Report: Penetrating Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’, Palestinian rocket hits regime's strategic base

A US media report says a rocket "most likely fired by the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement" from the Gaza Strip on October 7 has hit an Israeli military base where, according to experts, many of the regime's nuclear-capable missiles are kept.

The Monday report by The New York Times said although the Israeli missiles were not hit in the rocket attack, its impact at the Sdot Micha base in central Israel sparked a fire that approached the regime’s missile storage facilities and other sensitive weaponry.

“More satellite images taken in the hours after the strike captured the rapid spread of the fire and Israeli firefighters’ efforts to stem its growth. At least two firefighting aircraft and streaks of bright red fire retardant were visible near the fire,” the report said.

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October 7 was the day when the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movements launched a surprise operation, dubbed al-Aqsa Storm, against Israel in response to the regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians. The operation started with a heavy barrage of rockets fired by resistance fighters at Israel's sensitive military sites and settlements.

Experts quoted by the paper said the base most likely houses 25 to 50 nuclear-capable Jericho missile launchers. According to declassified US government documents, Israel’s Jericho missiles are equipped to carry nuclear warheads.

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The strike proved that despite all Israeli allegations about the capability of its air defense systems, the Palestinian resistance’s rockets were able to "slip through" the regime’s air defenses and hit the military base that is home to its strategic weapons.

“...the targeting of one of the most sensitive military locations in Israel shows that the scope of the Oct. 7 attacks may have been even greater than previously known — and that [Palestinian] rockets can penetrate the airspace around Israel’s closely guarded strategic weapons,” the report said.

"It’s unclear how many rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, or managed to slip through and hit the base in addition to the one found by The Times," the report said, admitting that in some cases on October 7 "Iron Dome became overwhelmed by the amount of incoming fire or ran out of interceptor missiles."

Although the Israeli occupation forces have declined to comment on the incident, recent satellite images show new earthen berms and barriers have been built around military positions near the rocket impact location.

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