Jerusalem: Fresh Israeli airstrikes hit Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday,
Israel’s army said, as a week of hostilities between the Jewish State and the Palestinian enclave raged on.
Israel says the strikes, and other measures including halting the territory’s fuel supply, are in retaliation for firebombs suspended from balloons that float over the border from Gaza.
The overnight attack on sites used by Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the enclave, was the fifth such operation this week.
It came just hours after Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalise ties in a landmark US-brokered deal. That agreement has been rejected by the Palestinians, who called it a “betrayal” of their cause, including their claim to Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
The Israel Defence Forces said a Hamas aerial defence post, observation posts and underground infrastructures had been hit on Friday, and did not report any casualties.
“Over the last week, explosive and arson balloons have been launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory,” it said.
“In response, a short while ago, IDF fighter jets, attack helicopters and tanks struck a number of Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip.”
A similar attack the previous night caused no reported casualties but left an unexploded missile inside a UN-run school’s compound in a Gaza refugee camp.
Read the article in The Australian (AFP).