Israel launches missile near Hamas PM's home

A rocket being launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel (picture: AFP) A targeted missile strike launched from an Israeli Navy warship has hit a vehicle near the home of Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, according to Israeli media. This comes as Israel intensifies its attacks on Gaza. Residents say the strike destroyed an electricity generator near Haniyeh’s house. It was unclear whether he was at home at the time of the assault. No casualties have been reported from that incident.
Meanwhile a spokesperson for the Israeli army said on Twitter: “During the past hour, the IDF targeted approx. 70 underground medium range rocket launching sites in Gaza. Direct hits were confirmed.”
This comes as Israel is apparently intensifying its assault on Gaza after it launched the operation “Pillar of Defense” a day ago. Three people have been killed in Israel, while the Palestinian death toll has reached at least 19, including children and a pregnant woman, say medical sources in Gaza.
An Israeli strike killed a UN school teacher in Gaza. Marwan Abu El Qumsan, an Arabic teacher at a UN school, was killed as his car was hit by a bomb on Thursday, the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, says on its website.
The Israeli army claims that since the start of the operation the Israeli Air Force has targeted 300 “terror activity sites” in the Gaza Strip. It adds that the Iron Dome Missile Defense System has intercepted more than 130 rockets launched from Gaza.
For the first time since 1991 residents of Tel Aviv took cover on Thursday after air raid sirens alerted them to a missile threat as a rocket launched from Gaza hit the city.
The armed wing of the radical Islamic Jihad on Thursday said it had fired an Iranian-built rocket at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
"The Quds Brigades hit the occupied city of Tel Rabea (Tel Aviv) with a Fajr 5 rocket causing a large explosion to shake the city," the group said in a brief statement, shortly after an AFP correspondent reported seeing a rocket land in the water south of the sprawling coastal city.
"What comes next will be greater," the statement added.