Iran launches about 500 rockets at Israel, pledges to hit thousand times harder

According to The Jerusalem Post, Iran launched about 500 missiles at Israel on October 1. Previously, the newspaper estimated the number of launches at 102, then at 400.

Israel, Jordan and Iraq closed their airspace.

JPost wrote earlier that at 19:30 local time (the same as Moscow time), a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet would begin in a bunker in Jerusalem. This cabinet includes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant and others.

Explosions thundered in the Tel Aviv area and its environs.

Click here to see more videos of Iranian missile strike on Israel

The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the attack unprecedented.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that the strike came in response to the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC Major General Abbas Nilforoushan. They were killed in an Israeli strike on the movement's underground headquarters in a Beirut suburb on September 27.

"If Israel responds, we will hit them a thousand times harder," the IRGC said.

Several rockets hit central and southern Israel, damage assessment is underway. Nothing has been reported yet about any victims of Iranian shelling, IDF said.

In Jericho (in the territory of the Palestinian National Authority), one person was killed during the shelling, several others suffered shrapnel wounds, Israeli journalist Amit Segal said.

Two people sustained minor shrapnel injuries in Tel Aviv, Magen David Adom Medical Services said.

One of the rockets struck a gas installation in Ashkelon. The gas installation was not damaged; a controlled release of gas occurred, Israeli journalist Amit Segal said.

More videos of the missile attack available here.

Details

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, officially known as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Air and Space Force is the strategic missile, air, and space force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It was renamed from the IRGC Air Force to the IRGC Aerospace Force in 2009.