UPDATE 2 - Air Raid Sirens Sound In Tel Aviv, More Rockets Fired From Gaza Strip

TEL AVIV/GAZA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2021) Air raid sirens were heard in Israel's Tel Aviv late on Saturday night, around midnight, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

The sirens were followed by the sound of explosions (likely due to the the Iron Dome Aerial Defense System intercepting rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip).

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said shortly after midnight that multiple rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

"After threatening to fire rockets at Tel Aviv, Hamas has fired a heavy barrage of rockets from Gaza into central & southern Israel. Men, women, children, and the elderly are currently in shelters, protecting themselves from rockets aimed at them," the IDF said on Twitter.

According to the Sputnik correspondent, rockets started to be launched towards Israel from Gaza on the night from Saturday to Sunday, around midnight (21:00 GMT on Saturday).

On Saturday evening, the military wing of Palestine's Hamas, Qassam Brigades, announced that the movement was going to stop airstrikes against Israel's Tel Aviv for two hours starting from 10 p. m. local time on Saturday (19:00 GMT).

Qassam Brigades said after midnight that it had resumed strikes, launching rockets in the direction of Israel's Ashkelon, Ashdod and Beersheba, in response to the Israeli forces having destroyed residential buildings in the Gaza Strip.

On the night from Saturday to Sunday, the Telegram channel of Qassam Brigades appeared to be blocked.