News
Mortars fired at Israeli troops on Gaza border, IAF responds
Palestinians fired three mortar rockets at Israeli soldiers patrolling the border with the Gaza Strip early this morning. Israel’s Air Force (IAF) responded with a strategic strike, preventing rockets being launched at Israel.
All three mortar shells exploded as they crashed into the border fence and no casualties were reported. Shortly afterwards, Israel’s Air Force launched a precision air strike in the southern Gaza Strip which an IDF statement said “intercepted terrorists during their final preparations to launch rockets towards Israel.” Palestinian sources said that two people were injured in the air strikes.
The IDF instructed Israeli farmers in the Gaza border region not to work fields in close proximity to the border fence for fear of reprisal attacks. Israel’s army further commented, “The IDF will continue to act with determination for as long as necessary against any actor who uses terrorism against the State of Israel.” The statement added that “The Hamas terrorist organisation is responsible” for such attacks.
This morning’s incident comes after a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip exploded in southern Israel on Monday, adding to an already tense situation on the Israel-Gaza border over the past few weeks. Last week, an IDF patrol came under fire and two rockets landed near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. The week before, a Palestinian sniper killed Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, an Israel Defence Ministry contract worker who was carrying out repairs on the border fence. The IDF struck strategic targets in the Gaza Strip in response, which reportedly resulted in the death of a Palestinian toddler.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Hamas authorities in Gaza yesterday released seven Fatah members it had imprisoned for security-related offences. A Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman said the release was part of efforts to “consolidate national reconciliation” with the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The two factions have been fierce rivals since Hamas violently ejected Fatah from the Gaza Strip in 2007.