The IDF on Sunday morning bombed several terror targets in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks on Israeli cities earlier in the night.

Gaza-based terrorists fired two rockets. One rocket was fired to the Ashdod area but did not set off an alarm or cause damage, probably landing in the sea.

The second rocket set off alarms in the Ashdod area. An Iron Dome defense battery engaged the rocket.

No one was injured and no damage was caused in either of the attacks. Three people were treated for shock.

In response, IDF tanks and helicopters struck Hamas underground infrastructure and military posts in Gaza.

“The IDF is conducting an ongoing situational assessment and remains prepared to operate against any terror activity,” it stated.

The attacks were probably carried out by the Islamic Jihad. The terror group marked on Thursday a year since its senior commander Baha Abu al-Atta was assassinated in an Israel strike in November 2019.

The IDF was prepared for such a development and warned the terror group against such attacks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday with Pfizer’s Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla and made significant inroads on the way to purchasing the company’s new Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine for Israeli citizens.

Pfizer and its collaborator, BioNTech, announced on Monday positive efficacy results from the Phase 3, late-stage study of its potential COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis.

Netanyahu stated after his conversation with Bourla that he is “constantly working to bring vaccines to Israel” and had “a very warm and heartfelt conversation” with Bourla.

Netanyahu asked to speak with Bourla and “he responded immediately.”

“It seems that Albert Bourla is very proud of his Greek and Jewish heritage from Thessaloniki and he told me that he holds the development of relations between Greece and Israel, which I have been leading in recent years, in high regard,” Netanyahu offered.

Following the conversation, which was “very substantive and very practical,” Netanyahu is “convinced” that Israel will complete the contract with Pfizer.

While some details, including who will be responsible for the shipment of the vaccines, are still under discussion, Israel is expected to sign a contract with Pfizer in the coming days.

Israel’s leadership expressed sorrow and conveyed its condolence to Bahrain following the death of Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister.

He died Wednesday morning at Mayo Clinic Hospital in the US at the age of 84.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “on behalf of the citizens of Israel, I would like to express our sincere condolences to the King of Bahrain, His Majesty Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa, to the royal family and to the entire Bahraini people on the death of the prime minister.”

He sent his “personal condolences to his family as well and appreciate his great contribution to the establishment of peace between our countries.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz wrote that he was “saddened by the news this morning of the death of Bahrain’s veteran prime minister, Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa” and conveyed his condolences to his family and the Bahraini citizens.

Foreign Minister Gazbi Ashkenzai expressed his condolences “to the Bahraini royal family and the people of Bahrain on the death of the Bahraini Prime Minister Al Khalifa, who served his people with dignity and wisdom.”

Israel and Bahrain signed a historic peace agreement at the White House on September 15, the Abraham Accords, the first agreement to be signed between Israel and an Arab country in 25 years.

Israel will seek to acquire Pfizer’s new Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Monday after the American company announced a breakthrough in its development.

Pfizer and its collaborator, BioNTech, announced positive efficacy results from the Phase 3, late-stage study of its potential COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis.

“The results demonstrate that our mRNA-based vaccine can help prevent COVID-19 in the majority of people who receive it. This means we are one step closer to potentially providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global pandemic,” Pfizer stated.

“This is a first but critical step in our work to deliver a safe and effective vaccine,” the company said.

Netanyahu noted that “today is a very important day in the global struggle against the coronavirus. In my estimation, several other companies are also advancing toward this goal. We are also advancing with our vaccine; it will take more time.”

Israel’s Brilife vaccine began its human trials phase last week and is not expected to be ready before the summer.

“However, one thing is clear. Not long from today, it will not be years but months, there will be vaccines that will be available for the population of the world. My goal at the moment is to do one thing – bring vaccines to you, citizens of Israel, and we will do so,” he stated.

“This means that the end is in view. I said a few days ago that I see light at the end of the tunnel. I think that train is already exiting the tunnel,” he added.

Israel has signed contracts with a few companies developing a vaccine but not with Pfizer.

Sources reported that Israel will attempt to obtain the vaccine through the US government and not directly from Pfizer, as Israel is a small market and would not be on Pfizer’s priority list for marketing.

Israel will build a new community in the Sdot Negev Regional Council area, adjacent to the Gaza Strip, the government announced Sunday.

The Cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to evaluate the establishment of a new community for 500 families in the Sdot Negev Regional Council area, east of Kibbutz Sa’ad.

The provisional name of the community will be Hanun. The new residents will vote on its permanent name in the future.

The establishment of the new community is the outcome of Netanyahu’s policy of advancing the development of the periphery and the drawing of the population from the center of the country to the Negev, and in accordance with the government policy of strengthening the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu met on Sunday with Sdot Negev Regional Council Chairman Tamir Idan and congratulated him on the decision.

“This is a great day for the State of Israel. We are building a new community in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu declared.

He recalled six years ago when he decided to establish the new community.

“This captured my imagination and my heart and we have decided to do it, and here we are implementing it,” he said.

Netanyahu said that the new community was “both a domestic and an external message. We face enemies who want to uproot us and they are revealing that not only are we not being uprooted – we are planting, building and producing. This is a very big thing – this is the essence of Zionism.”

Sdot Negev Regional Council Chairman Idan said he was “very moved. This is a festive day for the State of Israel in general and the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip in particular.”

Idan said that the population has grown by 30% in the past few years and that he has a long waiting list of Israelis who want to move to the area.

He further noted the IDF intelligence reports that discuss how Gaza-based terror organizations that threaten the area view Israelis.

“When they see us hesitating and wailing, they say ‘aha, these people are weak.’ And when they see us looking straight ahead, expanding, talking about building new communities and constructing tall buildings in [the nearby city of] Sderot, their spirit drops and ours does not,” he said.