Another deadly Hamas mortar attack killed four people on Monday afternoon, targeting the Eshkol Regional Council along the Gaza border, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Click here to watch the repercussions of the attack.
At least nine severely injured people were taken to a medical center in Beersheba. Unlike other projectiles, mortars do not trigger the Code Red rocket siren and tend to strike targets without notice. Thus no warning siren preceded this attack.
While Hamas has repeatedly rejected multiple cease-fires throughout Operation Protective Edge, the terrorist organization continues to fire mortar shells and rockets at Israeli civilians. Today, Hamas rocket fire renewed as scores of missiles targeted the entire country.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) prevented a significant terrorist attack by repelling a Hamas infiltration into Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Palestinian terrorists invaded the Israeli civilian community near the border with Gaza when the IDF opened fire and killed one terrorist. A search is underway for other terrorists.
The new Hamas offensive occurred less than 18 hours after President Barack Obama called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding that Israel implement a unilateral ceasefire.
The IDF is now focused primarily on eliminating the underground tunnels and will only retaliate against other terrorist targets in response to any Hamas provocation.
After the infiltration, the IDF proceeded to warn thousands of Gaza residents to evacuate their homes in Shejaia, Zeitoun, and western Jabalia, via voice and text messages. These types of messages routinely precede retaliatory Israeli air strikes in an attempt to minimize innocent Palestinian collateral damage. Targeting terrorists is extremely difficult considering that Hamas utilizes its population as human shields and purposefully hides weapons and rockets in civilian structures, including private residences, mosques, schools, and hospitals.
According to Israeli intelligence, Hamas had been planning for a vicious assault on Israeli civilians during the upcoming Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah. The surprise attack would have included 200 terrorists sent through dozens of Hamas tunnels in order to infiltrate Israeli communities for the purposes of killing and kidnapping civilians on a massive scale.
The latest Kibbutz Nahal Oz infiltration emphasizes Hamas' murderous intentions and proves that the terrorist organization's tunnel network constitutes a severe threat to the Jewish state.