Just after 9:00 p.m. a barrage of rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel in the area of Ashkelon. The rocket fire came at the end of a very tense day in which more than 40 fires erupted in the Gaza periphery due to a deluge of balloon bombs being launched from the Strip.

In response, Israel was set to close the fishing area in the Mediterranean Sea for Gaza fishermen. Hamas threatened more violence should this come to pass.

It is likely that the rockets were launched at the beginning of Yom Yerushalayim, an already tense day, due to annual violence that erupts on this day as Hamas and other militant groups try to avenge the reunification of Jerusalem during the Six-Day-war in 1967.

The Iron Dome batteries in the Gaza periphery were activated in an attempt to shoot down the rockets. Residents of Ashkelon and surrounding towns hear the color-red siren at 9:11 p.m. Other towns affected were Zikim, Yad Mordechai, Karmiyah, Netiv Ha’Asarah, and Mivki’im.

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(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)