JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle launched from Gaza after it crossed into Israel’s airspace.
The drone was shot down Monday morning by a Patriot missile near the port of Ashdod
The drone set off sirens in Ashdod before it was shot down. It is not known if the UAV was carrying explosives. Hamas told Reuters that it has sent several drones into Israel to carry out what it called “special missions.”
Later on Monday morning, an 8-year-old Israel boy was wounded by shrapnel from a rocket fired from Gaza that landed in Ashdod.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon on Monday said that Israel continues “to smash Hamas and its infrastructure. They have suffered great damage.”
“When Hamas comes out of their hiding places they will discover the extent of the destruction and the damage that we caused the organization that will cause them to regret that they entered this round of fighting against Israel,” he told an IDF briefing.
Also on Monday, several rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. The IDF responded with artillery fired toward the source of the rocket launch. Israel has notified the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, of the incident, according to the IDF.
The IDF targeted over 12 terrorists involved in launching rockets at Israel on Sunday night and Monday morning, and Israel Air Force planes bombed more than 40 “terror sites” in Gaza overnight, according to a statement from the IDF. On Sunday, more than 130 rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza, 22 were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system and more than 100 landed on Israeli territory, according to the IDF.
Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge seven days ago, more than 980 rockets have been launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel. About 760 have hit Israeli territory, and another 200 have been intercepted by Iron Dome. IDF forces have struck some 1,470 terror targets across the Gaza Strip.
At least 172 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and more than 1,200 wounded since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, according to the Palestinian Maan news agency.
On Sunday, the IDF allowed into Gaza over 500 donated portions of blood for civilians in Gaza. In addition, the IDF has facilitated the transfer into Gaza for its civilians 260 trucks containing over 4,400 tons of food, as well as about 900 tons of gas, about 3.2 million liters of diesel fuel and about 500 thousand liters of gasoline, according to the IDF.
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