A rocket was fired on Friday evening from Gaza towards southern Israel, but missed its mark and instead hit a residential building inside Gaza, causing it considerable damage.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Yoav Mordechai, confirmed the incident in a post on his Arabic-language Facebook page.
"Once again, the terrorist organizations launch rockets at the residents of Gaza themselves. Only a week ago, a classroom was destroyed in a public school in Beit Hanun, and in another unfortunate incident, the house of a family from Beit Hanun was badly damaged by a rocket fired by terrorist operatives from Gaza," he wrote.
The rocket fire from Gaza towards Israel has intensified in recent days. On Wednesday evening, at least three rockets were fired at Israeli territory from Gaza. The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted two of the rockets. A third exploded in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council.
Several residents of Sderot were treated for shock following the rocket attack. Another man who suffered injuries when he fell while running to a shelter was treated as well.
The IDF later retaliated and struck three targets in Gaza belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization and which serve as training and storage sites for weapons.
The rockets fired from Gaza often miss their mark and explode within Gaza, damaging properties belonging to civilians.
On Thursday, in an interview with the BBC in Arabic, Mordechai urged Gaza’s Hamas rulers to invest their resources in schools and hospitals instead of rockets and tunnels.
"Over the past three years, more than $150 million has been invested by Hamas in the tunnels. Why did not they invest in hospitals, in schools?" said Mordechai, who then conveyed a clear message to Gaza, "Israel does not want escalation, but Israel will stand with all its might if Hamas continues to harm Israeli sovereignty and if it continues to fire rockets.”
"Any rocket that is fired will be met with a harsh response. If Hamas wants escalation, it will continue to allow extremist organizations to fire at Israel. If it does not want escalation, it should stop the fire entirely, completely and immediately,” he stressed.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)