Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing a possible invasion of Gaza following a number of attacks from Hamas, according to sources. Hamed Ahmed Abed Khudri, the Hamas commander, was killed during one of Israeli's return fires, the country's military said.
"I instructed the military this morning to continue its massive strikes on terror elements in the Gaza Strip and ordered it to reinforce the troops around the Gaza Strip with tanks, artillery and infantry force," Netanyahu said in a statement. "Hamas bears responsibility not only for its own attacks and actions but also those by Islamic Jihad, for which it pays a very high price."
The death toll has risen. As of now, three Israeli men and nine Palestinians, including two pregnant women, have been killed.
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “The Israelis have every right to defend themselves.
“I’ve seen video that we can’t validate just yet but where there have been strikes on homes, civilian populations. These rockets were fired with civilians around them in order to protect from return fire. This is terrible," Pompeo said during a Sunday interview on Fox News. “I hope that we can return to the ceasefire that had been in place for weeks and had been holding significantly before this.”
The Israel Defense Fund took to Twitter to provide an update to the world:
PRECISION STRIKE: Earlier today, we targeted Hamed Ahmed Khudari in Gaza. He was responsible for transferring Iranian money to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The funds were used to build the hundreds of rockets recently fired at Israel. Iran will need to find a new money man in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/2mv1oXLaB7
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 5, 2019
Dramatic scene on the streets of Ashdod, an Israeli port city, as a car goes up in flames following a direct hit from a rocket fired from #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/i32ozYHzae
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 5, 2019
??MORE: Air-raid sirens sounding in southern Israel. Over 600 rockets have been fired at Israeli civilians in the last 36 hours.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 5, 2019
An update about ongoing #Gaza aggression against #Israel: pic.twitter.com/5i2TQPZMTE
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 5, 2019
??600+ rockets have been fired from Gaza at Israel. IDF struck an additional 40 terror targets in Gaza, including:
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 5, 2019
• observation control rooms
• terror tunnels
• weapon storage facilities
• rocket launch sites
As of this hour, approx. 320 terror sites have been struck.