Hundreds of missiles launched towards Israel in response to deadly IDF airstrikes in Gaza

Israel’s army and Palestinian militants exchanged heavy cross-border fire on Wednesday, with hundreds of rockets launched from Gaza towards Israel after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out deadly strikes on what it says are Islamic Jihad organization targets along the strip. The latest violence comes a day after Israeli military airstrikes killed three leaders of the Palestinian militant group and 10 other Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza and led to threats of retaliation. Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement that runs Gaza, issued a statement Wednesday suggesting that its forces were releasing rockets towards Israel, shortly after the IDF said firmly it believed Hamas was not doing so. “The Palestinian resistance with all its factions is participating now in a unified manner by teaching the enemy a lesson that it will not forget and confirming that Palestinian blood is not cheap,” said Muhammad al-Buraim, an official in the joint resistance committees in Palestine. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that nearly 500 rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel in the recent barrage.

Of those, 153 were intercepted by Israeli missile defenses and 107 fell short, landing in Gaza. The IDF said fighter jets and helicopters targeted over 40 rocket and mortar shell launchers belonging to Islamic Jihad terrorist across the Gaza Strip, adding that it is continuing to target launchers and additional posts belonging to the militant organization. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials Wednesday downplayed the idea that a ceasefire with Islamic Jihad was imminent, while National Security Council chair Tzachi Hanegbi said that rumors of a ceasefire were “premature,” while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant struck a slightly more optimistic note. Over half a million Israelis were in or near shelters, the IDF spokesman Hagari said.