Watch: Panic Hits Tel Aviv Beach As Over 100 Gaza Rockets Pound Israel
Militant groups in Gaza are a big step closer to entering another full-blown war with Israel as rockets crisscrossed the skies over the strip for a second consecutive day.
The Israeli army (IDF) and government sources have said over 170 rockets have been fired from Gaza, with 134 having made it into Israeli territory, many of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system. Initially, sirens and civilian evacuation efforts were focused in the south as rockets rained down, but dramatic footage has emerged showing thousands of civilians scrambling to find shelter on a Tel Aviv beach.
People seen running from Israeli beaches to the nearest bomb shelter. pic.twitter.com/T50dl3MzhZ
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) May 10, 2023
The Israeli strikes began overnight Monday into Tuesday, in the heaviest fighting in months, following last week’s rockets fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) which was in response to the death of prominent Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan, who died May 2nd after an 87-day hunger strike in Israeli prison. So far, at least three senior PIJ commanders have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes, while also the IDF has said it is attempting to avoid drawing in Hamas to the fight at this moment.
Israeli schools in the south of the country have been closed Tuesday, with the education ministry has announced, “Schools within a 25 mile (ca. 40 km) radius from the Gaza Strip will not open tomorrow, meaning some 300,000 children will not be in school.” This state of emergency could expand to other more central regions amid the PIJ rocket fire onslaught.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Tuesday that more rocket fire could come, “to areas near the Gaza border and far from it, and with significant intensity.” On Wednesday IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari followed with: “We are still in the middle of the campaign, it is not over and has not been concluded.”
