Israel strikes Hamas targets in Gaza in retaliation to rocket fire
Jerusalem, Jan 2 (EFE).- The Israeli army on Sunday said it bombed targets belonging to the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza after rockets were launched from the Strip.
“As fireworks lit up the skies to celebrate #NewYear2022 around the world, a different type of fire came from Gaza — terrorist rocket-fire toward Israel,” the Israeli Defense Forces wrote on Twitter in the early hours of Sunday.
“In response, we just struck Hamas sites in Gaza, incl. a rocket manufacturing site & military posts used for terrorist activity.”
Security sources in the coastal enclave said there were no injuries reported amid the Israeli retaliatory attack; however, there was severe infrastructure damage.
The Israeli military said that two missiles from Gaza hit the sea off the Tel Aviv metropolitan area Saturday morning, the first long-range attack since May’s battle between Israel and Gaza. Palestinians sources, afterward, said it was a technical issue due to the bad weather.
This is the second incident this week, as Israeli army tanks on Wednesday attacked Hamas military posts in retaliation to a shooting that wounded an Israeli working on the Gaza border fence.
The rocket fire from Gaza came as Palestinian militias have threatened to attack Israel if it does not agree to the immediate release of Palestinian prisoner Hisham Abu Hawwash, whose health has been deteriorating after 139 days of a hunger strike.
Dawood Shehab, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, said: “The explosion moment is approaching and we will revoke the truce if the mediators do not intervene urgently to free the prisoner,” referring to the ceasefire agreement that ended the 11-day fighting that broke out on May 10.EFE
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