As Israel continues its operation against terrorists in the Gaza Strip, Hamas warned on Tuesday that it may expand the range of its attacks by targeting Tel Aviv and shortly afterward fired its first salvo.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The barrage was followed by at least two successive ones and reached as far north as Netanya, although it was not immediately clear if there were casualties. According to first responders, several Israelis were moderately wounded in Holon, just south of Tel Aviv. In Rishon LeZion, one woman was killed. In Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv, a bus was hit but luckily it was empty.
In the city of Givatayim, a building sustained a direct hit as well, resulting in several minor injuries. As of Tuesday night, there were also several dozen injured, including a 5-year-old girl who sustained a life-threatening injury due to shrapnel head injuries. At least two other people were in serious condition.
Video: Gil Kremer
According to statements issued by the Gaza rulers before the salvos on Tel Aviv, if Israel continues its massive offensive against its operatives and specifically if hits high-rise buildings, it will hit Israel's commercial metropolis and a symbolic target, two days after it tried to hit the capital Jerusalem.
Video: 27 א
Shortly after Hamas issued that threat, reports from Gaza indicated a high-rise has collapsed, and the Islamic terrorists said they would retaliate by 9 p.m., and this resulted in the major attacks. Amid the attack on central Israel, Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport halts departures; arrivals were also disrupted. Meanwhile, a strategic facility connected to an oil pipeline in the Ashkelon area was hit and caught fire.
The Israel Defense Forces said the decision to strike the high rise was part of Israel's effort to "step up the offensive," a day after Operation Guardian of the Walls started. The salvos were then launched on Israel's main population centers, in what is perhaps the most intense day of fighting as of yet and the worst escalation in years.
More than 600 rockets have been fired so far on Israeli communities, mainly in southern towns, including Ashkelon and Ashdod. More than 100 Israeli residents have been wounded, the vast majority suffering from minor wounds or shock. But the rocket attacks also turned deadly on Tuesday after a massive volley around 2 p.m. on Ashkelon. Two civilians were killed in that attack - a pensioner woman and her caregiver from India. They both died when the projectile hit the apartment directly, while they were hiding in the bathroom.
The barrages continued all through day on Tuesday, as well as Israeli strikes on Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
In the United States, the White House issued a condemnation, with press secretary Jen Psaki said: "The president has been briefed daily on developments in Jerusalem and Gaza. The president's support for Israel's security, for its legitimate right to defend itself and its people, is fundamental and will never waver. We condemn ongoing rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including against Jerusalem."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Israel Defense Forces Southern Command on Tuesday hours after Hamas and other terrorist groups started firing incessant barrages on Israeli communities from the Gaza Strip.
Speaking at the command headquarters, Netanyahu said, "We will increase our strikes and their intensity; Hamas will be dealt unexpected blows."
Netanyahu added that the IDF has carried out "hundreds of attacks against Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad" and noted that Israel "has assassinated commanders and hit many high-quality targets" in the first 2 days of Operation Guardian of the Walls, which began on Monday.
Hours after the IDF assasinated Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Sameh Abed al-Mamluk, it also killed the head of Hamas' antitank unit.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who was present at the meeting, warned Hamas as well. "For every day that you fire on Israelis, we will set you back years," he said.
The attacks on Israeli communities in the south continued almost nonstop, with sirens forcing residents to run for cover multiple times an hour. In Ashkelon and Ashdod, authorities said residents must stay in the protected space even without a siren blasting, but this was later lifted.
Since sundown Monday, 26 Palestinians – including nine children and a woman – were killed in Gaza, most by airstrikes, health officials there said, with at least 16 of the dead were terrorists, IDF officials said.
At least 10 other Israelis have been wounded since Monday evening.
Gantz on Tuesday greenlighted the IDF's plans for continued airstrikes on terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip following a massive rocket barrage on Israel's south. He further signed off on calling up 5,000 reservists as the military campaign may expand in the coming days. The IDF also issued a direct appeal to Gaza residents in Arabic, telling them they must stay away from terrorists and weaponry for their own protection.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Hamas and the PIJ fired over 250 rockets into Israel since Monday night, as the Israeli military mounted multiple strikes against Hamas positions as well as hubs operated by other terrorist groups in the coastal enclave, killing 15 terrorists and destroying over 130 targets as of Tuesday morning.
The IDF said that the targets destroyed included weapon mills, several arsenals, training facilities, two terror tunnels, a Hamas intelligence-gathering office, and the home of a senior Hamas operative. The military campaign has been given an official name: Operation Guardian of the Walls.
IDF International Spokesperson @LTCJonathan Conricus gives an update on the situation in Israel tonight: pic.twitter.com/utL1xdCuwa
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 10, 2021
Hamas launched a rocket barrage on the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon in the early hours of Tuesday morning, saying it was retaliation over IDF strikes on a civilian apartment block near Gaza city.
Video showed dozens of rockets being fired at the city as the Iron Dome defense system engaged immediately. Still, at least two buildings in Ashkelon sustained a direct hit. Paramedics reported five people sustained minor injuries and one in serious condition.
Hamas said in a statement that it will "turn Ashkelon into hell" if the IDF continues to target civilian buildings in Gaza.
The Islamist terrorist group said it would "use new weapons" in any further escalation. One of Hamas' TV channels said the current flare-up includes the use of Iranian-made A-120 rockers, which have a range of 100 kilometers (62 miles).
IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. General Hidai Zilberman said in a statement that the military struck 130 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, killing 15 terrorists.
"The campaign in Gaza is one that we have been preparing for," he said, adding that of the 200 projectile fired at Israel so far, 90% have been intercepted and dozens landed inside the Strip.
"There are many casualties in Gaza as a result of these misfires," he noted.
Zilberman noted that the IDF plans to "continue its high-intensity strikes over the coming day. We have bolstered the deployment of Iron Dome batteries in the southern and central sectors. We are ready for any scenario, including a wide-scale escalation."
Addressing reports that Palestinian civilians have been killed in IDF strikes, Zilberman said, "We're doing everything we can to avoid such incidents, but Hamas hides amid civilians.
Sirens wailed across communities adjacent to the Israel-Gaza border almost nonstop starting at 6 p.m. Monday.
On Monday night, a home in the southern community in Shaar Hanegev Regional Council also sustained a direct hit, with only minor injuries recorded.
Gantz declared a "special security situation" in an area stretching 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the border, placing parts of central Israel on alert as well. Schools were canceled in dozens of cities. The Home Front Command has instructed the residents of southern Israel to remain near fortified areas.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh issued a statement saying the terrorist group has "changed the balance of power on the ground. We will prevail against any external threat from the forces of the occupation.
"The link between Gaza and Jerusalem is fixed and it will not change. When Jerusalem asked for our help, we heeded the call. We have decided to continue the struggle unless the occupation stops all expressions of aggression and terrorism in Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."
A statement by the Islamic Jihad said, "Israel started the aggression against Jerusalem, and if the aggression against Jerusalem does not stop, then there is no point to any ceasefire efforts."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the rocket attacks from Gaza against Israel should stop "immediately." He urged all sides to take steps to reduce tensions.
The United Nations Security Council held an urgent meeting Monday on the unrest in Jerusalem but issued no immediate statement, with diplomats saying the United States believed public comments would be counterproductive.
The negotiations among the 15 nations on the Security Council were over a text that could be watered down from an initial draft proposed by Norway, diplomats said.
The United States, according to one diplomat, said in the closed-door video conference that it was "working behind the scenes" to calm the situation and that it was "not sure that a statement at this point would help."
After further discussion on the possibility of a joint text calling for de-escalation of the violence, several diplomats told AFP there would be no Security Council statement Monday.
"The United States is engaging constructively to ensure any action by the Security Council is helpful in de-escalating tensions," a spokesperson for the US mission to the UN said.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
