Rocket barrages targeted central and southern Israel Wednesday afternoon, hitting homes and wounding several people, on the 10th day of fighting between Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza and the IDF.
Some 200 rockets were launched throughout the day, the majority in the afternoon and evening, setting off sirens in the Shfela region, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheba and neighboring communities.
One of the rockets struck a building in Ashdod. No casualties were reported. Another rocket landed in a public park in Ashdod.
Several homes were struck in Sderot. One of them sustained severe damage.
Some 14 rockets were launched toward Beersheba throughout the day and later at night. Nine of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome air-defense system, while the rest fell in open areas. No casualties were reported.
Some 30 rockets fell within the Gaza Strip.
Three mortar shells were fired toward the Kerem Shalom Crossing, where a convoy of humanitarian aid from Jordan was passing through, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories reported.
Following mortar fire, “the decision was made to stop until further notice the entry of the cargo, which comprised a number of trucks carrying medical equipment slated for delivery to the Jordanian hospital in the Gaza Strip,” COGAT said in a statement.
“This was the second time in 24 hours that Hamas shot at convoys transporting humanitarian and medical aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip,” it added.
While different reports indicated a possible ceasefire between Israel and Hamas within the next couple of days through Egyptian mediation, rocket fire from Gaza toward Israeli territory continued throughout Wednesday night.
Three rockets were fired toward Beersheba, with the Iron Dome intercepting one and three others landing in open fields.
A 50-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl were lightly injured while running to bomb shelters in Beersheba and received medical attention at the Soroka Medical Center, an MDA statement read.
On Tuesday, after Israel opened Kerem Shalom Crossing to provide Gaza with shipments of gas, food and medicine, it also was targeted by mortar shells.
The mortars struck as a convoy of trucks carrying aid donated by international aid organizations was crossing into the coastal enclave, the IDF said. At least one mortar shell hit the Erez crossing.
A 19-year-old soldier from the unit overseeing the shipments at the border crossing was hospitalized with a shrapnel wound to his upper body.
The rocket barrages on Wednesday came after a relatively calm morning. It followed an eventful night during which Hamas aimed rockets at IAF bases in the South, including Tel Nof, Nevatim and Ramon.
“The bases that the Qassam Brigades targeted are Hatzor, Hatzerim, Nevatim, Tel Nof, Palmahim and Ramon,” Hamas said in a statement.
Incoming rocket sirens were activated in the Gaza border communities, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Rehovot, Ness Ziona and Palmahim.
No rockets struck the bases, where planes had been taking off and landing throughout the night, IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman said. One projectile landed in an open field close to the Tel Nof Airbase, near Rehovot, he said.
From 7 p.m. on Tuesday until 7 a.m. on Wednesday, some 50 rockets were fired toward Israel, and 10 of them fell inside Gaza. No casualties or damage were reported.
Israel continued to strike targets in Gaza, destroying three launchers used to fire rockets toward Beersheba. The IDF hit four Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives attempting to launch rockets, and a Hamas military compound belonging to the group’s technological department in Jabalya refugee camp.
A weapons production site belonging to PIJ in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip was destroyed.
IAF jets struck additional sections of the Hamas “Metro” underground tunnel network on Wednesday, focusing on Khan Yunis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Fifty-two fighter jets dropped some 120 munitions in 25 minutes, destroying 12 km. of the network, the IDF said.
The military believes at least 10 Hamas and PIJ operatives were killed in the overnight strikes, Zilberman said.
Other than the tunnel network, the IAF also struck a number of targets in the upscale Gaza City neighborhood of Rimal.
“After 36 hours of strikes,” the military has finished its airstrikes in the area, Zilberman said.
While the greater part of Operation Guardian of the Walls by far has been carried out by the IAF, more than 400 targets have been hit by troops from the Gaza Division. Along with soldiers from the Maglan, Shaldag and Egoz units who have fired Spike LR missiles, hundreds of targets were struck by artillery shells and tanks.
Anti-tank guided missiles are a major threat, and there have been 40 strikes against ATGM cells, a Gaza Division senior commander told reporters Wednesday. Due to the focus of troops against those cells, Hamas feels hunted and vulnerable, he said.
The IDF also has thwarted dozens of planned Hamas attacks, including raids where operatives would have come up to the border using their tunnel network to attack soldiers. One such raid was thwarted in recent days, the IDF said.
The IDF debated evacuating civilians living within four km. from the border, the senior commander said. The military did not implement the plan, but 40% of residents in the South reportedly have left their homes due to the fighting.
So far, more than 4,000 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip, with some 500 falling inside Gaza. Twelve people in Israel have died since the beginning of the fighting, and more than 330 have been wounded, Magen David Adom reported.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 245 people have died since the beginning of the fighting, including 68 children and 37 women. Another 1,500 people have been wounded.
Sarah Ben-Nun and Tobias Siegal contributed to this report.