Israeli military aircraft have bombed Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip, hours after two rockets were launched from the Palestinian enclave at Tel Aviv in the first such attack since a 2014 war.
There was no immediate word of casualties in the air strikes that hit six buildings used by the dominant Islamist group’s security forces, and which had been evacuated as a precaution.
Witnesses said powerful explosions from the air strikes rocked buildings in Gaza and lit the skies over targeted sites
The Israeli military said it was targeting “terror sites” in Gaza. In a possible sign of further escalation, it said rocket sirens were sounded in Israeli communities near the Gaza border.
On Thursday night, the sirens howled further north, in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital, set off by what the military said were two incoming, longer-range rockets from Gaza.
That salvo caused no casualties or damage, missing built-up areas.
But it rattled Israeli nerves ahead of an April 9 election in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking a fifth term on the strength of his national security credentials.
Explosions were heard in Tel Aviv and witnesses said Iron Dome interceptor missiles were fired skyward and detonated – although the military said no rockets were shot down.
Read the article by Nidal al-Mughrabi in the Mercury (Reuters).