Hamas fires rocket barrage at Tel Aviv as Israel looks to renew Gaza hostage deal
- Rocket sirens blared in Tel Aviv for the first time in months, sending people scrambling for bomb shelters
- Netanyahu is expected to convene his war cabinet to discuss efforts towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal
The armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Sunday it had fired a “large rocket barrage” at Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv, with the military reporting it had intercepted several.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a post on Telegram that they had targeted Tel Aviv “with a large rocket barrage in response to the Zionist (Israeli) massacres against civilians”.
Israel’s army said at least eight rockets were fired towards central areas of the country from Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah, where its forces have been battling Palestinian militants.
The military said that “a number of the projectiles were intercepted” by Israeli air defences, with no initial reports of casualties.
An AFP correspondent in the Gaza Strip reported seeing rockets being fired from Rafah.
Rocket sirens blared in Tel Aviv for the first time in months, sending people scrambling for bomb shelters.
The attacks came as an Israeli senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that “the war cabinet is expected to meet in Jerusalem tonight at 2100 (local time) to discuss a hostage release deal”.