Israel Strikes Hamas after Rocket Attack

Arab World

March 28th, 5:57am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Flame and smoke are seen during an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip February 24, 2020. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Israel struck Hamas movement sites in the Gaza Strip late Friday in response to a rocket fired from the impoverished Palestinian enclave, Israel's military said. The army said the rocket fell in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. Local media reported that the rocket landed in open ground without injuring anyone, though thousands of residents of southern Israel rushed to bomb shelters. "In response... aircraft and a tank targeted infrastructure used for underground activity as well as military posts belonging to the Hamas terror organization," Israel's army said. A security source in Gaza confirmed a number of Israeli strikes on a Hamas base near Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, with no reports of injuries. The flareup came as Israelis throughout the country were largely confined to their homes due to the coronavirus emergency. Nine cases of the virus have been confirmed in the overcrowded, blockaded Gaza Strip amid fears that its under-resourced health system will not be able to handle an outbreak. Israel has recorded 12 deaths from COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, and over 3,000 infections. Friday’s rocket fire was the first such attack since a two-day cross border flareup between Israel and Islamic Jihad in late February. During that incident Islamic Jihad fired more than 80 rockets and mortar rounds towards Israel after the army killed a militant who was allegedly planting a bomb on the border on February 23.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2203571/israel-strikes-hamas-after-rocket-attack