Conflicts & War

Israel strikes Hamas targets following clashes at Gaza border

Gaza, Aug 22 (EFE).- The Israeli military targeted positions of the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, following heavy clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian protesters at the border between Israel and the enclave.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that four weapons and storage manufacturing sites belonging to Hamas, the coastal enclave’s de facto rulers, were hit.

No casualties were reported in the Israeli bombings which struck the central and western parts of Gaza, according to eyewitnesses.

On Saturday, the Gaza health ministry’s spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said that 41 demonstrators were wounded, including 22 children, two of of whom are in critical condition.

The Israeli army said a border policeman is also in critical condition after he was shot in the head.

The protests near the border were called by Hamas to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the fire set by a Christian Australian tourist at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, but they quickly turned into hours-long clashes with Israeli troops, the area’s most violent since 2019.

Israeli forces used live ammunition to disperse Palestinians throwing explosives and trying to break the fence separating Gaza and Israel.

The clashes come less than a week after a rocket was fired from the enclave toward the Israeli territory, the first since an 11-day deadly escalation of violence between Israel and Gaza in May. EFE

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