Jerusalem, Oct 8 (EFE). – The Palestinian movement Hamas said early on Monday that it was targeting Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, after the sirens went off in central Israel. Meanwhile, the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip continues.
Hamas claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv early Monday.
The Al-Qassam Brigades announced on Telegram that it launched a rocket attack on the airport in response to the ongoing Israeli attacks on civilians in Gaza.
The Israeli side has not yet confirmed the attack on Ben Gurion Airport or whether any rockets hit.
Sirens sounded in cities including Rishon Letzion, Gedera and Rehovot, according to reports.
Israeli offensive in Gaza
Israel bombed two key neighborhoods in Gaza City on Sunday night, where officials said “strategic” Hamas facilities were located.
Dozens of warplanes struck 150 targets in Shuja’iyya, one of the most populated neighborhoods in Gaza City.
It is a “nest of terror” used by Hamas, an Israeli army spokesman said, adding that the current attack against Israel originated there.
The planes also struck the home of Farah Hamed, a senior Hamas official – a movement considered terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union (EU) – that has effectively ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Israeli forces said the site was next to a mosque and three schools, demonstrating Hamas’ use of holy sites and civilians to advance its operations.
The Israeli air force struck “two strategic targets” in a multi-story building in the exclusive Rimal neighborhood, belonging to the National Islamic Bank and a command center used by Munzer Faraj, another senior Hamas official.
Attack on music festival
More than 260 bodies have so far been recovered from the site of an electronic music festival held Friday night near Kibbutz Reim in southern Israel, near the Gaza Strip.
The discovery was confirmed to Israeli media Sunday by a spokesman for ZAKA, a group of volunteers responsible for recovering human remains after attacks and other disasters.
The festival was interrupted by a siren warning of a rocket attack, and immediately groups of armed militiamen on trucks opened fire in all directions.
Hundreds of parents have been desperately waiting since Saturday for news of their children who went missing in this massacre.
On Sunday, many went to the police station in the city of Lod, near Ben-Gurion Airport, which was set up as a reporting center for missing persons.
On Saturday, Israel declared itself in a state of war after Hamas launched an unprecedented multipronged attack by land, sea and air, taking the country by surprise with the launch of thousands of rockets and ground incursions into Israeli soil and kidnapping dozens of Israelis.
In two days, the number of dead in Israel has exceeded 700 and more than 2,200 injured, although the numbers may rise as Israeli troops regain control of areas taken by Hamas; heavy Israeli response bombardments on Gaza have left more than 413 dead and 2,300 injured. EFE
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