The terrorist group says it fired 130 rockets towards Tel Aviv and its suburbs.
By Alexander Smith, Lawahez Jabari and Paul Goldman
Hamas has launched a rocket attack on Tel Aviv, with a direct hit on a building leaving at least one person dead, according to Israeli media reports.
Residents ran to air raid shelters and sirens blared as explosions broke out across the city on Tuesday evening.
Hamas said in a statement it had fired 130 rockets towards Tel Aviv and its suburbs as weeks of tensions with Israel escalated into some of the most violent scenes since the war of 2014.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the terrorist group “will pay a heavy price for their belligerence”, while his defence minister warned that “buildings will continue to crumble in Gaza”.
The targeted attack on the building took place in the suburb of Holon, killing a 50-year-old Israeli woman, according to local medics.
It saw the temporary closure of Israel’s main Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, which reopened around 10pm local time.
The energy pipeline connecting Eilat and Ashkelon was also hit by the rocket strikes, Israel’s Channel 12 TV reported.
An elderly Israeli woman and her carer, who was an Indian national, had already been confirmed dead in Hamas airstrikes on houses in the city of Ashkelon on Tuesday.
The deaths came after Israeli fighter jets, attack helicopters and drones hit more than 130 “Hamas military targets” inside Gaza, including the home of a Hamas commander, according to the Israeli military.
Thirty-five Palestinians, including 10 children, died as a result according to the health ministry, with a 13-storey building collapsing after another nearby strike.
The attacks were in retaliation to a barrage of rockets, including six that landed close to Jerusalem, which were fired into Israel from Gaza on Monday.
Hamas said on Tuesday that it will “not stop its resistance action as long as the Israeli occupation continues its aggression against the Palestinians”.
The militant group said it would retaliate at 6pm on Monday if the demands were not met.
Sending a big hug to all of the Israelis running to bomb shelters right now.
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) May 11, 2021
We are with you and will continue to protect all of our citizens.
?️ Tel Aviv under Hamas rocket fire pic.twitter.com/5rcDInfltJ
At just after 6pm explosions were heard in Jerusalem as the Hamas rockets landed eight miles (13km) to the west of the city.
