Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon delivered a stern warning to Hamas on Wednesday morning following a rocket attack on the south the night before. Hamas, he said, must rein in any attempts by factions in Gaza to attack Israel, or “pay a heavy price.” Earlier, Israeli Air Force jets bombed four targets in the Gaza Strip in response to the rocket, which hit near near the town of Gan Yavne, outside Ashdod, causing neither casualties nor damage. The army alleged that it was fired by Islamic Jihad activists due to an internal dispute in the organization. “Israel has no intention of ignoring attacks on its citizens like the one carried out last night by Islamic Jihad forces,” Ya’alon said in a statement. “We will not abide any threat on the residents of the south. If it isn’t quiet in Israel, the Gaza Strip will pay a heavy price.” “I would not advise anyone to test us,” he cautioned, directly threatening the Hamas government of Gaza. “We see Hamas as responsible for what happens in the Gaza Strip. It would be better for Hamas to rein in all attempts to fire at Israel and provocations. Otherwise we will have no choice but to respond with even greater force.”
The IDF said in a statement that it targeted four “terror infrastructure” sites in the southern Gaza Strip in response to the rocket fire at southern Israel on Tuesday evening. The military said it confirmed direct hits. Escalating rocket fire from Gaza at Israel’s southern communities in 2014 was among the triggers of a bloody, two-month war between Israel and the armed factions in the Strip. During the conflict, Terrorists fired over 4,000 rockets at Israeli towns and cities, some of which reached Tel Aviv and as far north as Haifa’s suburbs. “The reality that Hamas’s territory is used as a staging ground to attack Israel is unacceptable and intolerable and will bear consequences,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said in a statement overnight. The planes targeted training camps belonging to the Islamic Jihad in Rafah, Khan Yunis and Gaza City, witnesses in the Strip said.
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