Residents of southern Israel awoke early Saturday morning to the piercing sound of code red rocket alerts, as a barrage of rockets from Gaza targeted their neighborhoods.
Militants in the Strip renewed fire just before 7:00 a.m. as sirens blared throughout communities in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council in the northwestern Negev, and in the Eshkol region, which borders Gaza.
A rocket landed in open territory in the Sha’ar Hanegev area, while four rockets exploded outside a community in the Eshkol Council. A second round of sirens were heard in the Eshkol area just before 9:00 a.m., as a rocket launched from the Strip hit a field just outside a community
The latest salvo comes after ten hours of quiet on the Gaza border. Over 50 rockets were fired on Friday towards Israel, as Hamas renewed its rocket fire at the end of a temporary,72-hour lull in fighting.
Israeli leaders had hoped to reach an agreement to prolong the three-day truce, but efforts collapsed 24 hours ago, as an Israeli delegation – in Cairo for indirect cease-fire talks with Palestinians factions – returned to Tel Aviv, just as the truce expired.
Following through on his promise to respond with force against any renewed hostilities by Hamas, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered the IAF to strike targets in the Strip, as Operation Protective Edge entered its 33nd day.