“The policy of this government has not changed. Any fire, any incendiary balloon – we will respond quickly and forcefully and without hesitation,” Lapid said, praising the Israel Defense Forces for their response to the rocket fire. “All of us, all members of the cabinet, send a big hug to the children of the border communities of the Gaza Strip, who slept in bomb shelters on Friday night,” he added. In the first rocket attack on Friday night, two rockets were fired from the Strip towards the coastal city of Ashkelon. One was intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system and the second landed in an open area, without causing any damage. In response, the IDF said, it targeted an underground Hamas facility used to produce rocket materials in the central Gaza Strip. Get The Times of Israel Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories By signing up, you agree to the terms At the same time, two more rockets were fired towards Israel and warning sirens were activated in the Latchis Regional Council in the northeast of the Strip. Both of those rockets hit open areas, according to the IDF. In response to the second round of rockets, the military hit another Hamas site, which it said was being used as a weapons production facility. Fireballs are seen after an Israeli air strike in response to a rocket fire, in Gaza City on July 16, 2022. (Mahmud Hams/AFP) The IDF said the first site it hit was “one of the largest and most important sites in the Strip for the production of key materials for rockets by terrorist groups,” arguing that the strike would significantly hamper rocket production. Israeli security officials have assessed that strikes in response to the rocket fire will not lead to an escalation of violence, according to Channel 12. After the rocket attacks early Saturday, Israel said it was freezing a planned expansion of work permits for Gaza Palestinians by 1,500 (out of a total of 15,500). Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians, popularly known by its acronym COGAT, had announced the additional 1,500 permits on Tuesday as part of a series of gestures ahead of US President Joe Biden’s visit to the region. “The terrorist group Hamas bears responsibility for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip and comes from the Gaza Strip to the State of Israel and will bear the consequences,” COGAT said in a statement. Palestinian workers enter Israel after crossing from Gaza from the Israeli side of the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File) None of the Gaza-based terrorist groups claimed responsibility for Saturday’s rocket fire. The rocket launch came hours after Biden departed Israel and shortly after he announced steps in Saudi Arabia toward a deal that included moves by Riyadh to benefit Israel. In 2020, Hamas, which rules Gaza, fired 13 rockets into the south as Israel signed peace deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Addressing the US leader’s visit, Lapid said Sunday there had been “political, security and economic achievements that will strengthen the state of Israel for many years to come.” Prime Minister Yair Lapid addresses a cabinet meeting at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem on July 17, 2022. (Abir SULTAN/POOL/AFP) Lapid said the Jerusalem Declaration, which he signed with Biden, would ensure the “qualitative advantage of the Israeli security establishment” and noted that he “made it clear to the president and his staff that Israel opposes the nuclear deal and has full, political and operational freedom of action against the Iranian nuclear program.” US President Joe Biden (L) and Prime Minister Yair Lapid sign a security pledge in Jerusalem, July 14, 2022. (Mandel NGAN / AFP) Lapid also noted Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it would open its airspace to all civilian overflights, saying it would “save Israeli citizens a lot of money and time” when traveling east. Riyadh made the announcement in open air a day before Biden unveiled the planned withdrawal of an observer force protecting a pair of Red Sea islands that would allow them to be transferred from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. The withdrawal was brokered by the US and required Israel’s permission because the presence of the observer force along with ensuring freedom of movement around the islands for the Jewish state was part of Jerusalem’s conditions for handing them over to Egypt as part of 1979 peace treaty. Emanuel Fabian and Jacob Magid contributed to this report. You are a devoted reader We are really glad that you read X Times of Israel articles last month. That’s why we started the Times of Israel ten years ago – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world. So now we have a request. Unlike other media, we have not set up a paywall. But because the journalism we do is expensive, we invite readers to whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community. 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