Palestinian militant with rifle, atphalix, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A terrorist group based in the Gaza strip test-fired a number of rockets into the Mediterranean sea on Tuesday morning, in a move that triggered an alert in southern Israel.
The launches, claimed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, came days after nearly two weeks of escalating unrest along the security fence between Israel and Gaza, including balloon-borne incendiary devices sent into Israel.
The IDF said that the rockets were aimed at the sea and did not cross into Israeli territory.
The terror group confirmed that it was carrying out a live fire drill “simulating raids on several Zionist military sites and fortifications”.
Due to the proximity of the launch site to the Israeli border, an alert on the Home Front Command application was activated in an open area in southern Israel, adjacent to the northern Gaza Strip.
Last Thursday, Israel reopened the primary civilian crossing with Gaza as part of an Egyptian and Qatari-brokered deal with the Hamas terror group.