Hamas fires rockets at Tel Aviv in Israel, triggering first sirens in months | Israeli-Palestinian conflict News

The Israeli army announced that eight rockets had been fired from Gaza, targeting central Israel, including Tel Aviv.

Hamas claims to have launched rockets at Tel Aviv, causing sirens to sound in the Israeli city for the first time in several months.

The Israeli army announced on Sunday that eight rockets had been launched from the Rafah area in southern Gaza, where its forces continued their ground attack despite an order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to suspend it. their operations.

The Israeli air defense system intercepted several, the army said.

Rafah is located approximately 100 km (62 miles) south of Tel Aviv.

According to local media, sirens sounded in around 30 areas of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, and several minor injuries were reported following the attack.

Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement on its Telegram channel on Sunday that the rockets were launched in response to “Zionist massacres against civilians.”

Hamas-linked Al-Aqsa television said the rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip.

Israel says it wants to eliminate several Hamas battalions holed up in Rafah and rescue hostages it says are being held in the area, but its attack has worsened the plight of civilians and caused an international outcry.

On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in Rafah, according to local medical services.

Israeli tanks have launched attacks on the outskirts of the city, near the main southern crossing point into Egypt, but there have yet to be any large-scale ground attacks.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said the rocket attack raises questions about the Israeli military operation in Rafah.

“The Israeli army operated aggressively in the area and made it clear that it was in control and virtually cleared the area of ​​any combatants on the ground or associates of Hamas,” he said. he declared.

“But all of a sudden we now see a barrage of rockets fired from this particular area, which raises questions about Israeli claims that they have cleared the area of ​​Hamas fighters. »

The Israeli military said Sunday that in the previous 24 hours it had destroyed “more than 50 terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip,” Mahmoud said.

In Jabalia, northern Gaza, troops attacked a weapons depot “embedded inside a school where troops located dozens of rocket parts and weapons.”

Israeli political analyst Akiva Eldar told Al Jazeera that Hamas’ rocket attacks against Israel would encourage Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “play the role of the victim.”

Eldar said it could also allow Netanyahu to present an argument against the ICJ’s decision to halt military operations in Rafah, saying they are necessary to ensure the safety of Israeli civilians in the face of such attacks.

Eldar said the attack could make Netanyahu believe he has the “justification” to go “deeper into Rafah until, as he has promised, total victory.”

At least 35,984 people have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials in Gaza.

Israel launched the operation after Hamas-led fighters attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, taking more than 250 hostages and killing at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on statistics Israelis.