Israeli tanks shelled Hamas military positions in the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, hours after a rocket was fired from the Palestinian enclave into the southern Hebrew state, corroborating sources said.
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According to an Israeli army statement, “tanks targeted Hamas military positions in the southern Gaza Strip” in retaliation for the fire on Friday evening.
The rocket, which activated warning sirens in southern Israel, was “intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system,” the army said in a statement Friday evening. It did not cause any damage.
According to security sources in Gaza, the bombings carried out early on Saturday targeted observation posts of Hamas (an armed Islamist movement in power since 2007 in the Gaza Strip) east of Rafah and east of Khan Younès , and did not cause any injuries.
Israel has been bombing Gaza almost daily since August 6, after numerous incendiary balloons and rockets were launched from Palestinian territory over the border.
The Israeli air force carried out several raids during the night of Thursday to Friday on Hamas sites in Gaza following, she explained, the firing of twelve rockets from the enclave, nine of which were intercepted by the missile shield.
This was the largest number of rockets directed at Israel in a day since the exchange of fire began two weeks ago.
The Israeli planes had notably targeted a rocket manufacturing site and underground infrastructure.
Incendiary balloons are the source of dozens of fires in Israel, reducing crops and brush to ashes.
The new hostilities come after the visit this week to Gaza and Israel by a delegation from Egypt. This neighboring country played intermediaries in 2019 with the United Nations and Qatar to promote a truce between Hamas and Israel, sworn enemies who have fought three wars since 2008.