3 gunmen injured as IDF attacks Qassam launching cell
Following rocket fire at Eshkol Regional Council, which wounded five people, Israel Air Force strikes twice in southern Gaza Strip. Three Islamic Jihad members hurt in first strike, one sustaining critical wounds
Palestinian sources reported that three gunmen, members of the Islamic Jihad, were injured in the attack, one of them sustaining serious wounds.
Several minutes later, the IAF struck a number of rocket launching pads in the same area. There were no reports of injuries.
The rocket fire did not stop despite the IDF's activity. A Qassam rocket was fired from northern Gaza between the two strikes, landing in the Zikim area, south of Ashkelon. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Three mortar shells were launched toward the border fence in the Kissufim area. There were no injuries or damage in this incident as well.
Earlier Tuesday, five people sustained shrapnel wounds after a rocket crashed into a community in the Eshkol Regional Council. Emergency medical teams evacuated those wounded to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba for treatment.
Injured IDF soldier at hospital (Photo: Herzel Yosef)
The rocket landed outside a packing factory in the community, near the residence quarters of the foreign laborers employed there. A Thai worker was lightly to moderately wounded and four others, one of them an Israeli, were lightly wounded.
Earlier in the day, an IDF soldier was moderately wounded near the Kissufim crossing from Palestinian sniper fire during an operation to uncover explosive devices planted along the Gaza border. The soldier was also evacuated to the Beersheba hospital.
A short time earlier on Tuesday, a 107 mm Katyusha rocket landed in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council. No injuries were reported and no damage was caused.
Ali Waked contributed to this report
