IAF Retaliates for Gaza Rocket Launch

The Israeli Air Force carried out a retaliatory strike on a Hamas observation post in Gaza after a rocket fired at southern Israel set off air raid sirens in Netiv Ha’asara, north of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night.

B’chasdei Shamayim, no injuries were reported. The projectile fell short, landing in Gaza itself.

The sirens began to wail during a community swimming event for children, sending dozens of children rushing to bomb shelters.

“The kids ran from the water straight to the shelter; they were very afraid. There were three of us adults helping them out,” Netiv Ha’asara resident Yifat Ben-Shushan told the Walla news site.

Meanwhile, there have been reports of efforts to calm the fighting. Senior Egyptian intelligence officials invited Hamas leaders to Cairo for talks aimed at stabilizing the informal ceasefire, and a delegation led by two top Hamas members was supposed to have left Gaza late on Monday, according to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster.

A delegation from the Islamic Jihad in Gaza is expected to join them as well.