Netanyahu cuts short US visit, vows forceful response after Israeli military says Gaza rocket hits near Tel Aviv.
An early morning rocket, allegedly fired from the Gaza Strip, struck a home in central Israel on Monday, wounding seven people and prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut short a trip to Washington.
The developments set the stage for a potential major conflagration, shortly before Israel’s upcoming elections.
The rocket attack destroyed a residential home in the community of Mishmeret, north of the city of Kfar Saba, wounding six members of the family.
Israel’s ambulance service said it treated seven people overall, including two women who were moderately wounded. The others, including two children and an infant, had minor wounds.
The sounds of air raid sirens jolted residents of the Sharon area, northeast of Tel Aviv, from their sleep shortly after 5am, sending them scurrying to bomb shelters. A strong sound of an explosion followed.
An Israeli military spokesperson said the rocket attack was carried out by Hamas, adding that the army was set to deploy two brigades and infantry units to the soutern Gaza area.
Netanyahu, in Washington to meet President Donald Trump, held emergency consultations with military officials back in Israel and decided to cut his visit short, cancelling a planned address to the AIPAC conference and meetings with congressional leaders.
“There has been a criminal attack on the State of Israel and we will respond forcefully,” he said, “In a few hours I will meet with President Trump. I will return to Israel immediately afterward.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday’s incident. Al Jazeera reached out to Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip but received no response.
Witnesses in Gaza told AP news agency they saw Hamas officials evacuating government premises, anticipating an Israeli response to the alleged attack.
Hamas also announced that its Gaza chief, Yehiya Sinwar, had cancelled a scheduled public speech. Israel also shut down its main cargo crossing into Gaza.
Monday’s attack came 10 days after rockets were fired from Gaza towards Tel Aviv.
The Israeli military at the time struck back and the sides appeared to be hurtling towards another confrontation. But Gaza’s Hamas leaders said the rocket was fired accidently and calm was quickly restored.
Gaza has been under control of Hamas since 2007. The group won a decisive victory in parliamentary elections a year before, but western governments refused to recognise their win.
In June 2007, Hamas fought against a preemptive coup by its rival Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority, resulting in driving it out of the strip.
The same summer saw Israel and Egypt impose an ongoing land, naval and air blockade on the coastal enclave. Israel has also waged three offensives on Gaza since December 2008. The last such offensive was in 2014, in which more than 2,000 Palestinians – the majority of them civilians – were killed.
The 52-day war also severely damaged Gaza’s already weak infrastructure, leading the United Nations to state that the strip would be “uninhabitable” by 2020.
