Gaza’s terrorist rulers marked the ceasefire that went into effect on Wednesday evening by continuing to fire rockets at southern Israel.
According to Kol Yisrael radio’s midnight newscast, 20 rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel since the ceasefire went into effect at 9:00 p.m. Wednesday evening. There were no reports of physical injuries or damages.
Before the ceasefire went into effect, terrorists fired a barrage of 40 rockets at the area, targeting Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Be’er Sheva among other cities. In Be’er Sheva, a rocket directly hit a home, causing no physical injuries.
Four rockets fired at Ashdod on Wednesday evening were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system.
Since Wednesday morning, Gaza-based terrorists fired more than 116 rockets into Israel. Iron Dome intercepted 20 rockets during the day.
Five people who were hurt in the terrorist attack on a Tel Aviv bus on Wednesday are still in the Ichilov Hospital. One is suffering from moderate injuries and the rest have light injuries.
Earlier on Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman held a joint news conference announcing the ceasefire.
Netanyahu said, “Eight days ago, Israel launched Operation Pillar of Defense, after attacks from Gaza that were carried out at a growing rate the last few months.
“The terror organizations assumed that we would abstain from an aggressive action, but they were wrong. We hit senior leaders, we destroyed thousands of rockets that were aimed at the South, and most of the rockets that were aimed at the center of Israel. We hit Hamas’s control mechanisms.
Netanyahu said that Israel and the U.S. agreed to work together against smuggling of weapons that originate in Iran into Gaza.
Hamas celebrated the ceasefire and claimed “victory” over Israel. The terror group’s chief Khaled Mashaal announced in a press conference Wednesday evening that Israel “has failed in all its goals” in Operation Defensive Pillar, following the cease fire announcement.
“After eight days, God stayed their hand from the people of Gaza, and they were compelled to submit to the conditions of the resistance,” Mashaal said. “Israel has failed in all its goals,” he told reporters in a Cairo hotel.
Arabs in Gaza took to the streets to celebrate the start of the truce deal, firing into the air and chanting victory slogans.