Smoke rises following an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip as it seen from the Israeli side of the border on May 29, 2018. Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

JNS.org – The Israel Defense Forces has hit an additional 25 Hamas targets late Tuesday and early Wednesday morning in a second wave of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. On Tuesday afternoon, Israeli aircraft hit 35 “terror sites” in Gaza in response to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket and mortar fire.

According to the IDF, the additional strikes in Gaza included sheds of drones used for terror purposes, a rocket manufacturing workshop, advanced naval weaponry, military compounds, training facilities and a munitions manufacturing site.

“The Hamas terror organization again chooses to act against the interest of the residents of the Gaza Strip. After it failed during the violent riots along the security fence, it now chooses to conduct and allow a wide-scale attack against Israeli civilians,” said the IDF Spokespersons Unit.

The new attacks on Hamas in Gaza came as reports earlier in the evening had suggested that an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire was going to take effect. Nevertheless, rockets and mortars continued to rain down on southern Israel with projectile fragments destroyed by the Iron Dome missile-defense system hitting Israeli towns.

Earlier on Tuesday, both Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a joint statement claiming responsibility for the rocket and mortar attacks on Israel.

The IDF said it holds Hamas accountable for all attacks, and that it will persist in its mission to protect Israeli civilians.

“The IDF views the terror activity carried out by the Hamas terror organization with great severity, and will continue to operate in a powerful and determined manner,” it said. “The IDF is prepared to carry out its missions as necessary.”