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The Israeli military said four houses suffered direct hits - two in Sderot,
which is only 1km (0.6 miles) from Gaza, and two in Ashkelon, 7km from
Gaza. Another hit the roof of a kindergarten in Nirim, on the edge of
Gaza to the south, and a yeshiva (religious school) in Netivot, 11km east
of Gaza. There were no injuries directly from rocket fire. The IDF said
one in four rockets fired at it had fallen short and landed inside Gaza. It
said Israel's Iron Dome air defence system had intercepted 153 rockets,
three had hit urban areas in Israel and the rest landed in open areas.
The Joint Operations Room of armed groups in Gaza, which includes
Islamic Jihad and Hamas, claimed in a statement that they had launched
BBC News Israel and Gaza war 2023
the rockets. "The damage to the homes of civilians and faction fighters is
a red line, and we will respond strongly to it. Resistance forces are ready
for all options," it said.
The IDF launched Operation Shield and Arrow in the early hours of
Tuesday with several waves of strikes across Gaza that killed 13
Palestinians. Three were PIJ commanders who the IDF said were
involved in recent attacks against Israeli civilians and were planning
more. But the other 10 dead were civilians, including four women and
four children. Another two Palestinians were killed on Tuesday afternoon
in a strike that the IDF said targeted militants planning to fire anti-tank
missiles. The strikes were the deadliest since three days of hostilities
between Israel and PIJ last August, in which 49 Palestinians were killed
in Gaza. PIJ has been responsible for many of the rocket attacks on
Israel in recent years and is sworn to Israel's destruction.
There was a serious flare-up last week, as PIJ and other groups fired
more than 100 rockets into Israel over two days, following the death in
an Israeli prison of a Palestinian hunger striker. The Israeli military
carried out air strikes on sites it said were linked to Hamas in response.
Tensions also remained high in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday,
after Israel carried out arrest raids overnight.
Two Palestinians were killed in the town of Qabatiya by Israeli forces,
who said the pair fired at them. The IDF also said a soldier was also
seriously wounded during a separate exchange of fire with Palestinian
gunmen in Tubas.