Rocket firings from Gaza kills 3, injured over 150 in South Israel

At least three people were killed and over 150 others suffered injuries after dozens of rockets fired from Gaza struck a factory in southern Israel on Sunday afternoon. Another rocket hit a vehicle near Kibbutz Yad Mordechai near Gaza border. Sources told The Jerusalem Post that a man inside the vehicle was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition where he died of his wounds.

The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is investigating the nature of the attack. It is, however, not yet clear whether the driver of the car is one of the two Israelis who have succumbed to critical wounds during the attack, the IDF said.

Hamas on Sunday intensified their attacks on Israel with large rocket barrages aimed at the country's southern area, and a number of longer-range projectiles fired toward central Israel, and one anti-tank guided missile strike near the Gaza border. The Times of Israel quoted the IDF as saying that since Saturday, around 600 rockets and mortar shells were fired from Gaza at Israel, with about two-thirds of the projectiles striking empty fields.

The latest fatalities marked Israel's heaviest losses from Gaza since the escalation of the war in 2014. In response, the Israel Air Force bombed a vehicle in Gaza City carrying a Hamas field commander who was responsible for funnelling money from Iran to Gaza terror groups, The Times of Israel reported.

A senior IAF official was quoted as saying that Israel was "trying to revive the deterrence against Hamas." As of Sunday afternoon, six other Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

The ministry also said that a pregnant Palestinian woman and her 14-month-old daughter were killed by the Israeli strikes, but the IDF repeatedly denied the allegation, saying the two died in a failed rocket launch by the Hamas within a populated area. Efforts by the United Nations and Egypt to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Strip yielded no concrete results as of Sunday afternoon, as neither side appeared interested in returning to the conditions laid out before the outbreak of violence.

On the same day, the Israeli security Cabinet held a meeting about the fighting in Gaza and later instructed the military to intensify its attacks in the Strip. The intense violence that engulfed the region over the weekend began on Friday evening, when a sniper from Hamas, aimed at the border, killed two soldiers. The IDF responded with a strike on a Hamas killing several of its members. 

(With inputs from agencies.)