Over 60 Gazan rockets fired, 19 intercepted

The Jerusalem Post reports eight rockets were fired at Ashkelon from Gaza on Monday afternoon. Two of the rockets hit the city, one hitting a house directly and the other hitting a yard. No injuries were reported, but three people were treated for shock, Magen David Adom paramedics said.

The Iron Dome system intercepted over 19 rockets fired into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip Monday. Over 60 rockets struck Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheba, Sderot and other areas of the South.

A rocket fired by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip hit a school parking lot in Ashkelon on Monday morning, causing damage to a building but no injuries.

The Iron Dome rocket-defense system intercepted seven rockets fired at Ashkelon and Ashdod and another launched toward Beersheba. One rocket exploded in an open field outside of Beersheba.  Earlier Monday, rockets landed in open fields outside Eshkol and Sha'ar Hanegev, causing no injuries or damage, Army Radio reported.

Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least ten civilians and two Islamic Jihad field commanders overnight Sunday, Palestinian sources reported. One of the strikes hit a police station in Gaza City. The IDF also hit over 80 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Sunday, including rocket launchers, tunnels, training camps, weapons caches and terror cells that fired on Israel in recent days, bringing the total of targets to 1,350 since the start of Operation Pillar of Defense on Wednesday.

The morning rocket was the first since a house near Kiryat Malachi was struck late on Sunday evening.

A witness on the scene, Gal Goldberg, 17, described the blast as the rocket landed on the home next door to his own, "When we heard the siren we entered a safe room, the blast shook the walls, we went outside and saw people running towards the house that was hit. We saw widespread wreckage," Goldberg said.

Hamas fired its most intense rocket salvos yet on southern Israel on Sunday, as it and other terrorist factions launched 120 rockets into Israel Sunday, including two Fajr-5 missiles at Tel Aviv on Sunday evening. Both were intercepted over the Dan region.

The IAF struck over 120 targets in Gaza, and targeted senior operational Hamas terrorists orchestrating attacks on Israeli communities.

Ashkelon came under heavy rocket attack on Sunday morning, with four rockets scoring direct hits. Terrified residents sought cover as rockets hit apartment buildings. A Palestinian rocket seriously injured a man in the Sha’ar Hanegev region. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital.  Five civilians traveling in a vehicle in Ofakim were injured – one seriously – by shrapnel from a rocket.

Magen David Adom said its paramedics treated 40 wounded people on Sunday, including seven people hurt by shrapnel.

MDA also treated 31 people suffering from shock, including six in Tel Aviv following rocket fire toward the city.

“Rocket attacks on Israel continue, but their ability to launch rockets is decreasing,” IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai said.

“Hamas is using the Palestinian population as a human shield. We have released footage of rocket fire from a mosque courtyard, prayer houses, public places and homes,” Mordechai added. “Many of their rockets are falling inside the Gaza Strip.”

Click here for more from The Jerusalem Post.

The Blaze is reporting a dead boy used by Hamas for propaganda was killed by Hamas rocket.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Hisham Kandil cried on Friday and kissed the dead child’s forehead, calling him a “martyr.” CNN called him “another victim of an [Israeli] airstrike.” Newspapers showed his photo as an example of the Palestinian civilians killed by Israel’s ongoing military campaign against militants in Gaza.

The only problem with that narrative is that 4-year-old Mahmoud Sadallah was killed by a Hamas rocket that fell short in Gaza instead of its intended target: Israel. According to an Israeli military statement Sunday, “Ninety-nine rockets fired from Gaza have crashed back into Gaza in the last four days. Hamas fires from civilian areas…and hits its own people.”

Pro-Israel blogger Elder of Ziyon reviewed media reports on the incident and wrote: “The IDF did not launch any airstrikes in Gaza while Egyptian PM Kandil was in Gaza.” Israel had agreed to a temporary ceasefire while Kandil was visiting Gaza on Friday, as a gesture to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Even so, terror groups continued firing on Israel during the diplomatic visit.

Content warning — graphic photo — click here for more from The Blaze.