31 December 2017•Update: 31 December 2017
By Mahmud Abud
JERUSALEM
Israel’s Defense Minister blamed Iran Saturday for building and supplying missiles fired at Israel from Gaza on Friday, according to local media.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Avigdor Lieberman claimed Iran gave the missiles to the "Salafist terror groups" -- who adhere to an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam -- in Gaza.
On Friday, the Israeli army announced it had intercepted two rockets fired from Gaza, while a third had fallen to earth -- without causing damage -- in an Israeli community near the Gaza border.
According to the Israeli daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, air-raid sirens were sounded in the border communities of Sdot Negev and Shaar Hanegev.
“The Iron Dome air-defense system intercepted two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip,” the newspaper reported.
“A third rocket landed on a structure in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council in southern Israel,” it added.
Later on Friday, Israel struck targets in the blockaded Gaza Strip with warplanes and artillery fire after the missile was allegedly fired into Israeli territory from the coastal enclave, according to the Israeli army.
Tension has mounted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since U.S. President Donald Trump’s Dec. 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
