Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel’s military has estimated that more than 10 percent of Hamas missile launches fell in the Gaza Strip.

The military has asserted that nearly 300 rockets fired by Hamas and its Palestinian militia allies landed in the Gaza Strip. In at least one case, a medium-range M-75, based on Iran’s Fajr-5 rocket, exploded during launch. The rocket contains a conventional warhead of at least 100 kilograms and at least seven Palestinians were killed.

“Over the course of the operation approximately 280 rockets were launched and landed within the Gaza Strip,” the military said on July 30.

In a briefing on July 29, military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Hamas rockets fell on civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip. He cited an accidental Hamas missile strike on Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and the Shati refugee camp just outside the city.

“A short while ago Al Shifa Hospital and Al Shati Refugee Camp were struck by failed rocket attacks launched by Gaza terrorists,” the military said.

Hamas has denied any accidental rocket fire on the Gaza Strip. But Palestinian sources said numerous rocket launches ended up falling in Gaza communities and that scores of people have been killed or injured.

The Israeli military said more than 2,670 rockets and mortars were fired into Israel since the Hamas war began on July 8. The military said it targeted 1,566 Palestinian rocket launchers and related facilities in the Gaza Strip.

Military sources said the failed Hamas launches increased amid heavy Israeli air and artillery strikes throughout the Gaza Strip. They said the failed launches reflected poorly-assembled rockets as well as the rush to load and fire projectiles before they are spotted by Israeli aircraft.

“We believe that some 70 percent of their rocket arsenal has been depleted and now they are firing from the bottom of the heap,” a source said.

  Al Shati Refugee Camp, Al Shifa Hospital, Israel: 10 percent of Hamas rockets misfired, landed in Gaza Strip, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, M-75