IDF SPOKESPERSON ANNOUNCEMENT

Increased rocket and mortar fire from Gaza into Israel over past week

During the past week, Palestinians fired over 70 mortar shells and over 25
Qassam rockets at Israeli communities in the Western Negev and at IDF forces
operating in Gaza. Of these, approximately 35 mortar shells and 20 Qassam
rockets landed in Israel.

Ground, armored and engineering forces, in coordination with the Air Force,
operated against the terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip in order to
distance the terror organizations, in particular Hamas, from the security
fence, and to prevent rocket and mortar shell fire into Israel.

The IDF carried out aerial and ground attacks during the past week and
identified hitting 5 Palestinian terrorist involved in the firing of rocket
and mortar shells at Israel from the southern Gaza. The IDF also identified
hitting 15 Palestinian gunmen who were identified operating against IDF
forces in the Gaza Strip and near the security fence, 6 of them in the past
24 hours.

In addition, the IDF carried out attacks against 2 posts of the Hamas terror
organization in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The attacks were
carried in response to the continuous mortar shelling of Israeli
communities.

The terror organizations, in particular Hamas have made continuous attempts
to kill or injure Israeli civilians and IDF forces, especially in the area
adjacent to the Gaza security fence. The IDF will continue to operate along
the security fence in order to prevent the terror organizations from
operating near the fence, and to protect Israeli civilians living in the
Western Negev.