Israel targets Hamas sites after two rockets were Fired

Jerusalem: Israeli authorities on Saturday said it targeted sites controlled by the Hamas in several predawn airstrikes in Gaza after two rockets were fired at Israel from the Palestinian enclave, two days after a fragile truce started.

So far, Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian movement that runs the Gaza Strip, has not been involved in the five-day cross-border fire, reports Xinhua news agency. The airstrikes came after Gaza militants fired overnight two rockets towards Beersheba, a city in southern Israel. Both rockets were intercepted by the Israeli anti-rocket Iron Dome system before hitting the ground.

Shortly later, Israeli fighter jets and aircraft struck “a number of Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip”, a military spokesperson said in a statement. The sites targeted a Hamas military camp, a military compound used by its naval force, and underground infrastructure, the army said. No group immediately assumed responsibility for the rockets, but previous ones were launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), in retaliation for the killing of Baha Abu al-Ata, one of its top commander in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday. The airstrikes were the first time Israel has targeted Hamas sites since the escalation began. (IANS)

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