The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it targeted on Sunday a terrorist operative from the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip involved in recent attacks against Israel.
The terrorist, Ahmad Sa’ad, was planning further attacks on Israel in the coming days, the army said. ‘’He was in the northern Gaza Strip when an IAF aircraft carried out the mission. The IDF operated in order to eliminate an imminent threat to the lives of Israeli civilians’’, the IDF said.
Ahmad Sa’ad, a key Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative in the Gaza Strip specializing in rocket launching, is personally responsible for the launching of five rockets towards the Israeli southern city of Ashkelon on January 16 which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
According to the IDF, Sa’ad’s terrorist activities over the years ‘’include concealing, directing, and launching rockets at southern Israel in numerous incidents including during operation Pillar of Defense in Nov 2012, and multiple launches during an escalation of violence during March 2012.’’
“Gaza terrorists must know that there is a personal price to pay when planning and executing terror attacks against Israel,” said IDF spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner.
“There is no immunity for those that partake in projectile terrorism. The IDF targeted an integral component of the Gaza terrorist mechanism in order to diminish terrorist capabilities and send a clear message of intolerance to the aggression from the Hamas territory.”
At the weekly cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel ‘’will maintain the quiet in the South by forcefully responding to every rocket attack coming from the Gaza Strip.’’
“We are determined to preserve the quiet in the South. We do this through a policy of prevention and by responding powerfully against those who try to harm or hurt us. I suggest Hamas take our policy into account,’’ he added.
January has seen an upsurge in rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israel. Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) retaliated after terrorists from Gaza fired a rocket at Israel on Saturday evening, triggering air raid sirens in the Sdot Negev Regional Council. A number of targets in Gaza were bombed. In 2013, nearly 50 rockets were fired out of Gaza into southern Israel, and the Israeli Air Force carried out 10 attacks, striking 24 sites, according to the military. So far this year, 12 rockets have been launched, and Israel has carried out six airstrikes, hitting a dozen targets.