Lost among the understandable hubbub over the Attorney General’s summary of the Mueller report is what appears to be a major development in the Middle East.
BBC (“Seven injured as Gaza rocket hits home in central Israel“):
Seven people have been injured after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a house in central Israel, police say.
The rocket came down at 05:25 local time (03:25 GMT) in Mishmeret, 20km (12 miles) north of the city of Tel Aviv.
This is the furthest a Palestinian rocket has reached in Israel since the 2014 conflict with militants in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is cutting short a trip to the US over the incident, has vowed to respond with force.
So far no-one has said they carried out the attack. But an Israeli military spokeswoman has accused the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza.
A week and a half ago, two rockets were launched towards Tel Aviv and nobody was hurt. The Israeli military responded with dozens of air strikes across Gaza, which injured four people.
Hamas and Israeli officials later said those rockets had been fired “by mistake”.
CNN (“Rocket fired from Gaza hits house north of Tel Aviv“):
A rocket fired from Gaza hit a home in central Israel early Monday morning, setting the building on fire and injuring those inside, according to the Israeli military and police.
Israel’s military has said Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group was behind the rocket fire. The rocket landed in the village of Mishmeret about 25 kilometers (about 15 miles) north of Tel Aviv, making this the furthest distance a rocket has been fired into Israel since the 2014 war fought between Israel and Hamas.
Seven people were wounded in the incident, including a woman in her sixties who suffered blast injuries, minor burns and shrapnel wounds. A 12-year old girl and two infants also received shrapnel wounds, according to Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s emergency response team, in a statement.
“This is a complex incident that miraculously has concluded with only light to moderate injuries,” said MDA Director General Eli Bin, who was at the scene, according to the statement.
The rocket had a range of 75 miles and was manufactured inside Gaza by Hamas, said Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokeswoman Mika Lipshitz. She would not comment on whether the rocket was fired intentionally or unintentionally.
This happened hours ago and is buried on American news sites. Indeed, I can’t find it on the front pages of the NYT or WaPo. But this could escalate quickly.
