New toll from Gaza’s martyrs: Netanyahu threatens Hamas with unexpected attacks, and the resistance responds with the largest missile strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed, Tuesday, to intensify attacks on the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian resistance announced the response to the escalation of the occupation with the largest missile strike of its kind, which resulted in the killing of two Israelis in the city of Ashkelon, adjacent to the Strip, and wounding dozens; Some of them are in cases of panic.

Netanyahu said in a video clip, distributed by his office at the conclusion of a security meeting, that the army has carried out hundreds of attacks on Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza since yesterday, adding, “We will intensify our attacks, and Hamas will face strikes you did not expect.”

Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that the Israeli army pushed tanks and heavy artillery to the borders of Gaza, and reinforced its ground forces on the borders of the Strip, and issued a warning to the residents of Gaza to stay away from what he called Hamas sites in residential areas.

A new Israeli bombardment on northern Gaza City resulted in the death of a woman and the injury of several people, including children, which raises the death toll in Gaza since yesterday to 28 martyrs – including 10 children and a woman – in addition to the fall of more than 152 wounded.

For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades – the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement – announced the martyrdom of 3 of its field commanders in an Israeli bombing of an apartment in Gaza City.

In the same context, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades – the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – said in a brief statement that there were martyrs and missing persons in the bombing carried out by the occupation on a target in which its members were present in the framework of “raising the readiness to repel aggression.”

Earlier, the Al-Jazeera correspondent in the Gaza Strip said that the Israeli warplanes bombed a resistance position in the town of Jabalia (northern Gaza), and Israeli gunboats continued to bomb agricultural lands in the west of the strip. For its part, the occupation army said that it had targeted a “cell” of the Hamas movement while it was preparing to launch rockets.

Dead and injured in Ashkelon

And Israeli media reported that two Israeli women were killed in the Palestinian bombing of Ashkelon, and said that they were killed by rockets launched from the Gaza Strip on their homes.

She added that the missiles resulted in a number of wounded, with varying wounds, noting that about 10 rocket-propelled grenades directly hit residential buildings in Ashkelon and Ashdod.

The Hebrew News Channel 12 reported that the Palestinians fired 137 rockets from the Gaza Strip at Ashdod (38 km from Gaza), Ashkelon, and nearby areas within 5 minutes, today.

There was no statement from the Israeli army regarding the number of rockets fired this afternoon, but the Palestinian factions said that dozens of them were fired in response to the aggression on the Strip.

Resistance missiles

On the other hand, a spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said that the resistance targeted Ashkelon and Ashdod with 137 heavy-caliber rockets within 5 minutes, adding that “we have a lot.”

The brigades said that they used “Sejil” rockets in the bombing of Ashkelon this afternoon, which succeeded in bypassing the Iron Dome, as part of an operation that the resistance called “the Sword of Jerusalem” to defend the Palestinians in the occupied city of Jerusalem and those stationed in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli air systems intercepted some of the missiles; However, a number of them fell in both cities, and in addition to the two dead, they left more than 80 wounded, some of them in cases of panic due to successive bursts, and the rockets caused great damage to buildings in Ashkelon, and led to some cars being set ablaze.
The Al-Qassam Brigades announced that it launched a large missile strike against the city of Ashkelon at dawn today, in response to targeting civilians.

Operation “Guardian of the Walls”

The Israeli escalation came after Israeli media reported that the army launched a military operation on Gaza under the name “Guardian of the Fences,” noting that the operation included a series of raids on separate targets in the Strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met this morning with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, leaders of the army and security services at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv.

After the meeting, Gantz ordered the army to continue its attacks on the Gaza Strip. The army spokesman said that the Chief of Staff had instructed to continue the strikes and to target Hamas and Jihad activists.

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Cautious calm at Al-Aqsa

Meanwhile, a cautious calm reigned in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where the retreat had performed the dawn prayers after the withdrawal of the occupation forces, following violent confrontations that erupted after the Israeli soldiers stormed it for the second time within hours.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Najwan Samri said that the occupation soldiers withdrew away from the Al-Qibli Mosque, and that the retreat had gone out to the outer squares.

Worshipers also entered Bab Hatta at dawn today, magnified in the absence of the occupation soldiers, and the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that 520 Palestinians were injured in the clashes that took place in occupied Jerusalem, yesterday, Monday.