“As of 07.00 a.m. (04:00 GMT), since the start of Operation Guardian of the Walls, around 4,070 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, of which 610 launches were unsuccessful, the rockets fell inside the Gaza Strip,” the army said.
Gaza conflict: Biden to Netanyahu, ‘I expect significant de-escalation’
The percentage of rockets intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system stands at approximate 90 per cent, the military added.
The tensions between Israel and the Gaza Strip-based Hamas Islamist movement rose late on May 10.
The iron dome defense system is a mobile all-weather air defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries.
The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to 70 kilometres (43 mi) away and whose trajectory would take them to an Israeli populated area.
Iron Dome was declared operational and initially deployed on March 27, 2011, near Beersheba.
On April 7, 2011, the system successfully intercepted a BM-21 Grad launched from Gaza for the first time.
On March 10, 2012, The Jerusalem Post reported that the system shot down 90 percent of rockets launched from Gaza that would have landed in populated areas.
In late 2012 Israel said that it hoped to increase the range of Iron Dome’s interceptions, from a maximum of 70 kilometres (43 mi) to 250 kilometres (160 mi) and make it more versatile so that it could intercept rockets coming from two directions simultaneously. (Sputnik/NAN)
