Two Dead And Scores Injured As Hamas Launches 130 Rockets Attack On Tel Aviv

Hamas has launched a rocket attack on Tel Aviv, with a direct hit on a building leaving at least one person dead, according to Israeli media reports.

Residents ran to air raid shelters and sirens blared as explosions broke out across the city on Tuesday evening.

Hamas said in a statement it had fired 130 rockets towards Tel Aviv and its suburbs as weeks of tensions with Israel escalated into some of the most violent scenes since the war of 2014.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the terrorist group “will pay a heavy price for their belligerence”, while his defence minister warned that “buildings will continue to crumble in Gaza”.

Videos posted on social media showed Israel’s Iron Dome defence system intercepting Hamas’s rockets above Tel Aviv and the southern city of Ashkelon.

The targeted attack on the building took place in the suburb of Holon, killing a 50-year-old Israeli woman, according to local medics.

It saw the temporary closure of Israel’s main Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, which reopened around 10pm local time.

The energy pipeline connecting Eilat and Ashkelon was also hit by the rocket strikes, Israel’s Channel 12 TV reported.

An elderly Israeli woman and her carer, who was an Indian national, had already been confirmed dead in Hamas airstrikes on houses in the city of Ashkelon on Tuesday.

The deaths came after Israeli fighter jets, attack helicopters and drones hit more than 130 “Hamas military targets” inside Gaza, including the home of a Hamas commander, according to the Israeli military.

Twenty-six Palestinians, including nine children, died as a result, with a 13-storey building collapsing after another nearby strike.

The attacks were in retaliation to a barrage of rockets, including six that landed close to Jerusalem, which were fired into Israel from Gaza on Monday.

Earlier today, Mr Netanyahu threatened the launch of larger attacks, saying: “At the conclusion of a situational assessment, it was decided that both the might of the attacks and the frequency of the attacks will be increased.”

Those comments echoed his earlier threat that the Hamas strikes had “crossed a red line” and Israel “will respond very forcefully”.

“We will not tolerate attacks on our territory, our capital, our citizens and our soldiers. Whoever strikes us will pay a heavy price,” he said.

Hamas said on Tuesday that it will “not stop its resistance action as long as the Israeli occupation continues its aggression against the Palestinians”.

The latest violence comes amid soaring tensions in Jerusalem and days of fighting at an important mosque in the holy city.

Hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in just 24 hours during clashes with Israeli security forces in the courtyard outside the Al Aqsa mosque and in the narrow streets of the old city.

Hamas had given the Israeli government an ultimatum to withdraw its forces from the mosque area, release all Palestinians detained over the course of the day and remove Jewish settlers from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.

The militant group said it would retaliate at 6pm on Monday if the demands were not met.

At just after 6pm explosions were heard in Jerusalem as the Hamas rockets landed eight miles (13km) to the west of the city.Photo Credit: Getty