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Gaza radicals fire 71 missiles at Israel over two hours — army

Nine of them landed on the Gaza Strip

TEL AVIV, August 6. /TASS/. Palestinian radicals fired 71 missiles into Israel on Friday night, the Israeli army reported.

"Over two hours [on Friday] night, 71 missiles were fired from Gaza towards Israel, of them nine landed on the Gaza Strip," the army’s press service said.

The missiles fired by terrorists "threaten the lives of innocent civilians - both Israelis and Palestinians," the Army of Defense for Israel emphasized.

Earlier on Friday, air raid sirens sounded in central and southern Israel, warning people of missile strikes from the Gaza Strip. According to the Kan radio station, the air raid sirens sounded in four central and two southern Israeli cities. The sirens can still be heard in the areas bordering the Palestinian enclave, the army’s press service said.

The Israeli army’s press service said on Friday afternoon that the army had begun hitting targets of the Islamic Jihad group in the Gaza Strip in the operation codenamed Breaking Dawn. According to Israeli army’s estimates, about 15 radicals, including a group’s commander in northern Gaza, were killed in the first series of strikes. In the second wave of strikes, Israel’s special operations forces and artillery hit Islamic Jihad’s six military targets and their rocket launcher in the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed an order on Friday to conscript up to 25,000 troops from the reserve for "operational purposes." Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Aviv Kochavi ordered to put the troops on emergency alert and open the main command post amid the situation around the Gaza Strip, the army’s press service added.