A senior IDF official reported Monday morning that Israel struck dozens of Hamas targets inside the Gaza Strip overnight, in response to rocket fire on Sunday which hit the southern Israeli town of Sderot, damaging a kindergarten.
Despite the Hamas attacks and Israel’s retaliation, the official emphasized that Israel is not interested in escalating the situation or in altering the status quo vis-à-vis Gaza, saying the Israeli response was not an effort directed towards “changing the rules of the game”.
Rather, the army official said, Israel will continue to pursue policies aimed at maintaining quiet along its southern frontier. He added that Israel has allowed large transfers into the Strip via Israel, including a delivery by some 1,000 trucks Monday morning.
“That’s more proof regarding Israel’s position.”
Israeli fighter jets targeted terrorist infrastructures across northern Gaza, an IDF spokesperson said Sunday night.
The statement noted that the Israeli attacks came following rocket fire on the town of Sderot, saying that “the attacks on these infrastructures are a response to high trajectory attacks on the city of Sderot earlier today, which constitute a threat to the security of Israeli citizens and harms the sovereignty of the State of Israel.”
“[T]he Hamas terrorist organization is the sovereign in Gaza, and it will be held responsible for any terrorist activity from the region.”
Hamas blamed Israel for the violence and pledged to resist Israeli “aggression”.
"We hold (Israel) responsible for the escalation in the Gaza Strip and we stress that its aggression will not succeed in breaking the will of our people and dictate terms to the resistance,” Hamas representative Sami Abu Zuhri said.