BICOM

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) hit a Hamas target in the northern Gaza Strip early Monday morning, the Israeli army reported.

The attack was a response to a border incident which three Palestinians infiltrated Israeli territory yesterday and planted two explosive devices on the border fence. No Palestinians were reportedly injured in the airstrike.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that they view Hamas’s attempts to turn the border fence into a combat zone and destroy Israel’s security and defence infrastructures with “great severity”. They added that it will not “allow cynical use of civilians as a cover for terrorist activity against Israeli citizens and IDF forces, and will respond to all attempts at this kind of terrorism”.

On Friday, an estimated 20,000 Gazans rioted close to the border for the second week in a row. Although overall attendance decreased compared to the week before, there were more attacks directed towards Israel as  eight pipe bombs and one hand grenade were thrown at the fence and towards IDF soldiers.

According the Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza, nine people were killed and more than 1,300 were injured, 45 of them from sniper fire and remain in a serious condition.

Palestinian journalist Yaser Murtaja died on Saturday after he was shot in the stomach 350m from the fence. The IDF said that they do not deliberately fire on journalists and the incident was being investigated.

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said “a number of attempts to cut the fence had been made in the course of the riots. It was not breached at any stage, and attempts were made to throw firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the border.”

He also warned that “the incidents are not over, and we are preparing for additional attempts to cross the fence before long. Our assessment is that the attempts to commit terror attacks will continue, and that there will be attempts to perpetrate this kind of incident both during the week and on Fridays”.