[4] On March 9, Israel carried out a targeted air strike in the Gaza Strip killing Zohair al-Qaisi, the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).

[5] According to the IDF, though the PRC denies this, Al-Qaisi had overseen the 2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, which killed eight Israelis including six civilians.

[7] Palestinian militant groups retaliated[8][9] by launching rocket attacks on Israel, with over 300 Grad missiles, Qassam rockets and mortar shells launched, of which 177 hit Israeli territory[10] striking the major urban centers of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beersheba, as well as smaller communities.

[citation needed] Twenty-three Israelis were injured, all of them civilians, and schools throughout southern Israel were kept closed for most of the week to protect students from rocket fire.

Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted many of the Palestinian-launched projectiles aimed at large cities, shooting down 56 rockets in 71 attempts.

[2] Some deaths and injuries among Palestinian civilians during the escalation, which were reported as casualties of the clashes, were later shown to be unrelated to Israeli actions.

[22][23] The Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Arab League, Syria, Egypt and Iran condemned Israel's responsive air strikes on militants.

"[29] On August 18, 2011, a series of cross-border parallel attacks and mutual cover was carried out in southern Israel on Highway 12 near the Egyptian border by a squad of presumably 12 militants in four groups.

[33] Eight Israelis – six civilians, one Yamam special Unit police officer and one Golani Brigade soldier—were killed in the multiple-stage attack.

[30] In the afternoon, a strike on a car in Gaza City killed Zohair al-Qaisi, the secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees, and his collaborator, Mahmoud Hanani.

[36] On the same day, Palestinians increased the daily rocket barrage on Israel injuring three persons and causing a traffic accident in which two were wounded.

[127] On 12 March, 16-year-old Nayef Qarmut was killed and six other teenagers were injured in an apparent explosion near Beit Lahiya in the Gaza Strip.

Adham Abu Selmiya, a spokesman for medical services in the Hamas-ruled territory, said that Qarmut was killed by an Israeli air strike.

An Agence France-Presse correspondent at the scene said there were no signs of any impact consistent with an air strike, and that the most likely cause of the teen's death was an explosive device he was carrying.

[20] On 14 March, Adham Abu Selmiya said that 8-year-old Barka al-Mugrahbi died of wounds sustained in the same purported air strike which he had said killed Nayef Qarmut.

However, on the same day, witnesses and relatives said that the boy was killed by being struck in the head by an errant bullet when gunmen were firing in the air during a Gazan funeral procession for a militant.

[24][26][131][132] The result, according to Leor Sapir, brought five strategic benefits to Israel: (1) it enabled a new weapon system to be tested in an authentic operational setting: (2) it provided crucial data to check if Iron Dome's technology met its original expectations.

(3) It inspired both confidence in the system's capabilities and set realistic expectations: (4) It enabled, in a controlled conflict to get the Gaza terrorist infrastructure to waste a significant number of rockets: (5) Above all, activating Iron Dome has a deterrent effect by sending with its 76% hit-rate a powerful message to Iran and Hezbollah.