The Israeli military struck Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Wednesday morning after terrorists fired over 12 projectiles at Israeli communities near Israel's border with the coastal enclave.
The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted three of the projectiles with the rest hitting open areas, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said.
The Color Red alert blared cross the frontier's Shaar Hanegev, Hof Ashkelon and Sdot Negev regional councils and the nearby city of Sderot between 1:40 a.m. and 4 a.m.
The salvo followed an Israeli strike in northeast Gaza that targeted a Hamas vehicle transporting a cell involved in the arson terrorism campaign that has been wreaking havoc on Israel's Gaza-vicinity communities.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the Israeli strikes "required a quick response from the resistance. ... This morning's [rocket] fire retaliated over Zionist aggression and as part of the equation we set – fire will be met with fire."
The Popular Resistance Committees terrorist group threatened to exacerbate its rocket fire on Israel, saying, "The Zionist enemy has to internalize the new reality on the ground. We will meet any fire with fire, even if it leads to escalation. We are not afraid to pay in blood. The Zionists enemy's aggression will open up the gates of hell."
The recent flare-ups come amid nearly three months of mass riots on the Israel-Gaza Strip border.
"Earlier tonight, an Israeli Air Force aircraft and an IDF tank targeted a vehicle belonging to a Hamas operative heavily involved in launching arson and explosive balloons from the Gaza Strip into Israel," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement.
"In addition, two observation posts belonging to the Hamas terror organization were targeted in the northern Gaza Strip. Simultaneously, the Hamas terror organization launched a barrage of projectiles from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory.
"The Hamas terrorist organization will be held accountable for facilitating terror and instability," the statement said.
Also on Tuesday, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri visited border communities hit by Palestinian arson terrorism, and warned that unless Hamas curbed the phenomenon, Israel would "have to mount a significant response."
"These are not easy decisions to make. Israel has no interest whatsoever in a security escalation but left with no other choice, we will act," he said.
"There is no dispute about the borders – we left Gaza and we are the country that lends Gaza Strip the most assistance. We do everything we can, including taking security risks.
"There is a struggle between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and it's Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] who cut their budgets. No one is volunteering to give them money, so they attack Israel to get attention. And every time we defend ourselves we are accused of the situation [in Gaza]" he said.
"Israel's first and foremost responsibility is to take care of our own. We will not let Israelis live in fear. Kite terrorism can end with disaster and we won't let it get that far."
