A father of four is the first Israeli casualty from rocket fire since the 2014 war with Hamas militants.
An early morning rocket from the Gaza Strip killed an Israeli man Sunday outside a home in the coastal city of Ashkelon amid a massive wave of attacks, marking the first Israeli casualty from rocket fire since the 2014 war with Hamas militants.
Moshe Agadi, a 58-year-old father of four, was struck in the chest by shrapnel in a residential courtyard from one of the 450 rockets fired from Gaza in less than 24 hours — one of the most intense flareups of violence in years.
The Israeli military says it has launched some 220 airstrikes against militant targets in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli strikes had killed six Palestinians, including a pregnant woman and her 14-month-old daughter, Seba Abu Arar, in their east Gaza City home Saturday.
However, military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Sunday that a detailed review had found that a Palestinian rocket had misfired and killed the two civilians. He said the Palestinians were „trying to sell a story that isn’t true.“
The sudden outburst in fighting has broken a month-long lull. Egyptian mediators had been trying to negotiate a long-term cease-fire between the two sides, who have fought three wars and several other rounds of conflict over the past decade.
Conricus said Israel’s strikes killed eight militants in a variety of „high-quality“ targets, all of which have been deemed legitimate militant sites.
