AFP, Gaza City :
The Israeli air force carried out four strikes on militant targets in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, Palestinian eyewitnesses said, hours after a cross-border rocket attack on the Jewish state.
The planes targeted training camps belonging to the Islamic Jihad in Rafah, Khan Yunis and Gaza City, the witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Late Tuesday a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave struck southern Israel, causing no casualties or damage.
The Israeli army said it struck “four terror infrastructures in the southern Gaza Strip” in response to the rocket attack.
“The reality that Hamas’s territory is used as a staging ground to attack Israel is unacceptable and intolerable and will bear consequences,”military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said in a statement.
Islamic movement Hamas, which de facto rules Gaza, has not assumed responsibility for the attack.
Tuesday’s rocket was the third fired from Gaza since the ceasefire ending the 50-day conflict in summer 2014, which killed about 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers. Two mortar bombs were also fired at Israel since September, according to the Shin Bet internal security agency, Wednesday’s air strike was the third since the end of the 2014 war.
Last month, tanks fired at a Hamas position following a rocket attack. Israel and Palestinian militants appeared to be pulling back on Wednesday from further hostilities after Israel responded with air strikes to a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip.
No casualties were reported on either side of the border, and Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon blamed the rocket launching late on Tuesday on “elements in the Islamic Jihad” group in the Hamas Islamist-run enclave. His comments followed Israeli media reports that infighting among Islamic Jihad militants may have precipitated the rocket firing without the permission of Hamas authorities.
The reports also said that Hamas, whose forces are dominant in the territory of 1.8 million Palestinians, had arrested Islamic Jihad members behind the missile strike, the deepest into Israel since the end of last year’s 50-day Gaza war.
An Islamic Jihad spokesman was not available to comment. Hamas officials had no comment on the reported arrests.
The projectile struck near the Israeli port city of Ashdod, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Gaza frontier, Israeli security forces said, and hours after the attack there was still no claim of responsibility.
Israeli warplanes hit back early on Wednesday, striking four “terror infrastructures” in the southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said. Gaza residents said the targets included training camps used by Islamic Jihad militants. Further fighting was reported, and it appeared that Israel chose to attack evacuated or open areas in a signal to Hamas that it hoped to avoid escalation.
It also issued a warning that further rocket strikes would draw a more powerful response. “If there is no quiet in Israel, the Gaza Strip will pay a very heavy price, which will cause anyone planning to challenge us to regret their actions,” Yaalon said in a statement.
The Israeli air force carried out four strikes on militant targets in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, Palestinian eyewitnesses said, hours after a cross-border rocket attack on the Jewish state.
The planes targeted training camps belonging to the Islamic Jihad in Rafah, Khan Yunis and Gaza City, the witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Late Tuesday a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave struck southern Israel, causing no casualties or damage.
The Israeli army said it struck “four terror infrastructures in the southern Gaza Strip” in response to the rocket attack.
“The reality that Hamas’s territory is used as a staging ground to attack Israel is unacceptable and intolerable and will bear consequences,”military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said in a statement.
Islamic movement Hamas, which de facto rules Gaza, has not assumed responsibility for the attack.
Tuesday’s rocket was the third fired from Gaza since the ceasefire ending the 50-day conflict in summer 2014, which killed about 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers. Two mortar bombs were also fired at Israel since September, according to the Shin Bet internal security agency, Wednesday’s air strike was the third since the end of the 2014 war.
Last month, tanks fired at a Hamas position following a rocket attack. Israel and Palestinian militants appeared to be pulling back on Wednesday from further hostilities after Israel responded with air strikes to a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip.
No casualties were reported on either side of the border, and Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon blamed the rocket launching late on Tuesday on “elements in the Islamic Jihad” group in the Hamas Islamist-run enclave. His comments followed Israeli media reports that infighting among Islamic Jihad militants may have precipitated the rocket firing without the permission of Hamas authorities.
The reports also said that Hamas, whose forces are dominant in the territory of 1.8 million Palestinians, had arrested Islamic Jihad members behind the missile strike, the deepest into Israel since the end of last year’s 50-day Gaza war.
An Islamic Jihad spokesman was not available to comment. Hamas officials had no comment on the reported arrests.
The projectile struck near the Israeli port city of Ashdod, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Gaza frontier, Israeli security forces said, and hours after the attack there was still no claim of responsibility.
Israeli warplanes hit back early on Wednesday, striking four “terror infrastructures” in the southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said. Gaza residents said the targets included training camps used by Islamic Jihad militants. Further fighting was reported, and it appeared that Israel chose to attack evacuated or open areas in a signal to Hamas that it hoped to avoid escalation.
It also issued a warning that further rocket strikes would draw a more powerful response. “If there is no quiet in Israel, the Gaza Strip will pay a very heavy price, which will cause anyone planning to challenge us to regret their actions,” Yaalon said in a statement.
