Via – The Times of Israel

Sirens wail in Tel Aviv; IDF orders schools shut from Gaza to Tel Aviv for 1st time since 2014; army says it’s prepared for several days of fighting

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday ordered schools closed in southern and central Israel, including the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, as terror groups in the Gaza Strip began firing dozens of rockets at cities and towns throughout the country in retaliation for the assassination of Palestinian Islamic Jihad senior commander Baha Abu al-Ata.

“We are prepared for several days of battle with an aerial defense shield, including in the center of the country,” IDF spokesperson Hidai Zilberman told reporters Tuesday morning.

Approximately 150 rockets and mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip at central and southern Israel on Tuesday as of 1 p.m., according to unofficial tallies. Soldiers operating the Iron Dome missile defense system shot down some 60 of those incoming projectiles.

A 35-year-old man was lightly injured by rocket fire outside the town of Gan Yavne, and six people were brought to the hospital with injuries sustained while running to bomb shelters or with panic attacks. An 8-year-old girl was also in serious condition in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon after she lost consciousness suddenly during the rocket attack at 8 a.m. It was not immediately clear if her collapse was caused by the attack.

Shortly before 11 a.m., an Israeli drone bombed two Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists preparing to fire rockets at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian media outlets reported. According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, one of the PIJ members was killed and the other was injured.

The IDF confirmed carrying out the airstrike, saying it had done so to “remove the immediate threat.” It was Israel’s first strike in the Gaza Strip since the rocket fire began, following the assassination of Abu al-Ata earlier in the day.

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