A rocket launched by the Islamic Jihad terror organization toward Israel on Sunday fell short and exploded in the Gaza Strip, killing at least one person, reports from the Strip say.
The rocket, one of about 600 fired toward Israel since the beginning of Operation Breaking Dawn, exploded in Jabaliya in Gaza. Some reports say that two women were killed in the strike.
At least 160 rockets launched by terrorists toward Israel have exploded inside the Strip over the past two days.
This follows a similar incident on Saturday, in which a rocket launched by the Islamic Jihad terror organization toward Israel misfired and exploded inside the Gaza Strip, killing at least five children.
Following false claims in the Gaza Strip that an IDF strike killed several children, the IDF stated that at 20:40, a rocket barrage from Gaza was launched toward Israel.
At the same time, social media reports from Gaza claimed that “children were massacred” at the Imad Akel mosque in the city of Jabaliya, and at least seven people, including four children, were killed, and 15 were injured.
After clarification with the IDF’s fire center and the brigade command, the IDF stated that no Israeli attacks were carried out in the area during this time frame. Furthermore, the IDF’s detection systems recorded the failed launch.
The IDF published a clip from the time of the tragedy showing the rockets taking off in Jabaliya, and then one of them returning and exploded in the heart of the Gazan city.
International Spokeswoman for Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Keren Hajioff, stated following the tragic death of the Gazan children that “the Islamic Jihad is killing Palestinian children in Gaza. One in four rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel – lands inside the Gaza Strip.”
“Iran’s proxies – including Islamic Jihad – have a long history of hiding behind civilians to target Israeli civilians. The world should be outraged at this terrorist group targeting innocent Israelis and killing innocent Gazans. Israel will continue to stand up to this vicious terrorist organization – which threatens Israelis and Palestinians alike,” she added.
Israeli reporter Doron Kadosh counted six Gazans who were killed by Islamic Jihad rockets and five non-involved Gazans who were killed by mistake in Israeli strikes, meaning that “the Islamic Jihad has killed more uninvolved Palestinians than Israel.”
According to other counts, at least nine Gazans have been killed by rockets fired by the terror group.
