building hit by rocket in Rehovot
building hit by rocket in RehovotGideon Markowitz'/TPS

A rocket fired by terrorists from the Gaza Strip struck a residential building in Rehovot this evening (Thursday).

A 70-year-old man was killed in the rocket strike, and five people were injured. This is the first fatality on the Israeli side since Operation Shield and Arrow began Monday night.

Four of the injured are in moderate condition, while one person is in light condition. The injured were taken to Kaplan Hospital.

Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics pronounced 1 victim dead with severe shrapnel wounds, and evacuated five victims, including a 74-year-old male, a 50-year-old male, two females in their 70s in moderate condition, and one in mild condition. Two additional victims were evacuated with stress symptoms.

MDA EMTs Yedidya Hakmon and Tomer Pashko said: "When we arrived on scene we saw massive destruction, we immediately went in to search the apartments, in a third-floor apartment we found an unconscious male victim with a severe multi-trauma injury, and could only pronounce him dead. In a further apartment a 74-year-old male was found trapped with his leg under the rubble, he was rescued by the Fire Department, and taken by stretcher to the MDA ambulance that evacuated him to the hospital in moderate condition. Further MDA teams arrived on scene and provided treatment to three further victims in moderate condition and one in mild condition."

MDA Paramedics Guy Bublil and Yehuda Ben Avraham, who managed the medical treatment of the injured, stated: “When we arrived on scene we saw a direct hit on the building. Along with further MDA teams, the police and the Fire and Rescue Department, we entered the building and began to search for victims while further Red Alerts sounded in the area. One of the victims was unconscious with a very severe multi-trauma injury, and we could only pronounce him deceased. Five further victims with injuries from the rubble and two suffering from stress symptoms were rescued to the street and transferred to the large numbers of MDA teams who were on scene, and evacuated them to hospital.”

United Hatzalah Rehovot branch head Yoni Rottenberg said: "It was a very difficult scene with a lot of destruction. Unfortunately, the death of one of the injured was pronounced at the scene as a result of the rocket hit. In addition, we provided initial treatment to eight people who sustained moderate and light injuries. United Hatzalah's Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit also treated numerous people for emotional shock."

This Islamic Jihad terrorist organization has told i24News that the rocket which struck the building in Rehovot and the rocket which was fired at Tel Aviv yesterday and intercepted by the David's Sling system were both the Iranian-made 'Burak 85' long-range rocket.

Earlier, the IDF announced that over 550 rockets had been fired at Israel so far this week as of 2:30 this afternoon.

In total, there were 175 interceptions by the Iron Dome and David's Sling system and 124 failed launches which landed inside Gaza.

A chicken coop was struck by a rocket during a rocket barrage fired shortly after noon today. Yesterday, homes in Ashkelon and Sderot were struck by rockets.

Four uninvolved civilians have been killed by rockets fired by Islamic Jihad terrorists which landed in Gaza.