Israel: Hamas launches barrage of rockets at Ashkelon, hours after warning

Tel Aviv [Israel], October 10 (ANI): Hours after issuing a warning, terrorist group Hamas launched a rocket attack at the southern coastal city of Ashkelon in Israel on Tuesday, The Times of Israel reported.
As the barrage of rockets pounded the coastal city, sirens sounded in the city and other nearby towns.
The terrorist organisation had earlier issued a warning that it would attack Ashkelon at 5 o'clock in retaliation for Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The spokesperson for Hamas's Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, had threatened the Israel's coastal city of Ashkelon with a major rocket barrage in the coming hours, The Times of Israel reported.
The Hamas leader has also asked the residents to leave their homes in order to not fall victim to the attacks.
"In response to the enemy's crime of displacing our people and forcing them to flee their homes in several areas of the Gaza Strip, we give the residents of the occupied city of Ashkelon a deadline to leave before 5 p.m," Abu Obeida said on his Telegram channel, according to The Times of Israel.
As Israel is subject to rocket assaults from both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, the approaching rocket sirens are once more audible in the western Galilee and the southern coastal city of Ashkelon, The Times of Israel reported.
There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries in the attacks.
Over 770 Palestinians have been killed in air raids after Israel launched a strong retaliation after the 'surprise attack' by Hamas, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said that at least 770 Palestinians have been killed and 4,000 wounded in Israeli air raids. Among the dead are 140 children and 120 women, a ministry spokesperson said.
In addition to this, at least 18 people have also been killed and around 100 were injured in the West Bank region since Saturday, Al Jazeera reported. Meanwhile, at least 900 Israelis were killed and over 2,616 people injured after Hamas launched a barbaric 'surprise attack' on Israel on October 7.
In a war update shared by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on X, the IDF said that about 30 hostages have been held by Hamas in Gaza in the ongoing conflict. It also stated that about 4,500 rockets have been fired from Gaza on Israel after which the Israeli defence forces struck 1290 Hamas targets in Gaza.
An IDF Spokesperson has confirmed that 123 soldiers have been killed in the fighting, and 50 families have been informed that a relative was kidnapped by Hamas.
Earlier in the day, in a stern warning to Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "though Israel did not start this war" but "will finish it".
"Israel is at war. We didn't want this war. It was forced upon us in the most brutal and savage way. But though Israel didn't start this war, Israel will finish it," said Netanyahu in an address to the nation. (ANI)