Hamas fires rockets at Tel Aviv after 19 killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza

Hamas on Tuesday fired two rockets at Israel’s commercial hub, Tel Aviv, after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza that killed at least 19 Palestinians. It was the first time since May when Hamas last claimed firing rockets at Tel Aviv. 

The report said there were no casualties in Israel following the rockets fired from Gaza, the Israeli military said. One of the rockets fell into the sea, while the other did not reach Israeli territory.

“We have bombed the city of Tel Aviv and its suburbs with two ‘M90′ missiles in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians and the deliberate displacement of our people,” the Hamas’ military wing said in a statement.

Hamas last claimed firing rockets at Tel Aviv in May.

Israeli airstrikes

Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes killed 19 Palestinians in the central and southern Gaza Strip today. 

At least six people were killed in an airstrike in Deir Al-Balah, including a mother and her twin four-day-old babies, while seven other Palestinians were killed in a strike on a house in the nearby Al-Bureij camp.

The report said four people were killed in two separate strikes on the Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip and Rafah in the south, and two were killed in a strike on a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north.

The Israeli military and Islamic Jihad and Hamas said they were fighting in several areas of Gaza.

The Israeli military said it had killed Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military structures in Khan Younis, located weapons and explosives in Rafah, and struck rocket launchers and sniper posts in central Gaza.

Ceasefire Talks

Earlier on Monday, the US said that the Gaza ceasefire talks slated for Thursday to go ahead as planned, and that an agreement was still possible. A media report said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken planned to set off on Tuesday for discussions in Qatar, Egypt and Israel.

The Israeli government said it would send a delegation to Thursday’s talks to finalise the details of the agreement proposal.

Hamas, however, is demanding a workable plan to implement the proposal, presented by US President Joe Biden in May – rather than more talks.

“Our statement the other day was clear: what is needed is the implementation, not more negotiation,” Reuters quoted a Hamas official, who declined to be named owing to the sensitivity of the issue. 

The war was triggered when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage back to Gaza.

Almost 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, with much of the enclave laid to waste and most the population displaced.