GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israeli aircraft carried out attacks in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip early Sunday, Palestinian security officials said, hours after militants in the enclave launched three rockets at the Jewish state.
The strikes targeted two sites belonging to Al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing, in northern Gaza, with another series of sorties at a Qassam site west of Gaza City, Hamas officials said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The Israeli army said “fighter jets and attack helicopters struck a number of Hamas terror targets” in Gaza, as well as “a military post belonging to the Hamas naval force in the northern Gaza Strip.”
“The IDF (Israel Defense Force) holds the Hamas terror organization responsible for events transpiring in the Gaza Strip and emanating from it,” the army said in a statement.
“Hamas will bear the consequences for actions against Israeli civilians.”
Late Saturday night, Palestinian militants in Gaza launched three rockets at southern Israel.
All three projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, the army said, amending an earlier statement according to which two of the three rockets were shot down over southern Israel.
Medics had treated three people in the southern Israeli town of Sderot who suffered minor injuries while seeking shelter as air raid sirens went off, the Magen David Adom emergency medical service said.
There were no immediate reports of material damage.
On November 29, Israeli warplanes struck Hamas positions in Gaza in response to rocket fire at the Jewish state the previous day.
Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007, and Israel holds the Islamist movement responsible for all rocket fire coming from the territory, although it has targeted other militant groups there.
Last month, Israeli forces assassinated a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip, sparking a two-day flare-up which killed 36 Palestinians.
Islamic Jihad fired around 450 rockets at Israel, many of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.
Israel has fought three wars with Hamas and allied armed groups in Gaza since 2008.
Israel strikes in Gaza after rocket attack
Israel strikes in Gaza after rocket attack
- Strikes targeted two sites belonging to Al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing
- Late Saturday night, Palestinian militants in Gaza launched three rockets at southern Israel
Israeli attacks on Lebanon kill four, including security officer and child
- Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli strike on village of Yanuh in the south killed three people
- Israeli gunfire also killed one person in the border village of Aita Al-Shaab
BEIRUT: Israeli attacks on Lebanon killed four people on Monday including a Lebanese security forces member and his child, hours after the Israeli army seized a member of Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya.
Israel frequently strikes Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire aimed at ending more than a year of hostilities with militant group Hezbollah.
On Monday, Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike on the village of Yanuh in the south killed three people.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted Ahmad Ali Salameh, who it alleged was Hezbollah’s head of artillery and had been working to restore the group’s capabilities.
In addition to Salameh, the strike killed a member of Lebanon’s security forces and his three-year-old child, who were passing by, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA).
The Israeli military said the incident was “under review” after it was made “aware of the claim that uninvolved civilians were killed.”
Later on Monday, the health ministry reported that Israeli gunfire killed one person in the border village of Aita Al-Shaab, with the Israeli military saying it killed a Hezbollah member.
It alleged he was “gathering intelligence on (Israeli) troops and operated to rehabilitate Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon.”
In addition to recurring attacks, the Israeli army still has troops deployed on five border positions in Lebanon it deems strategic.
Monday’s incidents come hours after the Jamaa Islamiya group, an ally of Palestinian militants Hamas, accused Israel of seizing one of its officials, Atwi Atwi, from his home in the Hasbaya district, south Lebanon, and taking him to an unknown location.
The group, which has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel during the war with Hezbollah, condemned “the Israeli occupation forces’ infiltration.”
The Israeli military said that it “apprehended a senior terrorist” in the group who was then “transferred for further questioning in Israeli territory.”
Atwi’s capture came hours after Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam completed a two-day visit to the south, which suffered extensive damage during the conflict with Hezbollah, with thousands displaced.
Salam in a statement condemned Atwi’s “abduction,” calling it a “blatant attack on Lebanese sovereignty, a violation of the ceasefire agreement and “a breach of international law.”
Hezbollah meanwhile called on the state to “take deterrent measures and firm and clear positions, and to act immediately at all political, diplomatic and legal levels, and to work seriously to protect citizens.”
Lebanon accuses Israel of having abducted several other citizens since the start of the hostilities.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Al-Hajj Hassan said last month that Israel was holding “20 Lebanese prisoners,” alleging 10 had been abducted “inside Lebanese territory after the ceasefire.”
Lebanon says Israel must release these detainees and withdraw from the border positions it retains, in addition to halting air strikes on Lebanon.
