Israel bombs Hamas targets in Gaza after rocket fire
Jerusalem, Jun 18 (EFE).- Israel said Saturday it bombed targets of the militant Islamist group Hamas in Gaza in response to a rocket fired by the group a day ago.
“In response to the rocket fired by Hamas toward Israeli civilians overnight, (Israel’s defense forces) IDF aircraft struck a weapons manufacturing site & 3 other Hamas military posts in Gaza,” the Israeli military said on Twitter.
“We hold the Hamas terrorist organization responsible for all terrorist activity emanating from Gaza.”
In an earlier tweet, the IDF said that “terrorists” had fired a rocket from Gaza toward southern Israel.
“The rocket was intercepted mid-air by the IDF Aerial Defense Array,” it added.
Air-raid sirens sounded in the Israeli city of Ashkelon.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qasem confirmed that Israel attacked a military facility belonging to Izz ad-Din al-Qasam Brigades, the organization’s military arm, and other posts belonging to the group outside the strip with “several missiles.”
He slammed the Israeli strikes as “an extension of its aggression that has targeted all Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.”
“The Israeli occupation is desperately trying to stop the Palestinian struggle across historic Palestine,” Hazem said in a statement.
Hamas has been the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Israel, the United States, and the European Union have designated Hamas as a terrorist group.
The last time rockets were fired from Gaza was in April, in the third week of Ramadan, following violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Israel responded with selective strikes that did not cause any casualties.
Tensions eased after a few days. EFE
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