(Gaza) The Israeli army said on Saturday it struck positions of the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, which according to Palestinian sources damaged houses without causing any casualties, after the firing of four rockets from this territory towards Israel.
Posted at 2:51 p.m.
During the night from Friday to Saturday, alarm sirens sounded in the city of Ashkelon and in other localities in southern Israel, bordering the Gaza Strip, to warn of rocket fire.
“One of the rockets was intercepted by the missile shield,” the Israeli army said in its statement, adding that three others fell in fields.
In retaliation, the army carried out early Saturday a series of airstrikes on Hamas positions in the Palestinian enclave, under Israeli blockade for 15 years.
“Combat planes targeted a Hamas weapons manufacturing site,” the army continued, “one of the most important rocket manufacturing sites in the Gaza Strip”.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denounced the strikes without reporting casualties.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, “missiles were fired near a tourist resort in Sheikh Ijjileen, southwest of Gaza City”.
“Dense smoke was seen emanating from the area of the attack,” the agency said, adding that further shelling near Nusseirat in the central Gaza Strip damaged homes.
The last rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli strikes on the Palestinian enclave date back to last June.
These shots come the day after US President Joe Biden’s visit to the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. He met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem as part of his Middle East tour, which also took him to Israel.
Joe Biden announced $100 million in aid for the hospital network in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian sector of the Holy City occupied by Israel, and a project to deploy 4G in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
If Mr. Biden pleaded for an “independent Palestinian state” with “territorial continuity”, he however affirmed that the conditions were not currently met to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, stalled since 2014.
Hamas spokesman: ‘There is nothing new in US President Joe Biden’s speech on the Palestinian issue, except the consolidation of his bias for the vision of the Israeli occupation’ .
On Saturday evening, Israel announced that it was suspending the increase in the number of entry permits to its territory granted to Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, announced earlier in the week.
The Jewish state said on Tuesday it planned to grant 15,000 additional work permits to residents of the Gaza Strip, increasing from 14,000 to 15,500 per day.
“Defense Minister Benny Gantz has decided to suspend the increase […] in response to rocket fire,” Cogat, the body of the Israeli Defense Ministry that oversees civilian activities in the Palestinian Territories, said in a statement.