Israel attacks Hamas targets in Gaza after shelling

Last night the Israeli army attacked military targets of the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to the launch, hours earlier, of a shell from the enclave, which fell in an unpopulated area.

The Israeli attack, according to a statement by the army, was carried out with tanks and reached Hamas military posts.

Palestinian security sources and witnesses in the enclave furthermore stated that the targets were Hamas observation posts, but also a house in a refugee camp, which was severely damaged, though no injuries were recorded.

This Israeli retaliatory attack followed the launching of a missile into its territory, the third in two days.

Last night's shot did not sound the air raid alarms or cause injuries as it fell in an unpopulated area near a kibbutz near the border.

Before this launch, in the early hours of Monday, the first exchange of this kind in nearly a month had taken place, when Palestinian militiamen in the enclave launched two rockets towards Israel, which fell into the sea off the coast of the city of Ashdod and were answered by Israeli army bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza, also without causing any injuries.

On the other hand, on Wednesday of last week another violent incident took place on the border, with two rounds of fire from the strip towards Israeli bulldozers that were followed by retaliatory bombardments, also on posts of the Islamist movement, which de facto controls the enclave since 2007 and which Israel holds responsible for any incident coming from there.

These exchanges of fire were the first since the end of December, after a month of calm on the border and several without prolonged episodes of hostilities or escalation of tension, the latest in August.