GAZA CITY: Israeli tanks shelled Hamas posts in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after Palestinians set off bombs along the border fence, the military said, with no casualties reported.
A security source from Hamas, the Islamist movement which runs the Gaza Strip, said that one round hit an observation post near the border, causing damage but no casualties.
He said that earlier, shortly after sunrise, there were four explosions along the border, which slightly damaged the Israeli frontier barrier.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts.
An Israeli military statement said: "A number of explosive devices were detonated on the security fence along the northern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported.
"Tanks targeted posts belonging to the Hamas terror organisation in response," it added.
On February 17, four Israeli soldiers were wounded by an improvised explosive device on the border, sparking intense military retaliation.
Israel warplanes attacked 18 "terror targets belonging to Hamas" in Gaza in response to the blast, which severely wounded two of the soldiers, and a subsequent Palestinian rocket attack on southern Israel.
The following day, troops shot dead two Palestinian teenagers near the border, Gaza medical sources said.
The Israeli army said at the time that soldiers fired "warning shots" at a number of Palestinians approaching the border fence "in a suspicious manner" but could not confirm Palestinian casualties.
Israel shells Hamas posts in Gaza in response to bombs
Israel shells Hamas posts in Gaza in response to bombs
Iran’s foreign minister heads to Muscat for nuclear talks with US
- Iran will engage in the talks “with authority and with the aim of reaching a fair, mutually acceptable and dignified understanding on the nuclear issue,” a spokesperson said
TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has departed for the Omani capital Muscat at the head of a diplomatic delegation for nuclear talks with the US due to be held on Friday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson said.
The US and Iran have agreed to hold talks in Oman on Friday, officials for both sides said, even as they remain at odds over Washington’s insistence that negotiations must include Tehran’s missile arsenal and Iran’s vow to discuss only its nuclear program.
Iran will engage in the talks “with authority and with the aim of reaching a fair, mutually acceptable and dignified understanding on the nuclear issue,” the spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Thursday.
“We hope the American side will also participate in this process with responsibility, realism and seriousness,” Baghaei added.
