GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes struck at least three targets in the Gaza Strip early on Saturday but caused no apparent casualties, a Palestinian security source said.
The strikes, which came after Palestinians fired a rocket from the territory at southern Israel late Friday, hit a Hamas observation post in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, an unidentified target near Gaza City and open ground near Deir El Balah in the central part of the territory, the source said.
An Israeli army statement mentioned only two strikes, against “underground targets belonging to the Hamas terror organization in the northern and central Gaza Strip.”
It did not elaborate.
The army said that Friday night’s rocket launch at southern Israel was the first since July 12.
A military statement said the rocket was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, after air raid sirens sounded in the southern town of Sderot and its surroundings.
Earlier Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said that 32 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli live fire during weekly protests along the Gaza border.
An Israeli army spokeswoman told AFP that about 5,600 people demonstrated along the border, some throwing hand grenades and explosive devices toward soldiers and attempting to reach the border fence.
She said that troops responded with “riot dispersal means” but she was unaware of any live fire.
Regular protests along the border began in March 2018.
At least 302 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza or the border area since then, the majority during demonstrations or associated clashes.
Seven Israelis have been killed in Gaza-related violence over the same period.
The protests have declined in intensity in recent months after UN and Egyptian officials brokered an informal truce between Israel and Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas.
Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, have fought three wars since 2008.
Israeli warplanes hit Gaza after Palestinian rocket attack
Israeli warplanes hit Gaza after Palestinian rocket attack
- The army said that Friday night’s rocket launch at southern Israel was the first since July 12
- The rocket was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system
Hamas says path for Gaza must begin with end to ‘aggression’
- Trump’s board met for its inaugural session in Washington on Thursday, with a number of countries pledging money and personnel to rebuild the Palestinian territory
GAZA CITY: Discussions on Gaza’s future must begin with a total halt to Israeli “aggression,” Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas said after US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace met for the first time.
“Any political process or any arrangement under discussion concerning the Gaza Strip and the future of our Palestinian people must start with the total halt of aggression, the lifting of the blockade, and the guarantee of our people’s legitimate national rights, first and foremost their right to freedom and self-determination,” Hamas said in a statement Thursday.
Trump’s board met for its inaugural session in Washington on Thursday, with a number of countries pledging money and personnel to rebuild the Palestinian territory, more than four months into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted however that Hamas must disarm before any reconstruction begins.
“We agreed with our ally the US that there will be no reconstruction of Gaza before the demilitarization of Gaza,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader did not attend the Washington meeting but was represented by his foreign minister Gideon Saar.
Trump said several countries, mostly in the Gulf, had pledged more than seven billion dollars to rebuild the territory.
Muslim-majority Indonesia will take a deputy commander role in a nascent International Stabilization Force, the unit’s American chief Major General Jasper Jeffers said.
Trump, whose plan for Gaza was endorsed by the UN Security Council in November, also said five countries had committed to providing troops, including Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania.
