Israel’s Iron Dome intercepted scores of rockets from Hamas on Tuesday night as the Palestinian terrorist organization continued to launch attacks against Israeli citizens.
Terrorists have fired more than 1,050 rockets at Israel since fighting broke out a couple of days ago, which has resulted in the deaths of at least five people inside Israel with more than 100 injured.
The Washington Post explained how the Iron Dome works:
First put into service in 2011, it is designed to stop short-range rockets and artillery like those fired from Gaza. Two separate systems, known as David’s Sling and Arrow, are designed for medium- and long-range threats, including planes, drones, rockets and missiles.
Iron Dome relies on a system of radar and analysis to determine whether an incoming rocket is a threat, firing an interceptor only if the incoming rocket risks hitting a populated area or important infrastructure.
The interceptors, which are fired vertically either from mobile units or a static launch site, are designed to detonate the incoming rocket in the air, producing the explosions in the sky that have come to accompany warning sirens during recent Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.
WATCH:
NOW: Incoming rockets intercepted by the Iron Domehttps://t.co/vKfZqRwGtH pic.twitter.com/RKnGdz0vq8
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) May 12, 2021
WATCH as the Iron Dome Aerial Defense System intercepts rockets over southern Israel: pic.twitter.com/xUz3bMuTzz
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 12, 2021
RAW FOOTAGE: This is the moment the Iron Dome intercepted a barrage of rockets over Tel Aviv and central Israel. pic.twitter.com/8jl8OTgWCl
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 11, 2021
More amazing Iron Dome footage from Ashkelon earlier today. pic.twitter.com/NqUeUCna6a
— Noam Blum 🦉 (@neontaster) May 12, 2021
All the Iron Dome videos out of Israel going viral tonight: pic.twitter.com/l27BzTD4zR
— Livefist (@livefist) May 11, 2021
Iron Dome interceptors vs rockets over Tel Aviv
Israel /Palestine Rocket warfare pic.twitter.com/aQPX8TN1Nw— Harry Boone (@towersight) May 11, 2021
One of the small problems that the Iron Dome has encountered during this latest episode of intense fighting is that Hamas appears to be trying a newer tactic: firing a large number of rockets at once in an attempt to overload Iron Dome with the hope that a few rockets will be able to slip into Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) taunted Hamas on Wednesday morning after Israel’s Air Force terminated numerous Hamas intelligence officials.
“Our fighter jets, with the ISA, neutralized key figures of Hamas’ intelligence: Hassan Kaogi, head of the Hamas military intelligence security department & his deputy Wail Issa, head of the military intelligence counterespionage department. Looks like our intel was better.”
The IDF highlighted on social media other top Hamas terrorists on Tuesday that it killed on the battlefield.
“We just killed the commander of the Hamas anti-tank missile unit, Iyad Fathi Faik Sharir,” the IDF wrote. “He was in charge of carrying out anti-tank missile attacks on Israel. Our aircraft are currently striking additional terror targets in Gaza.”
“This is the moment that the IDF & Israel Security Agency carried out a targeted strike against Islamic Jihad commander, Samah Abed al-Mamluk & other senior members of his unit,” the IDF added. “They were among those responsible for hundreds of rockets fired at Israelis.”
On Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, terrorists rioted in the Israeli city of Lod, setting three synagogues on fire and torching numerous other businesses and cars. Lod Mayor Yair Revivo compared the acts of terrorism to Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, in 1938 when Nazis in Germany killed nearly 100 Jews and torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools, and businesses.
“This is Kristallnacht in Lod,” Revivo said on Channel 12. “I have called on the prime minister to declare a state of emergency in Lod. To call in the IDF. To impose a curfew. To restore quiet … There is a failure of governance … This is a giant incident — an Intifada of Arab Israelis. All the work we have done here for years [on coexistence] has gone down the drain.”
“All of Israel should know, this is a complete loss of control,” Revivo added, sounding desperate. “This is unthinkable. Synagogues are being burned. Hundreds of cars set alight. Hundreds of Arab thugs are roaming the streets… Civil war has erupted in Lod … The Orthodox-nationalist community here has guns. I’m imploring them to go back home but they understandably want to protect their homes. Petrol bombs are being thrown into [Jewish] homes. The situation is incendiary.”