PRCS Truck like the one that was attacked/Mark Nakasone, CC BY 2.0
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ASHKELON/TEHRAN/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Hamas fired 10 rockets into Israel late Sunday, officials said, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pledge “a strong response” and the continuation of “intensified” Israeli military operations in Gaza.
The attacks came while Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a Hamas ally, put the Iranian military on full alert after U.S. President Donald J. Trump threatened to bomb Iran if diplomacy fails on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Israeli police said it was operating in an area of the coastal city of Ashkelon where an impact had been reported. A man in his 30s sustained light wounds from rocket shrapnel following Hamas’s rocket barrage in Israel’s South, Israel’s emergency response service, Magen David Adom (MDA) said Sunday. There were also reports of other injuries.
Worthy News obtained footage showing chaos in Ashkelon after the attack. Another video showed the impact of the strike, with at least one fireball seen in the city, with Israel’s Iron Dome defense system apparently hitting incoming rockets.
Israeli sources said that after being briefed on the situation, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was on his way to Washington, told Defense Minister Israel Katz to respond with force.
Katz responded by saying: “I instructed the [Israel Defense Forces] IDF to carry out a powerful blow against Hamas. We will not accept rocket fire at Israel.” Shortly after his statement, the IDF said an air force jet “attacked the launcher” from where one or more rockets were detected.
The Israeli strikes came despite the IDF admitting its soldiers made mistakes over the killing of 15 paramedics and emergency workers in southern Gaza last month.
OPENING FIRE
The convoy of Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulances and a fire truck came under fire near Rafah on March 23, witnesses said.
Israel initially claimed troops opened fire because the convoy approached “suspiciously” in the darkness without headlights or flashing lights.
It said that the army had not previously coordinated or agreed upon the movement of the vehicles.
However, mobile phone footage, filmed by one of the paramedics who was killed, showed the vehicles did have lights on as they answered a call to help wounded people. The video showed their emergency lights flashing.
In a briefing to journalists, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that soldiers had “mistakenly” identified the paramedics as a threat and that the incident was under “thorough investigation.”
Israel says it wants to avoid civilian casualties but cautions that this is difficult to achieve amid ongoing urban warfare in the Gaza Strip. Hamas-ruled authorities claim more than 50,000 people were killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war against Hamas in October 2023.
Israel said it responded to the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack in southern Israel, which killed some 1,200 people while 251 persons were kidnapped.
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