A plume of dark smoke rises above buildings hit by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, as rockets are fired (L) and intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system, on May 15, 2021. Photo: MAHMUD HAMS / AFP

i24 News – Israel acted to prevent a final barrage of rockets fired at Tel Aviv and central Israel in the hours leading up the ceasefire that took effect early Friday at 2 am.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman said in a statement Friday morning that the military passed a message to the Hamas terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip that if it conducted a large-scale rocket attack on the center of Israel then the IDF would respond with a massive bombing campaign on dozens of targets in Gaza.

“We loaded dozens of armed aircraft with 1,000 targets and sent a message to Hamas that if there was a large barrage, we would attack dozens of targets simultaneously. What actually happened was that 40 rockets were fired, most of which landed in open areas,” Zilberman said.

Israeli fighter jets and other aircraft were kept flying over Gaza airspace in the hours leading up to the ceasefire, ready for an aerial bombardment of Gaza should Hamas fire a barrage of rockets at Israel’s major population centers.

“But we didn’t need to fulfill our plans. There was no final barrage,” Zilberman said.