The Israeli military has mentioned that eight rockets have been fired from Gaza, focusing on central Israel, together with Tel Aviv.
Hamas says it has launched rockets at Tel Aviv, prompting sirens to sound within the Israeli metropolis for the primary time in a number of months.
The Israeli army mentioned on Sunday that eight rockets have been launched from the Rafah space in southern Gaza, the place its forces have continued a floor assault regardless of an order from the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) to halt operations there.
Israel’s air defence system intercepted a number of of them, the army mentioned.
Rafah is positioned round 100km (62 miles) south of Tel Aviv.
In keeping with native media studies, sirens sounded in about 30 areas throughout central Israel together with Tel Aviv, and there have been studies of a number of gentle accidents because of the assault.
Hamas’s army wing the Qassam Brigades claimed accountability for the assault, saying in an announcement on its Telegram channel on Sunday that the rockets have been launched in response to “Zionist massacres against civilians”.
Hamas-linked Al-Aqsa TV mentioned the rockets have been launched from the Gaza Strip.
Israel says it needs to root out a number of Hamas battalions holed up in Rafah and rescue hostages it says are being held within the space, however its assault has worsened the plight of civilians and induced a world outcry.
On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed not less than 5 Palestinians in Rafah, based on native medical providers.
Israeli tanks have launched assaults across the edges of the town, near the principle southern crossing level into Egypt, however there has not but been a full-scale floor assault.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud mentioned the rocket assault raises questions on Israel’s army operation in Rafah.
“The Israeli military has been operating aggressively in the area and they made it clear that they are in control and they have pretty much cleared the area from the presence of any fighters on the ground or Hamas associates,” he mentioned.
“But all of a sudden we see now a barrage of rockets fired from that particular area, raising questions about Israeli claims that it had cleared the area of the Hamas fighters.”
Israel’s army mentioned on Sunday that over the earlier 24 hours it had destroyed “over 50 terror targets across the Gaza Strip”, Mahmoud mentioned.
In Jabalia, in northern Gaza, troops raided a weapons depot “embedded inside a school where troops located dozens of rocket parts and weapons”.
Israeli political analyst Akiva Eldar instructed Al Jazeera that the Hamas rocket assault on Israel will encourage Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “play the victim”.
Eldar mentioned it may additionally enable Netanyahu to make an argument in opposition to the ICJ ruling to halt army operations in Rafah, by saying that they’re wanted to make sure the security of Israeli civilians within the face of such assaults.
Eldar mentioned the assault may make Netanyahu consider he has the “justification” to go “deeper into Rafah until, as he has promised, the total victory.”
Not less than 35,984 individuals have been killed in Israel’s warfare on Gaza, based on Palestinian well being officers in Gaza.
Israel launched the operation after Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, seizing greater than 250 hostages and killing not less than 1,139 individuals, based on an Al Jazeera tally primarily based on Israeli statistics.
