By Jonathan Benedek/TPS
The IDF resumed targeting Hamas infrastructure on Sunday night, striking approximately 50 targets in the northern Gaza Strip, after a rocket was fired from Gaza yesterday and landed in a backyard in the nearby Israeli town of Sderot.
“The attack on this terrorist infrastructure is in response to ballistic rocket attacks carried out on the city of Sderot earlier today, which constitutes a threat to the security of Israeli citizens and harms the sovereignty of the State of Israel,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement late last night.
Although a rival Salafist organization operating in the Gaza Strip assumed responsibility for yesterday’s rocket attack, the IDF continued to hold Hamas fully responsible for any rockets launched from Gaza towards Israeli communities.
“The Hamas terrorist organization is the sovereign power in Gaza and it shall be responsible for any terrorist incident perpetrated from there,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit added.
Meanwhile, the Hamas terrorist organization held Israel responsible for escalating tensions.
“We hold Israel fully responsible for the escalation in Gaza,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. “Israel wants to create a new balance of power in the Gaza Strip.”
An IDF official adamantly denied Zuhri’s charge and told reporters that “we have no intention of escalating tensions, and 1,000 aid trucks are entering the Gaza Strip just today alone.”