Israeli woman killed and eight injured after rocket fired from Gaza hits apartment block

One Israeli has been killed and eight others injured after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into an apartment building in the town of Rehovot.

Thursday’s deadly strike on an apartment building in the central town, along with a succession of further rocket launches towards southern Israel, put an end to any prospect of an end to the latest flare up between Israel and the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad group in Gaza.

The victim was the first fatality in Israel since it began an operation against Islamic Jihad on Tuesday morning with a series of air strikes that killed another three of the group’s commanders.

She was later identified as Inga Avramyan.

Others wounded in the Rehovot attack including a 70 year old woman and seven others said to be “mildly wounded” who were taken to the Kaplan Hospital for treatment.

Following the attack Islamic Jihad said its military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, had “fulfilled its obligation toward the Palestinian fallen, both the commanders and the civilians.”

Militants have launched at least 803 rockets since Wednesday, 620 of which have crossed into Israeli territory, the Israeli military said.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Friday that the rocket that hit a Rehovot building was not intercepted due to a technical failure that caused the interceptor to miss its target.

Further mortars and rockets were fired at Israeli communities near the Gaza perimeter fence, damaging two homes in the Eshkol Regional Council area.

On Friday, video footage showed rockets fired towards the Gush Etzion settlement bloc from Gaza, along with a further barrage of missiles that were launched towards Jerusalem.

Israel confirmed it had ended ceasefire talks as a result of the unexpected escalation on Friday, and confirmed it had launched renewed strikes against Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

Palestinian officials said 31 people had been killed in Gaza during Israel’s current operation, six of whom are children and three of whom are women.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel had intercepted 260 rockets since the beginning of the operation, with an accuracy rate of 91percent.

Hagari added “The campaign will continue as long as it is needed.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security assessment with senior officials on Friday.