The Hamas terrorist organization, which controls the Gaza Strip, has requested that Palestinian Islamic Jihad hand over a cell of four operatives identified in connection with the rocket launched at southern Israel on Wednesday, sources told i24NEWS.
The incident was the third time in less than a week that projectiles were fired from the coastal enclave. Iranian-backed PIJ was blamed for two of the three incidents.
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On Thursday, the IDF said that it holds PIJ responsible for the recent spate of attacks from the Gaza Strip and urged Hamas to take action to reign in the terrorist group.
"The Islamic Jihad movement has previously committed and is currently planning to commit sabotage attacks, including rocket fire," the IDF's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee tweeted Thursday.
"Israel does not and will not accept terror attacks and rocket fire against our citizens," he continued.
"Hamas, as the ruling power in Gaza, must enforce its authority and prevent these terror attacks and plots," he added.
After the rocket landed in an open area in southern Israel – causing no damage or injuries – Hamas deployed forces to the scene of the launch to investigate the incident, Palestinian sources in Gaza confirmed.
A field investigation and a review of newly-installed security cameras near the border with Israel led Hamas to identify the perpetrators as PIJ operatives.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad maintain a joint coordination mechanism to resolve any disputes and avoid conflict. PIJ already admitted to Hamas that its operatives carried out a rocket attack earlier in the week, firing two rockets at the southern Israeli city of Sderot.
Following that incident, PIJ refused to hand over its people, opting instead for an internal investigation which revealed that they operated under the instruction of a local military commander.
Hamas has insisted that it is not responsible for the attacks and doesn't condone them.
But in a joint statement issued on Monday, the armed Palestinian factions warned that Gaza was a "volcano about to erupt" and that Israel was "playing with fire."
Hamas' leadership has also expressed concern that lone-wolf terrorist attacks could spark another war with Israel.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
