A rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli civilian on Sunday after a house in Ashkelon suffered a direct hit, YNet News reported.
The 58-year-old father of four is the first civilian casualty since 2014 Operation Protective Edge. Since Saturday, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists fired more than 400 rockets at Israeli communities, the military said.
Moshe Agadi suffered shrapnel wounds in his stomach and chest when a rocket fired by Gaza landed next to his home in the middle of the night. He was taken to Barzilay hospital in Ashkelon, where doctors pronounced his death shortly after.
A 40 year old man and a 22 year old man were killed Sunday afternoon from a direct rocket hit on a factory in Ashkelon. Another man about 50 years of age was moderately wounded, Arutz Sheva reported.
Medics treated the wounded and evacuated them to Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon, but were ultimately forced to confirm the deaths of the 40-year-old and 22-year-old.
In addition, a man about 60 years of age was critically wounded by a rocket shot into the area of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai near the Gaza Strip. A Magen David Adom (MDA) team treated him and evacuated him to Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon.
A 50-year-old driver was left unconscious due to a direct rocket strike on his car on Highway 34 at the intersection near Kibbutz Erez.
Yoni Uziyahu, a volunteer with United Hatzalah said, “While driving towards Ashkelon we encountered a car that was on fire. We stopped on the side of the highway and treated the driver who was critically injured in a rocket strike.”
Code Red sirens were sounded in many communities in the south, in the Beer Sheva area, in the Gaza perimeter, in Hatzerim and in the Bedouin regions, as barrages of rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory.
Most of the rockets have been intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.
Blue and White Chairman MK Benny Gantz, who is now in the Gaza vicinity, ran to a bomb shelter with journalists who were waiting to hear from him about the deterioration of the security situation.
The Political-Security Cabinet is meeting at this time to discuss the escalation in the south and the possibilities of Israel’s response to the rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
