(Gaza) The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has arrested two people suspected of having fired rockets at Israel a few days ago, a security source in this enclave announced on Sunday.
Posted at 9:49
The Israeli army said rockets were fired into Israel on Thursday for the first time since three days of fighting between Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the Jewish state in August.
Following the firing, Hamas’ internal security services arrested two people “directly linked to the firing of four rockets,” said the source, who requested anonymity.
“The Palestinian factions have nothing to do with these rockets, which are intended to give the occupation (Israel) a reason to continue its aggressions,” the source also said.
These rocket attacks were not claimed by any of the armed factions operating in Gaza.
They came a few hours after the announcement of the results of the elections in Israel which gave victory to former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
On the same day, a fighter from Islamic Jihad, another armed group in Gaza, was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
The security source did not specify the affiliation of those arrested, but indicated that the rockets fired were not loaded with explosives.
The Palestinian factions have an agreement to coordinate “any response to Israeli aggression”, he said.
Israel launched retaliatory strikes on Gaza on Friday, which the army said hit a rocket production site belonging to Hamas.
Israel and Palestinian armed groups have fought four wars since the Islamist movement Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.
The Palestinian enclave has been under Israeli blockade since that same year.