Israeli air, ground forces launch heaviest strikes on northern Gaza, The Times of Israel 14 reported. The Israeli military said that shortly before midnight Thursday, the IDF used ground forces and the air force to launch a massive bombardment of a large number of targets in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to pay a “very heavy price” to Hamas, the terror group that rules Gaza and has fired some 1,750 mortar shells and rockets into Israel since Monday afternoon.
Photo: Rockets fired into Israel from Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip light up the night sky on May 14, 2021.
After initial confusion over the matter, the IDF clarified that it did not launch a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip during the attack, which allegedly lasted more than an hour.
The IDF did not immediately identify the targets of its strikes, saying it would do so soon.
Following the Israeli attack, the Hamas terrorist organization launched multiple waves of rocket attacks into southern and central Israel, firing rockets at Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheba, Yavneh and many surrounding communities.
Israeli authorities said at least one rocket struck a building in the city of Ashkelon directly, seriously injuring a 60-year-old man. Another landed next to a car, damaging it.
Photo: Iron Dome interceptor missile launch to intercept rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, May 13, 2021
Some incoming projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, and some landed in open areas without causing any damage or injuries.
Minutes after the IDF attack, Netanyahu issued a statement vowing to continue the operation as long as it is necessary to punish Hamas.
Netanyahu said, “I said that we will make Hamas and other terrorist organizations pay a very heavy price. We are doing that and we will continue to do so with great force.”
He said, “There is one last thing left unsaid, that this operation will last as long as possible to restore quiet and security to Israel.
According to the IDF, terrorist groups in Gaza have fired some 1,750 rockets and mortars at Israel since fighting broke out Monday night, including 190 projectiles fired between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday. Of all the projectiles fired, about 300 landed inside the Palestinian enclave, and at least one rocket hit a school, killing a number of children.
The IDF said Thursday it has so far bombed more than 600 targets in the Gaza Strip, more than 100 of them in the past 24 hours. (Apollo editor’s note: According to a new report in The Jerusalem Post, more than 750 Hamas targets have been hit since the start of Operation Wall Guardian. )
Earlier in the evening, terrorists in the Gaza Strip also fired multiple rockets into southern and central Israel from Ben Gurion Airport and the Shifera area, as well as from Tel Aviv. Another shelling targeted Ashdod and Ashkelon, with one of the rockets landing in the latter city.
Photo: A firefighter stands at the site where a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed, which hit a building in the city of Ashkelon, injuring one person, on May 14, 2021.
Another round of rockets targeted the southern city of Beersheva, with at least three shells hitting buildings.
Most of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.
Photo: An Iron Dome interceptor missile fired from the southern Israeli city of Sderot hits a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on May 13, 2021.
In a rocket attack, an 87-year-old woman, running to a shelter in Shtulim near Ashdod, fell and hit her head, killing her instantly, according to Magen David Adom’s paramedics.
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