Iran Press/ West Asia: The Israeli military waged airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, after the Hamas resistance group announced a new operation against Israeli settlements and occupied cities.
The unprecedented offensive started a few minutes before 7 a.m. as Israelis celebrated the last day of the weeklong Sukkot festival, with hundreds of rockets fired at Israel.
Red alert warning sirens were activated in Tel Aviv, Sde Boker, Arad, and Dimona in the south as explosions were heard by residents on Saturday. In al-Quds, rocket sirens sounded followed by the sound of explosions.
Cars were seen on fire after a rocket landed in Ashkelon, southern Israel.
Hamas' armed wing said more than 5,000 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Saturday, declaring it had started "Operation al-Aqsa Flood".
"We decided to put an end to all the crimes of the occupation, their time for rampaging without being held accountable is over," Hamas said. "We announce Operation al-Aqsa Storm and we fired, in the first strike of 20 minutes, more than 5,000 rockets."
The launches came after weeks of heightened tensions along Israel's occupied areas near Gaza, and heavy fighting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas, seized control of the territory in 2007.
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