Rocket barrages from Gaza hit Israel, killing at least one
rockets were fired at Israel from the blockaded Gaza Strip at dawn on Saturday as militants from the Palestinian enclave infiltrated Israel, with at least one person killed, the army and medics said.
Rockets streamed across the sky repeatedly after the first launches from multiple locations across the Palestinian territory from 06:30 am (0330 GMT), AFP journalists in Gaza City reported.
The outbreak of conflict follows months of surging violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with fatalities in the occupied West Bank hitting a scale not seen in years.
Air raid sirens wailed across Israel's south and central areas, with the Israeli army urging the public to stay near bomb shelters.
AFP journalists in Jerusalem heard multiple rockets being intercepted, with sirens blaring across the city on more occasions than in any Gaza conflict in the past three years.
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said it was behind the aerial assault, claiming its militants had launched more than 5,000 rockets.
«We decided to put an end to all the crimes of the occupation (Israel), their time for rampaging without being held accountable is over,» the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said.
«We announce Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and we fired, in the first strike of 20 minutes, more than 5,000 rockets.»
Israel's military said Hamas launched «massive shooting of rockets», while at the same time «terrorists infiltrated into Israeli territory in a number of different locations.»
Hamas «will face the consequences and responsibility for these events», an army statement said.
A woman in her 60s was killed «due to a direct hit» in Israel, the Magen David Adom emergency services said.
Fifteen others were wounded, two of them
