Thirteen people were injured after two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Ashkelon and Ashdod in southern Israel on Tuesday. Rocket sirens sounded as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed normalization deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
One of the rockets was intercepted by the IDF. Police sappers handled a rocket that fell in Ashdod.
Magen David Adom (MDA) reported that their paramedics were treating a man in his 60’s who was moderately injured by shrapnel, a man in his 20’s who was lightly injured by shards of glass and four people who were suffering from anxiety.
Asuta Medical Center in Ashdod received 13 patients, including one person in moderate to serious condition, four people lightly injured by shrapnel and eight people suffering from anxiety.
Palestinian factions have expressed outrage at the normalization deals, protesting the deals at multiple demonstrations in the West Bank on Tuesday in a “day of rage.”
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem responded to the normalization deal shortly after the rockets were fired from Gaza, saying “The normalization agreements between the UAE and Bahrain with the Zionist entity are not worth the ink with which they were written, and our people, with their insistence on the struggle until the full recovery of their rights, will deal with these agreements as if they were non-existent,” according to Palestinian media.
HD Editors Note: France 24 Reports PA President Mahmud Abbas has warned that the deals would “not achieve peace in the region” until the US and Israel acknowledged his people’s right to a state. “Peace, security and stability will not be achieved in the region until the Israeli occupation ends,” he said.
“A question to the United States of America, Israel, Bahrain and the UAE: Will the signing of the normalization agreement at the White House now prevent these missiles from leaving Gaza tonight to Israel?” said senior Fatah official Monir al-Jaghoub in response to the rocket fire and normalization deals. “Peace begins in Palestine and war begins in Palestine.”
Head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Zvi Hauser responded to the rocket fire on Twitter, writing “Let us emphasize again: Gaza must be demilitarized from missiles. This is the required achievement.”
After the rocket fire, Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz held a security consultation with Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi and provided directives to the IDF and security officials.
“On this historic evening, we received a reminder from our enemies that it is on us to always be strong and prepared to protect the residents of Israel in every arena and at every moment,” said Gantz.
Later on Tuesday evening, two Palestinians were arrested by the IDF after they infiltrated into Israel.
Hamas and Israel reached ceasefire understandings at the end of August after weeks during which rockets were fired and incendiary and explosive balloons were launched at southern Israel, sparking dozens of fires.
