The failure rate of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system is causing concern among the occupation state’s military commanders, Ynet news has reported. Resistance groups in Gaza fired a barrage of 22 rockets into Israeli settlements near the besieged enclave following the death of Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan in an Israeli prison on Tuesday. Only four were intercepted by Iron Dome.

According to the Israeli news website, the system’s success rate has fallen from 96 per cent last year, to just 67 per cent. This has apparently prompted the occupation army to launch a probe into why “an otherwise reliable air defence system, which routinely boasts a success rate in the high nineties, has exhibited such a significant backslide in performance.” The IDF is frustrated that the latest failure happened “in broad daylight with high visibility and prior intelligence.”

A similar fall in the success rate has been observed against rockets fired from Lebanon. While expected to intercept 28 rockets, the system failed to stop three.

Reports in local media said that Anonymous Sudan has claimed that it hacked into the Iron Dome system yesterday. The group “warned that it would do so again should more rockets be launched,” said the Jerusalem Post.

Resistance groups in Gaza continued firing rockets into illegal Israeli settlements on Tuesday and Israeli jets and artillery continued bombing Gaza until the early hours of Wednesday morning, when international mediators succeeded in brokering a ceasefire.