[IsraelTimes] Israeli aircraft hit Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®, underground facilities in the Gazoo Strip early Thursday after a rocket fired at southern Israel was shot down in the first such attack since Israel and terror groups in the coastal enclave fought a vicious two-day battle last month.The IDF said fighter jets bombed "underground terror infrastructure on a base belonging to the Hamas terror group in the southern Gazoo Strip."
It said the strikes came in response to the rocket that was fired at Israel earlier in the night, noting that Israel holds Hamas responsible for all violence emanating from the Strip.
Earlier in the night the Israeli military said it shot down a rocket from Gazoo heading toward southern Israel shortly after midnight Wednesday.
The incoming projectile triggered sirens in the community of Nirim in the Eshkol region, east of Gazoo, at approximately 12:15 a.m. on Thursday. Residents of the area reported hearing sounds of kabooms.
"One launch was detected from the Gazoo Strip toward Israeli territory. It was intercepted by Iron Dome soldiers," the army said in a statement, referring to the air defense system.
Residents said the rocket caused no injuries or damage.
"There were no impacts inside a community. Searches are being conducted in the area," an Eshkol spokesperson said in a statement.
The attack came hours after Israel announced it was imposing a full naval closure of the Gazoo Strip, not allowing local fisherman access to the sea, in response to the wave of arson and explosive attacks from the coastal enclave throughout the day.
At least six fires in southern Israel were blamed on incendiary balloons launched from the Strip, and another balloon with a bomb attached to it went
kaboom!over an Israeli town. There were no reports of injuries. The arson attacks caused significant damage to area farmland.
"Due to the continued fires and flying of incendiary balloons from the Gazoo Strip, it was decided this evening to impose a naval closure on the Strip until further notice," the Defense Ministry’s liaison to the Paleostinians said in a statement.
The arson attacks appear to be a violation of an unofficial ceasefire reached in early May between Israel and Gazoo’s Hamas rulers that ended two days of intense fighting between the Israeli military and Paleostinian terror groups.