IDF Strikes 35 ‘Terror Sites’ in Gaza After Barrage of Rockets

Pictured Above: Smoke rises following an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip as it seen from the Israeli side of the border on May 29, 2018. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

(JNS) The Israeli Defense Forces struck 35 “terror sites” in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon local time after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror groups fired at least 28 mortars at on southern Israel earlier in the day—the largest barrage since 2014.

According to the IDF, Israeli aircraft targeted more than 35 “terror objectives in seven terror sites” that belonged to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. These sites included six military compounds, munition storage warehouses, naval targets and terror headquarters.

Additionally, the IDF said that as part of the strike, a Hamas terror tunnel was “neutralized” near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, where most of the humanitarian goods pass into Gaza.

“The IDF views this as a severe attack, and holds Hamas accountable for everything happening in and from the Gaza Strip. The IDF will continue to carry out its mission to protect Israeli civilians and is prepared for a wide variety of scenarios,” the IDF Spokesperson Unit said.

It also said that the projectiles fired at Israel on Tuesday were Iranian-made.

“The Palestinian Islamic Jihad is terrorist organization rooted in Iranian ideology,” according to the IDF Spokesperson Unit. “Today, they used Iranian-made weapons.”

Late Tuesday afternoon, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have paid a “heavy price.”

“Today at midday, we massively and powerfully attacked terrorist infrastructure, including an additional tunnel, across the Gaza Strip. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have already paid a heavy price and the bill has just been presented to them. We have no intention to let it pass.”