Israeli attacks in Gaza in response to the launching of two rockets
Israel attacked military targets of the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza this morning in response to the launching of two rockets into its territory hours earlier, according to Efe,
Two rockets were launched, by the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip towards Israel and intercepted by the Israeli missile shield, the Israeli army said on Friday, which attacked in retaliation the facilities of the Islamist movement Hamas.
The attack is the first one of this kind in the area in more than one month after the last one on November 21. The Israeli retaliatory attack came hours after two projectiles were launched from the Strip that set off alarms in neighbouring Israeli communities and were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system, without causing injury or material damage.
"Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory" which were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system, the army reported, lamenting that "while families all over the world sit around their Christmas trees, those in southern Israel are running to air raid shelters".
The army said it attacked three Hamas installations in the Gaza Strip, including a rocket manufacturing site, underground infrastructure and a military post. "Hamas will suffer the consequences of any act of terror in Gaza," the army said on Twitter.
Some injuries were reported and several material damages, several people were treated by the emergency service Maguem David Adom (MDA, Red Star of David, equivalent to the Red Cross) when they suffered anxiety attacks, according to the local newspaper Haaretz.
Earlier, warning sirens had been sounded in the southern port city of Ashkelon and in areas surrounding the Palestinian enclave, which has been blockaded by Israel for more than a decade, the army said in a statement.
"Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory (...) and were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system," the army said without reporting damage or casualties.
The Israeli army usually responds with retaliatory bombardments against military positions of the Islamist movement Hamas, which de facto governs the enclave, and which the Israeli authorities hold responsible for any aggression from within, according to Afp.
Israeli army fighter planes attacked several positions belonging to the organisation, including a rocket manufacturing facility, a military post and an underground infrastructure, a military spokesman said in a statement.
Local media and Hamas security sources pointed out that the bombings injured two civilians-including a child under six-and caused material damage to the Al Durra paediatric hospital in the northeast of the capital, Gaza.
"The air strikes terrorised the civilian population", and the shrapnel hit "a children's hospital and a rehabilitation centre for the disabled", denounced the Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Hazem Qasem.
This is the first aggression of this kind recorded in the area after a month of relative calm. No Palestinian armed group has claimed responsibility for it.
The Israeli authorities hold Hamas-de facto ruler in Gaza-responsible for any aggression that emanates from within it, and its armed forces usually respond to this by bombing the positions of the Islamist group.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Israel have fought three wars (2008, 2012, 2014). Despite the truce of recent months, both sides have sporadically faced rocket fire from Gaza and reprisals from the Israeli army.