Hamas-led terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired at least 72 rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians overnight. The escalation comes on the heels of a state visit by Qatar’s ruler Emir Hamad bin Khalifa A-Thani, which was hailed as a diplomatic victory by Hamas and condemned by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. Hamas leaders used the occasion to declare that they had successfully defeated attempts by Israel and the United States to internationally isolate the Iran-backed group, and the organization subsequently launched the overnight rocket barrage. The escalation took the number of rockets and mortars launched at Israeli civilians this year to 729, far in excess of the estimated 653 launched in all of 2011. TIP is updating our coverage of the story as it develops.

[Photo: Amir Farshad Ebrahimi / Flickr]