Residents of Shaar Hanegev and Sdot Negev were unpleasantly woken overnight between Thursday and Friday when a Color Red alert sounded, signaling incoming rockets from the Gaza Strip. The IDF said that six rocket launches had been identified. As of Friday morning, there was no confirmation that the rockets had wounded anyone or caused damage.
Earlier overnight, IDF aircraft and tanks carried out a series of strikes against Hamas positions and underground infrastructure in Gaza in response to continued arson balloon terrorism perpetrated against western Negev communities. Palestinians reported on Friday that three Hamas targets had been hit, including a weapons manufacturing facility.
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An IDF statement issued Friday said: "The IDF takes any terrorist activity directed at Israeli territory very seriously, and is ready and willing to do whatever needs to be done against attempts to harm Israeli civilians or Israeli sovereignty.
"The Hamas terrorist organization is responsible for what happens in the Gaza Strip and comes out of it, and it will bear the ramifications of terrorist activity against the citizens of Israel," the IDF said.
Shortly before 1 a.m. Friday, a member of Hamas' international affairs bureau, Bassam Naim, said it appeared unlikely that Hamas and Israel would be able to reach a ceasefire.
"We were surprised by the rejection from [Nikolay] Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East, who recently spoke about events in the Palestinian territories and the Gaza Strip in a manner that tried to lay things out to Israel's benefit. According to international law, Gaza is an occupied territory and Israel is responsible for the lives of the residents," Naim said.
According to Naim, the Hamas leadership is "making major efforts to contain the situation and prevent escalation."
"Mr. Mladenov has been part of these efforts. But Israel dismisses all understandings and commitments. We will not die in silence, or anything less than life with dignity. We demand that the international community intervene immediately to end the complicated tragedy that the Gaza Strip experiences at the hands of Israel, the siege, and coronavirus," Naim said.
On Thursday, Lebanon's Al-Midan, identified with Hezbollah, reported that attempts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist organizations in Gaza had failed "as a result of Israel's stubbornness." The report quoted a source in one of the Gaza-based terrorist groups.
The Al-Midan report said that the balloon units would be "sending Israel a message." According to the source, Israel needed to understand these "messages" before the situation got out of control and developed into a widespread escalation.
"The field groups have the possibility to escalate their popular resistance tactics," he said.
On Thursday, explosives-laden balloons released over the Gaza border fence into Israel caused 26 fires in the western Negev, most of which broke out in brush land in the Shaar Hanegev, Hof Ashkelon, and Eshkol regional councils. Most were small and posed no danger to residents or property.
Israel's Fire and Rescue Services noted that the "full cooperation" between all first responders and the optimal deployment of resources on the ground allowed Israel to contain the fires quickly and prevent them from spreading.
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