Israeli War Planes Strike Hamas Targets in Response to Rocket Attack
by Reuters and Algemeiner Staff
Israel carried out air strikes in central Gaza before dawn on Thursday after a rocket launched from the Palestinian territory landed in Israel, Hamas officials and Israeli military sources said.
Two training camps used by Hamas, the Islamist terror group that rules the blockaded enclave, were hit, and no casualties were reported, witnesses said.
Israeli war planes struck a security post and part of an underground site used to produce rocket engines, the Israeli military said in a statement.
Earlier, a rocket fired from Gaza struck southern Israel, causing slight damage to a house but no injuries, police said. No faction claimed responsibility for what is the second such attack in days.
In a statement, Hamas said Israel’s bombing will only encourage Palestinians to “resist the occupation and step up their support for Jerusalem and its people.”
Confrontations in Jerusalem’s Old City — particularly at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound — pose the risk of a relapse into a broader conflagration like last year’s 11-day Israel-Gaza war.