Palestine The armed wing of Hamas says it will step up attacks and fire rockets at the Israeli towns of Ashdod and Beersheba if Israel continues to carry out air raids on civilian buildings in Gaza.
At least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave since late Monday in the worst violence between the two sides since the 2014 war.
The escalation came after at least seven Palestinians were killed on Sunday in a covert Israeli operation, to which Hamas responded with rocket fire from Gaza.
Hamas’ warning that it would extend the range of its rocket fire was issued on Tuesday, hours after a rocket from Gaza killed an Israeli man in a direct hit on a residential building in the coastal town of Ashkelon.
The rocket was fired after an Israeli air raid destroyed Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV building in Gaza on Monday evening.
The spokesperson for the Hamas military wing said in a statement that Ashkelon “has entered the range of fire as a response to the bombing of civilian buildings in Gaza”.
“Occupied al-Majdal (Ashkelon) is now in our cross hairs in response to the shelling that targeted civilian buildings in Gaza … Ashdod and Beersheba are the next targets if the enemy continues to bombard civilian buildings,” Abu Ubaidah said on Twitter. Of the three cities, Ashkelon is closest to Gaza.
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