Israeli jets strike Gaza after rocket and mortar fire
Israeli jets have hit militant
positions in Gaza after Palestinians fired rockets and mortars into Israeli
territory, the country's military said.
The military said 25 targets linked
to the militant Hamas movement were hit, in response to a barrage of about 30
rockets and mortar shells. Residents reportedly said two Hamas security men
were slightly injured. No Israeli casualties were reported. The strikes follow
weeks of confrontation over the Gaza border.
More than 100 Palestinians have been
killed by Israeli snipers amid protests during which thousands of Palestinians
massed on the border. They were demonstrating in support of what Palestinians
say is the right of refugees and their descendants to return to their ancestral
homes in what is now Israel. The UN and human rights officials have accused
Israel of using disproportionate force, but Israel says soldiers have only
opened fire on people trying to break through the border.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said
that Hamas targets, including a number of bases, were struck in three rounds of
strikes overnight. Air raid sirens and phone warning systems sounded before
dawn in Israel.
The military says the country's Iron
Dome anti-missile shield intercepted seven rockets. Kites carrying containers
of burning fuel were also sent into Israel, the military said. Gaza, an impoverished
enclave of some two million residents, has long been blockaded by Israel and
Egypt. The blockade was tightened after Hamas, an Islamist group that won
Palestinian elections in 2006, ousted its secular Fatah rivals from Gaza a year
later.
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