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Why were rockets fired toward Tel Aviv?

The Gaza Strip rushed to contain the repercussions of the rockets fired at Tel Aviv; such an attack that actually hit the Israeli city could drag Palestinians into a war.

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Smoke and flame are seen during an Israeli airstrike, a retaliatory strike after rockets were fired toward Tel Aviv, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, March 15, 2019. — REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Gaza Strip Interior Ministry said in its March 14 statement that the movement is following up on the Gaza rockets that were fired in defiance of a national consensus against them, and stressed that measures will be taken against the violators. For the first time since 2014, two rockets were fired toward Tel Aviv on March 14, despite the Egypt-brokered truce agreements between Hamas and Israel. Although the military wings of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad denied responsibility for the rockets fired, Israel shelled dozens of military targets belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip without causing casualties.

This is the first time that the Interior Ministry explicitly declared that rocket operatives, in a time of truce, will be prosecuted. The ministry and Hamas are committed to a media silence when it comes to holding accountable those who fire rockets toward Israel, although it does so discreetly. Holding them accountable publicly would consist of a violation of Hamas' principle of resisting Israel until the liberation of Palestine.

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