Second Wave of Gaza Rockets; Five Israelis Hurt

Wave after wave of air raid sirens wailed in southern Israel again on Tuesday afternoon, as terrorists in Gaza unleashed the second attack of the day.

Five Israelis were reported wounded lightly to moderately in the second round, which lasted from 2:40 to 4:00 p.m.

About 10 red alerts were heard in Ashkelon, Sderot and nearby communities. Residents in the Gaza border vicinity were given instructions to keep within 15 seconds of bomb shelters until further notice.

The Iron Dome missile defense system reportedly shot down some 25 projectiles from Gaza during the course of the day.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was set to convene urgent consultations on Tuesday evening with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman and other defense officials, to assess the situation.

There was no claim of responsibility for the latest barrage. The morning volley was claimed by Islamic Jihad as revenge for an Israeli shelling that killed three members of the terror group earlier this week.

The afternoon barrage came after Israel retaliated for the morning’s attack. The IDF spokesperson’s unit confirmed that the army had attacked 30 terror targets since the morning, including a terror tunnel near the Kerem Shalom border crossing that penetrated 900 yards into Israeli territory.

“We’ve pinpointed 30 mortars with certainty and assume the rest were machine gun bullets,” an IDF official said. Apart from the dozens of mortars, the IDF added that several 107-millimeter Iranian rockets were fired as well, with the IDF calling it the “most serious incident since Operation Protective Edge. The Islamic Jihad is endangering civilians in our communities.”