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The Israeli military struck targets in the Gaza Strip after midnight local time on Tuesday in response to a rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled enclave hours earlier. The rocket attack was the first in nearly four months, ending one of the longest periods of quiet on the Gaza border in years.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it bombed a number of targets, including a site used by Hamas to manufacture weapons. Hamas-affiliated media reported that the Israeli airstrikes targeted a site operated by Palestinian factions west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Witnesses and security sources in the Gaza Strip reported no injuries from the air raid.
“The IDF considers Hamas responsible for what unfolds in the Gaza Strip,” the army said. The IDF later confirmed Hamas fired an anti-aircraft missile at the Israeli aircraft, which it said were not damaged.
דובר חמאס חאזם קאסם מגיב לתקיפת צה"ל: "התקיפה על כמה מוצבים ריקים היא ניסיון כושל למנוע מהעם הפלסטיני להגן על אל אקצא. אנשי ההתנגדות ירו טילי נ"מ כחלק מהעימות עם האויב הציוני". תחנת הרדיו של הארגון פרסמה סרטון בו לטענתה נראה שיגור הטיל לעבר מטוסי חיל האוויר@coren_ido pic.twitter.com/iiefcFqC8C
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 18, 2022
The rocket fired at southern Israel on Monday evening was intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.
The attack came amid escalating Israeli-Palestinian tensions, following violence in the Old City of Jerusalem, a series of deadly Palestinian terror attacks and stepped up IDF activity against terror groups in the West Bank.
Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups have repeatedly invoked the Temple Mount as a red line. Police actions to quell riots there last year were among the triggers of an 11-day war in Gaza last May.
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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett took to social media on Monday to respond to the Jordanian Foreign Ministry summoning Israel’s Ambassador to Amman Eitan Surkis following days of clashes between Palestinians and IDF soldiers in Jerusalem:
“This past week, Hamas has been waging a campaign of wild incitement against us. This is the truth: Israel is doing all it can so that everyone can celebrate the holidays safely – Jews, Muslims and Christians. We expect everyone not to take part in the lies or encourage violence against Jews. Israel will continue to keep our capital, Jerusalem, open to everyone.”
The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that Jordan’s summons and the message it sent out following the meeting “hurt attempts to restore quiet to Jerusalem and give a tailwind to those who are attacking the sanctity of the holidays and perpetrating dangerous violence that puts the lives of both Muslim and Jewish citizens in danger. We call on everyone to help Israel’s efforts to restore quiet to Jerusalem and allow freedom of worship on the Temple Mount.”
The ministry’s statement concluded with an exhortation to “every responsible partner” to admit that, and refrain from taking part in spreading false reports “that only incite.”
As Surkis was out of the country, Deputy Ambassador Sami Abu Janeb attended the meeting.
On Saturday, Jordan, which serves as custodian of Al-Aqsa Mosque, referred to the Temple Mount clashes as an Israeli “invasion” and warned of the “danger of this grave escalation.”
The UN Security Council is due to convene on Tuesday to discuss recent tensions on and around the Temple Mount.
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Iran’s armed forces will target Israel if it acts against the Islamic Republic, President Ebrahim Raisi told a military parade on Monday. “If you make the slightest move against our nation… our armed forces’ destination will be the heart of the Zionist regime,” Raisi said in a televised speech.
Also on Monday, Iran publicly unveiled its Kaman-22 drone which is able to reach the Jewish state. The Kaman-22 is a long-range and strategic multi-functional combat drone with an operational range of over 3,000 km., capable of flying at an altitude of 8,000 meters for more than 24 hours.
According to Iran’s Fars News, the drone is capable of carrying several types of cargo as well as four guided missiles, two unguided bombs and other munitions. It can be used for a range of missions, including patrol, reconnaissance, data gathering, imaging, and aerial combat with a payload of smart weapons.
Iran has been launching drones and other unmanned aerial systems at Israel since 2018, and the increase in Tehran’s efforts has placed the threats such systems pose in the top five problems facing the Israel Air Force.
Israel, which the Islamic Republic refuses to recognize, says it will not accept the Islamic Republic as “a nuclear threshold state,” while Tehran and world powers have been trying to revive a 2015 nuclear pact.
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Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe on Friday conducted the first Seder night in space while eating handmade matzah, and talking about the Passover values of freedom and survival with his three colleagues at the International Space Station.
The businessman and former fighter pilot — who on April 8 became the second Israeli astronaut to travel into space, as part of the “Rakia” mission — ate matzah, performed kiddush, and even had a traditional gefilte fish on the first night of the holiday.
Following the meal, Stibbe told his fellow astronauts about the values that the Seder tradition and the reading of the Haggadah can teach us in everyday life. The Haggadah, which recounts the story of the exodus from Egypt of the people of Israel “from slavery into freedom,” teaches us that “no dream is beyond reach,” Stibbe said.
Passed down from one generation to the next, the essence of the Haggadah reflects that each person should “see themselves as if they themselves had left Egypt,” he pointed out. “This phrase emphasizes the fact that the struggle for freedom is never-ending,” Stibbe explained, adding: “It is an everyday struggle. It is the responsibility of every man and woman to be vigilant over their rights and freedom.”
During the ten-day Rakia mission, the first-ever private trip to the space station, Stibbe set out to conduct more than 30 science and technology experiments for a number of universities and startups in Israel. The spacecraft is scheduled to come back to Earth on Wednesday.
Recommended Reading
- The Situation in Jerusalem Could Still Spiral Out of Control (Oded Granot, Israel Hayom)
- A Revived Iran Deal Is Bad News for Democracy (Ben Cohen, Algemeiner)
- On This Day: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Begins (Ariella Marsden, Jerusalem Post)
- Passover in UAE: 1,000 People Take Part in History-Making Seder (Jewish News Syndicate)
- Ain’t She Sweet: Israeli Startup Saves Bees, Makes Its Own Honey (Simona Shemer, NoCamels)
