Rocket fired from Gaza hits open field as tensions escalate

(JNS) Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip towards Israel on Saturday night. The projectile struck an open field in Israeli territory. Rocket alert sirens sounded in Kibbutz Nahal Oz along the border with the northeastern section of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave. The Iron Dome missile defense system was not activated as the rocket did not pose a risk to populated areas. The attack comes after two wanted Palestinians were killed on Thursday during an undercover daytime Israeli counterterrorism raid in Jenin in the West Bank. Members of the Border Police’s elite Yamam National Counter Terror Unit entered the Palestinian-controlled city and “neutralized” the terrorists after receiving intelligence about their whereabouts. Authorities identified the fatalities as Nidal Hazem, a senior member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Youssef Khuraim from Hamas. According to Israeli authorities, Hazem was involved in “significant terrorist activity,” and Khuraim in the production of bombs and shootings at IDF soldiers in Judea and Samaria. Last week, Palestinians in Gaza fired one rocket towards the Jewish state, hours after Israeli forces killed another wanted terrorist during a similar operation in Jenin. That rocket triggered sirens in Nir Am, a kibbutz located north of Nahal Oz and near the city of Sderot. It was initially thought by the military to have misfired and hit the Gaza Strip. The IDF later said that it struck adjacent to the security fence in Israeli territory.

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