After four hours of discussion about the escalation in the south and the difficult situation in which Israelis there are living, Israel’s Ministerial Committee on National Security instructed the IDF to “continue to act with force against terrorist elements.”
The cabinet decision to continue operating in the Gaza Strip against Hamas terrorists comes after two days of rocket barrages, many of which resulted in physical injuries and severe trauma to Israelis as well as damage to homes and vehicles. Rockets and mortar shells also landed in open areas, in addition to the 25 projectiles that were headed to densely populated areas and were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system.
On Thursday afternoon, Israeli fighter pilots bombed and destroyed a five-story building used as Hamas Internal Security Headquarters, after bombing 180 Hamas terrorist targets overnight.
Code Red incoming rocket alerts, however, continue to activate in various communities around the south; earlier in the day, an advanced, medium-range Qassam rocket was fired at the central Negev city of Be’er Sheva. A rocket was intercepted later in the evening by the Iron Dome system over the border community of Yad Mordechai.