Hamas launched rockets at Israel on Tuesday from a protected humanitarian area in the Gaza Strip, Israel said on Wednesday, further proof of the degree to which Hamas is violating international law and endangering civilians.
Two rockets were launched from Gaza towards Tel Aviv on Tuesday, the first time Israel’s major coastal city had been targeted since May.
Tuesday was a significant day because it marked Tisha B’Av, an annual Jewish commemoration of the destruction of the Holy Temples in Jerusalem.
One rocket fell in Gaza, and the other landed in the ocean without threatening Israelis.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated:
A short while ago, a projectile that was identified crossing from the Gaza Strip fell in the maritime space in central Israel. In accordance with protocol, no sirens were sounded.
Simultaneously, an additional projectile that did not cross into Israeli territory was identified.
Later, the confirmed that the launch sites had come from a humanitarian corridor. In response, the IDF temporarily suspended civilian movements along the corridor, and attacked terrorist sites adjacent to the corridor.
The IDF said in a statement:
Earlier today (Tuesday), Hamas terrorists opened fire toward the Humanitarian Route in the area of Rafah.
Consequentially, movement and coordination along the Humanitarian Route has been temporarily halted as the area now constitutes an active combat zone.
The terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip continue to use any opportunity to carry out terror attacks against the State of Israel at the expense of Gazan civilians, including by abusing humanitarian routes and aid designated for the civilian population.
The IDF, via COGAT [Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories], will continue to operate in accordance with international law in order to allow and facilitate humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip.
In a further statement on Wednesday, the IDF said:
Yesterday (Tuesday), the Hamas terrorist organization launched rockets from the Humanitarian Route in Khan Yunis toward central Israel. Shortly afterward, the IAF struck terror targets in the area from which the rockets were launched. The strikes were carried out adjacent to the launch site, outside of the Humanitarian Route.
The Hamas terrorist organization continues to deliberately embed its military assets used to carry out attacks against Israel next to humanitarian infrastructure and the civilian population inside the Gaza Strip.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer confirmed Wednesday morning that Hamas had abused humanitarian sites to attack Israel.
He said Hamas’s use of humanitarian areas and school complexes to launch attacks was part of a “systematic patterns of exploiting the population and civilian infrastructure for terror purposes.”
He said that Hamas sought civilian deaths as a strategy, and that media outlets — specifically the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) — were frequently “wrong” in reporting on “exaggerated” Palestinian casualty figures provided by Hamas.
“The BBC is being played. You are being played by the terrorists,” he said.
Hamas was responsible for all civilian deaths in Gaza, he added, because of its use of civilians as human shields.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.