In the early morning hours of June 27, 13 rockets were fired from Gaza at towns and villages in southern Israel. It was another rough night, with Israelis living around the Gaza Strip ordered to go to their protected spaces. The rocket fire did not surprise the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In fact, it was expected. Shortly before, an Israeli aircraft had fired a missile at the empty car of a Hamas activist who is a member — according to an IDF representative — of the squad that has been releasing flaming balloons into Israeli territory. At the same time, IDF tanks fired mortar shells at two Hamas observation posts, which also happened to be unmanned.
The IDF made a conscious decision not to harm members of Hamas, including that same activist (whose name has not been released), who had been using his car to deliver the flaming balloons to the border with Israel.
