Tel Aviv: Rocket Sirens were sounded across Israel including in Tel Aviv on Sunday for the first time in months as Hamas claims to have launched multiple rockets towards Israel. The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, declared a “big missile attack” against Tel Aviv. The Israeli military reportedly retaliated by alerting the central city’s sirens to approaching rockets.
In a message published on their Telegram channel, Al-Qassam Brigades took credit for the rocket launches, alleging “Zionist massacres against civilians” as the cause of the launch. Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV acknowledged that the rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip. In the last four months, rocket sirens have not been heard in Tel Aviv until now. The Israeli military delayed explaining the sirens’ cause.
Israeli medical services said that they received no reports of casualties. At least 8 rockets were launched from the Rafah area in Southern Gaza and several were intercepted by the Israeli military, a BBC report said. The report also stated that Sirens were sounded in various cities and towns, including Herzliya and Petah Tikva.
The Israeli missile assault on Israel occurred shortly after a fresh convoy of relief vehicles arrived in Gaza from Southern Israel, utilizing a recently established arrangement to avoid the long-obstructed Rafah crossing. An agreement between the US and Egypt to temporarily send aid across the border is what led to the aid shipments. After a conflict that lasted for more than seven months and caused significant damage and food shortages in the region, Israel is under increasing pressure to send aid to Gaza.
Earlier in the day Israeli airstrikes resulted in the deaths of five Palestinians in Rafah, as reported by local medical services. Israeli tanks have conducted operations near the city’s outskirts, particularly close to the primary southern crossing into Egypt, without a significant incursion into the city itself.
Israel asserts that its goals are to release captives purportedly detained in the region and destroy Hamas fighters entrenched in Rafah. However, the military assault has provoked worldwide censure and made the civilian humanitarian disaster worse.
The health ministry in Gaza reports that Israel’s offensive has resulted in about 36,000 Palestinian casualties. The operation began on October 7, 2023, when militants led by Hamas attacked villages in southern Israel, resulting in over 250 hostages and almost 1,200 casualties, according to Israeli records.
