Israel responds to massive rocket fire by hitting Gaza terror targets.
By United With Israel Staff
The IDF announced Monday afternoon that the Israel Air Force was continuing to strike back against rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
“A short while ago, IDF fighter jets and attack helicopters struck Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip,” the IDF tweeted at mid-afternoon, even as a new alert was sounded in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, one of the localities where classes were canceled in the aftermath of the rocket barrage which began late Sunday afternoon.
Preemies at Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center were among those seen being evacuated to a safe area of the hospital as the sirens sounded.
The IDF said that the targets struck by Israel on Monday included a PIJ “military compound used for training, and storing arms and ammunition.”
The terror group’s “underground infrastructure” was also hit, said the Israeli military.
The IDF also said that dozens of terror targets were hit on Sunday night in Gaza as well as PIJ installations near Damascus, the Syrian capital.
Islamic Jihad was seen as responsible for the firing of some 50 rockets from Gaza on Israeli civilians in southwestern Israel on Sunday and Monday.
The barrage was launched after the IDF eliminated a terrorist on Sunday as he tried to plant a bomb next to the Gaza-Israel security barrier.
Israel’s Home Front Command ordered the suspension of classes in Israeli schools in southern Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip on Monday and prohibited large gatherings.
Various roads were closed and train service suspended in the area.
Rockets were landing in such places as a playground and in the yard of a home.
Though no physical injuries were reported, Magen David Adom reported on Monday that they were treating a woman in her 60s who was suffering from anxiety.
Residents and experts have often complained that the emotional damage caused to the population by the rocket attacks is underestimated but has long-standing effects on those who are forced to endure the violence.