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Palestinian factions fired at least 104 projectiles from the Gaza Strip between May 2 and 3, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) after a new round of escalation.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the IDF, told reporters the projectiles included rockets and mortars as well as shoulder-launched missiles which were launched at Israeli warplanes over Gaza.
The Iron Dome air defense system intercepted 24 of the projectiles, marking a 90% interception rate of rockets heading for populated areas, according to the spokesman. Another 48 projectiles landed in open areas in southern Israel, 14 fell short in Gaza, 11 landed in the sea, and another seven had unknown impact sites.
At least five rockets landed in populated areas, the Israeli Police said. One of the rockets hit a construction site in the southern Israeli city of Sderot and wounded three foreign nationals, one moderately and two lightly.
The rocket attacks began after the Israel Prison Service announced the death of Khader Adnan, a prominent member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who was indicted on alleged “terror” charges. Adnan was on an 86-day hunger strike.
Israeli officials said that Adnan was detained 13 times in the past. He had previously gone on hunger strikes four times to protest his detentions.
The Joint Operations Room in the Gaza Strip took responsibility for the rocket attacks. In a statement released on May 2 afternoon, the operations room, which includes both the Hamas Movement and Islamic Jihad, said the attacks came as a response to Adnan’s death.
The IDF retaliated to the attacks by striking 16 separate targets belonging to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad across the Gaza Strip. The targets included a Hamas training camp, a weapons production site, a concrete production plant, and a training site, a site belonging to the Hamas naval commandos and a tunnel used by the movement.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, a 58-year-old man, Hashel Mubarak, was killed, and five other civilians were wounded as a result of one of the Israeli strikes near Gaza City.
After mediation by officials from Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations, Israel and Gaza factions agreed to a ceasefire on May 3 morning. The ceasefire that was supposed to go into effect at 4 a.m. local time. However, at 5:36 a.m., the Islamic Jihad launched at least two rockets toward the southern Israeli community of Nir Am. The attack didn’t cause any losses and the IDF didn’t respond.
The new round of escalation in Gaza was the most heated since the clashes of last August, which claimed the lives of 49 Palestinians. Tensions between Palestinian factions in the Strip and the IDF remain high.
