Rockets Launched from Gaza Strip Target Tel Aviv at Start of New Year
Tel Aviv, Israel | AFP | Rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip targeting Tel Aviv and surrounding areas, as well as southern Israel, at the exact moment of the start of the New Year on Monday, according to AFP journalists on the scene.
Air warning sirens were activated in the Israeli city, and journalists there could see the rockets intercepted by Israeli missile defense systems.
Some people celebrating on a festive street sought cover next to buildings while others continued the party.
“I was terrified, it’s the first time I saw missiles, it’s terrifying, this is the life we live, crazy,” Gabriel Zemelman, 26, told AFP in front of a Tel Aviv bar where he was celebrating the new year with his friends.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a video published on their social networks. In the video they said they had used M90 rockets in “response to the massacres of civilians” perpetrated by Israel.
The Israeli army confirmed the attacks without initially reporting casualties or damage.