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Gaza rocket strikes home in central Israel, injures seven

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will "respond forcefully" against Hamas and terrorists in the Gaza Strip, after a rocket was launched Monday morning at Israel.

March 25, 2019, 4:00 pm Edit
A photo from the scene of the rocket attack in Israel's Kfar Saba region.
A photo from the scene of the rocket attack in Israel's Kfar Saba region.

PRIME Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will “respond forcefully” against Hamas and terrorists in the Gaza Strip, after a rocket was launched Monday morning at Israel. The rocket hit a private home in Moshav Mishmeret in the Kfar Saba region, wounding seven people, all of which were evacuated to Meir Hospital.

Netanyahu said, “I spoke to the IDF Chief of Staff, head of the Shin Bet and head of Intelligence and that he sees this as a criminal act against the State of Israel.”

He is returning early from his trip to the United States.


Of those injured, one 50-year-old woman was mildly injured with burns and injuries from shrapnel, three adults were lightly injured and two toddlers were lightly injured. Several neighbours are being treated for shock and four dogs were found dead on site.

Images showed shrapnel and debris on a baby’s crib in the house. 

Security forces have confirmed that the rocket came from the Gaza Strip. Palestinian media reported that Hamas is preparing for retaliation by the Israel Defence Forces.


The house that was hit by the rocket is reportedly still on fire, with the fire department attempting to control the blaze before the building collapses. Unofficial footage shows smoke trailing and flames blazing above a cottage-like house, with the Fire Department treating the flames.

Head of the Blue and White Party Benny Gantz tweeted, “Those who do not respond with force and instead [pay] Hamas, dismiss attacks on the citizens of the south, and scorn the attack on Tel Aviv, now get rockets in the Hasharon region.”

“Will he now, as well, be satisfied with Hamas’s claim of an error or will he finally focus on the security of the citizens of the state and not on his legal issues?” Gantz continued. “I wish the wounded a speedy recovery.”


Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweeted, “This is a deliberate and dangerous act of aggression by Palestinian terrorists, encouraged no doubt by the complacency of @UNHumanRights. We will not allow this!”

Gal Hirsch, head of the Magen Party, said that “the residents of the south suffer from rockets for years and live in their bunkers. Incendiary balloons have become routine, the escalation continues and the ‘mistaken’ rocket fire penetrates into other parts of the country.


“Meanwhile, the big parties are busy with slandering and with submarines instead of worrying about what’s really important,” Hirsch continued. “The time has come to put an end to the spins and to deal with the critical things that trouble the public, and especially to care for their safety.”

“Israel’s deterrence has collapsed, and we have to say honestly, Netanyahu failed against Hamas,” The New Right Party said in a statement. “The release of the terrorists, the fear of destroying their homes, the restraint in the face of the rockets to the south – all of these led Hamas to stop being afraid of Israel.”

The statement also added that “Netanyahu is a good prime minister and a failure as a defence minister, who under his tenure appointed defence ministers Ehud Barak, Moshe Ya’alon and Avigdor Liberman, and himself – and they all failed. The time has come to appoint Naftali Bennett as defence minister in order to defeat Hamas.”

“The writing was on the wall,” Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor commented. “It is impossible to deceive the citizens of Israel any more and to say that this missile was also mistakenly launched. When I resigned from the position of defence minister, I warned against the mistaken policy adopted by the cabinet and the loss of Israeli deterrence. It’s time to adopt a different policy, the one I suggested from the outset.”

Moshe Feiglin, chairman of the Zehut party claimed that “The entire political-security elite: Netanyahu, Ya’alon and Gantz, who led the IDF to the glorious defeat in 2014, and to the stagnation in the face 500 rockets fired at Beersheba and the south, they are the ones responsible for the fact that the children living in the centre of Israel have now become the hostages of Gaza.”

JPOST.COM

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