Click here to watch: Hundreds of Rockets Raining Down on Major Israeli Cities
Some 120 rockets from Gaza were fired at Israel on Tuesday, the first day of the IDF’s Operation Protective Edge. IDF Spokesperson Peter Lerner told the AFP news agency that 23 of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, with most of the rest exploding on open ground causing no damage or casualties. Hamas upped the ante on Tuesday and extended the range of the rockets. The latest salvo of rockets on Tuesday evening hit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and as far as Hadera, which is located 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Tel Aviv and south of Haifa. Hadera is the furthest point to date that a Gaza rocket has reached. On the Gaza side, emergency services told AFP, 27 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Israeli airstrikes. Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told the news agency two teenagers were among the dead and that at least another 25 people were wounded in one of the airstrikes.
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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the citizens of Israel Tuesday evening, as the first day of Operation Protective Edge drew to a close. „The state of Israel is in the midst of a campaign to bring back peace and security to our citizens,” he said. “We will not stand for rocket fire on our cities and communities; therefore I gave instructions to widen in a meaningful way the IDF operation against the Hamas terrorists and against the terrorists of the other terror organizations in Gaza. „I did so only after all of the attempts that were made to restore quiet went unheeded, and Hamas opted for escalation. We do not go gleefully into battle, but the security of our citizens and children comes before everything else. We will do all that is necessary so that the calm that we have experienced here in recent years continues.” The prime minister also addressed the issue of civilian casualties, following an incident in which several Palestinians were killed while being used as human shields by terrorists. „The IDF aims its actions against Hamas terrorists and not against innocent civilians,” Netanyahu stressed. “But Hamas purposely hides behind Palestinian civilians, and therefore bears responsibility when they are inadvertently hit.”
Source: Israel National News
