From TOI:
More than two dozen mortar shells were fired at southern Israel in at least three separate barrages Tuesday morning as sirens blared throughout the area, the army said, amid heightened tensions along the Gaza border.One person was lightly injured by shrapnel in his shoulder and was being treated at the Soroka medical center in Beersheba. There were no reports of significant material damage. One shell hit a tree in the yard of a kindergarten shortly before children were due to arrive.
The shellings appeared to be the largest attack from the Gaza Strip since the 2014 war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge.
The head of the Eshkol region told Channel 10 news that the army told him the attack was carried out by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, as revenge for the Israel Defense Forces killing three of its members in a cross-border exchange earlier in the week.
The Iran-backed Islamic Jihad did not immediately take responsibility for the mortar attacks, but its spokesperson praised them, saying “the blood of our people is not so cheap that the terrorists (Israel) can do what they want without deterrence.”
Islamic Jihad and Hamas media are reporting on the mortar attacks and praising them, but for the past few years terror groups have not been as interested in taking responsibility for them.
The reason is that they don’t want Israel to target them.
But Hamas is responsible in the end, and Hamas has stopped many rocket and mortar attacks in the past because it cannot afford a war.
This seems to be a tactical blunder on Hamas’ part, as it has been successful in convincing the world that the Gaza riots were “peaceful protests” and it is hard to portray mortars as peaceful. Indeed, the EU and UN condemned this attack, but only condemned Israel for its response to the Gaza riot.
Terror media are showing photos of missiles fired from Gaza but they do not appear to be from this morning’s attack, rather old file photos.
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