Palestinian terrorist groups fired rockets at Israel as the country signed the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in Washington.
The Gaza-based terrorists fired a barrage of rockets aimed at cities in southern Israel during the historic ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House Tuesday afternoon.
Two people were injured in the city of Ashdod “after one of the two rockets evaded the Iron Dome defense system and exploded near a shopping center,” Israel Hayom newspaper reported. No terrorist group took direct responsibility, but Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad issued statements supporting these acts of terror.
The Times of Israel reported the rocket terror attacks:
Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired 13 rockets into southern Israel before dawn on Wednesday, eight of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome system, the Israel Defense Forces said. The attack apparently came in response to Israel signing peace deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.The projectiles were fired over the course of half an hour, prompting the second of two waves of overnight strikes by the Israeli Air Force on Hamas targets across Gaza.The predawn attacks from the Strip triggered sirens at least five times over a half-hour period — from roughly 4:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. — in the town of Sderot and communities in the Eshkol and Sha’ar Hanegev regions early Wednesday. The IDF said several volleys were fired, totaling 13 rockets. Soldiers operating the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted eight of the incoming projectiles, the military said.
The step-up of terrorism comes as Israel and Arab countries move towards peace and normalization.
“We’re here this afternoon to change the course of history. After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle East,” President Trump said at the Tuesday’s White House ceremony attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Foreign Ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. At least 7-9 Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, could normalize relations with Israel under the current diplomatic initiative, the president added.
“This day is a pivot of history. It heralds a new dawn of peace,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader thanked President Trump for “bringing hope to all the children of Abraham.”
“You’ve successfully brokered the historic peace we are signing today, a peace that has broad support in Israel, in the Middle East, in America — indeed, in the entire world,” he said.
The UAE signed a Peace Accord with Israel, while Bahrain signed a “Declaration of Peace” with the Jewish State, collectively known as the Abraham Accords. Read the full text of the accord here.
The latest wave of terror is part of a more comprehensive campaign by Palestinian terrorist groups and their regional allies to intimidate Israel and Arab states as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for more countries in the Middle East to endorse the peace accord.
The Iranian regime threatened Bahrain with “consequences” for reaching a peace agreement with the Jewish States.
“How could you reach out your hands to Israel?” President Hassan Rouhani decried. “All the severe consequences that would arise from this are on you.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S. designated terrorist outfit, had previously threatened the UAE with similar attacks for endorsing the Trump-brokered peace accord.
Threatened by the prospect of peace in the region, Iranian-backed terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah vowed to create an “axis” of terror against Israel. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh Hezbollah met with Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah earlier this month to strengthen their “axis of resistance” based on Islamic “brotherhood and Jihad,” the terrorist groups declared in a statement.
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