Red alert sirens sounded in Sderot and Kibbutz Erez on Monday evening for the first time in over a month and a half, following rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. The alarms came just before 7 p.m., hours after a series of incidents in northern Gaza in which IDF Staff Sergeant Yaniv Michalovitch, an armored corps soldier, was killed and eight others were wounded.
According to the IDF, two rockets were launched from Gaza and were successfully intercepted. The rocket fire occurred just three days after the government announced there were no longer security restrictions preventing residents from returning to communities near the Gaza border.
Earlier in the day, all surrounding communities were officially declared open, no longer designated as closed military zones. The last time a red alert was triggered in Sderot due to rocket fire from Gaza was on May 13; prior to that, it was April 22.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the southern Gaza city of Rafah along with Tourism Minister Haim Katz, who also serves as acting Minister of Construction and Housing. The tour included IDF Southern Command head Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, Gaza Division commander Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, and several other brigade and battalion commanders currently operating in Gaza.
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“The maneuver is meant to achieve two goals – bringing the hostages home and ensuring Hamas will not remain here,” said Katz. “We will not let go of this objective.”
He added that “in the last campaign, Hamas also aimed to assist Iran in implementing its plan to ‘destroy Israel’ – attacking with rockets and launching assaults from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza, and anywhere else possible. Eliminating the enemy, returning the hostages, and achieving victory – that is our mission, and we will not abandon or compromise on it.”