IDF hits 50 targets overnight

The IDF announces that it hit 50 targets in the Gaza strip overnight Monday after launching a major operation aimed at “restoring stability to the South.”

Among the targets hit were concealed “rocket launchers, launching infrastructures, a weapon storage facility, training bases and terror tunnels shafts,” the army says in a statement.

The IDF names the Hamas operatives associated with some of those targets as Ei’ad Sakik, Abdullah Hshash, Samer Abu Daka and Hassan Abdullah, all of whom, it says, have been involved in terrorist activities in the past.

“We are determined to lay a significant blow on Hamas’ terror capabilities and infrastructure, eliminate any threat on Israeli sovereignty emanating from the Gaza Strip and restore stability to the southern region,” IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner says. “Terrorists perpetrating the aggression against Israel have a personal price to pay and will bear the consequences of their actions.”

The IDF launched Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday morning after militants launched over 100 missiles and mortars at Israeli territory in 24 hours. The army has called up 1,500 reserve soldiers in anticipation of continuing escalation.

Meanwhile, Hamas is giving no indication that the rocket fire on Israel will subside, warning that it will respond to further Israeli air raids by firing on targets deeper into Israel, including Tel Aviv.

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum says: “This is not the time for quiet. We have a bank of various targets. An Iron Dome [missile battery] will be needed in every Israeli home.”

A rocket landed in an open area of the Eshkol region bordering Gaza just after sun-up, causing no injuries or damage.

Click here to read up on developments overnight and Monday.