight terrorists. when uncle ben is done with iranian traitors and terrorist hamas, the next bombing will include turkish mercenaries.
were the traitorous pigs putler and assad really not ashamed of betraying syria? promising people a peaceful transfer of power, only to be slaughtered afterwards by isis = hts.
are the jews becoming animals? you be the judge