BY YAAKOV LAPIN, JPOST—
The Israel Air Force targeted three centers of terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip and a weapons storage site in the South early Thursday morning, the IDF Spokesman’s Office reported.
The attacks hit their precise targets and all planes returned safely to base.
The activity comes in retaliation to three Grad rockets that were fired from the Gaza Strip at the Ashdod and Bnei Aish areas shortly before midnight Wednesday.
The rockets fell into open territories. No injuries were reported but several people were suffering from shock.
Sirens were heard in Yavne, Gadera, Rehovot, Nes Ziona and Ashdod.
This was first time that air raid sirens were activated in Rehovot and Nes Ziona due to a rocket attack.
A woman who was visiting Rehovot at the time of the attack told The Jerusalem Post, “I was preparing to go to sleep when I hear the rising and falling siren. I heard neighbors coming out of their homes in the building, and asked them what to do. I was told to go to leave the apartment and go down one floor, as I was on the top floor. People were calm.”
Earlier Wednesday night an IDF patrol was struck by a roadside bomb near the West Bank settlement of Efrat.
No injuries were reported but an army vehicle was damaged, the IDF Spokesman said. IDF forces were on the scene conducting a search for the attackers.
The rocket attack was the first since the deal that freed IDF soldier Gilad Schalit last week.
Three weeks ago, two Kassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip. One exploded in an open field in the Hof Askelon Regional Council, while the other exploded inside the Strip. No injuries or damage were reported in that attack.
