Israel’s military intercepted a long-range missile fired from Gaza in the northern part of the country on Friday.
Terrorist organizations in Gaza, primarily Hamas, frequently fire rockets into Israel, though they are predominately short-range and only threaten the communities near the border, but this rocket fire was the longest one from Gaza to date, according to the Alma Center, which is a research center in northern Israel dedicated to understanding their national security situation.
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“The air defense fighters successfully intercepted the launch by a David slingshot,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, following up on a previous statement from an hour earlier in which he said, “A launch from the Gaza Strip toward the northern region of the country was detected. The air defense fighters apparently successfully intercepted the launch.”
Israel has a multitiered aerial defense system that includes the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow 3, which are utilized primarily based on the type of an incoming missile or rocket. The IDF mostly utilizes the Iron Dome to intercept rockets from Gaza, and Israel boasts that it has a success rate of intercepting incoming fire above 90%, making the use of David’s Sling to intercept the rocket on Friday significant. David’s Sling is designed to intercept rockets fired from roughly 60-120 miles away.
“Rocket sirens in northern #Israel near Safed and east of Haifa. Most likely an ‘Ayyash-250’ rocket towards Safed or Haifa, being the longest-ever rocket attack from Gaza,” the Alma Center said on X. “IDF confirms it successfully intercepted with David’s Sling air defense system, Israel’s second tier of [surface to air missiles].”
The interception comes as Israel is likely on the verge of a ground incursion into Gaza following the worst terrorist attack in Israeli history last weekend. Hamas and other terrorist organizations launched an unprecedented attack in which more than a thousand terrorists came into Israel and began murdering people, many of whom were civilians. The death toll in the attacks exceeds 1,300.
Israel has since pummeled Gaza with thousands of airstrikes in the days since the attacks. The death toll in Gaza is now nearly 1,800, according to the Gazan health ministry, while the strikes have displaced roughly 423,000 people, per the United Nations.
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Israeli leaders have vowed to eradicate Hamas, though many of the victims of the strikes are civilians. Gaza has a population of more than 2 million people and is only about 139 square miles, which is slightly more than the size of Washington, D.C. Israeli leaders have urged roughly 1 million Gaza residents in the north to evacuate their homes and go south within the next day, though international organizations, including the United Nations, have said such a massive effort is not feasible.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric called Israel’s order “impossible” without “devastating humanitarian consequences,” according to the Associated Press.
Hamas has also urged Gaza civilians not to listen to the Israeli order.
