Israel’s military said Wednesday its fighter jets and helicopters carried out fresh airstrikes overnight against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, while the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted projectiles fired toward areas bordering the Palestinian enclave.
The Israel Defense Forces said the airstrikes targeted rocket and munitions manufacturing sites as well as military compounds and training facilities.
“The Hamas terror organization again chooses to act against the interest of the residents of the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said. “After it failed during the violent riots along the security fence, it now chooses to conduct and allow a wide-scale attack against Israeli citizens.”
The two sides traded mortar fire and airstrikes Tuesday in the largest flare-up of violence since they fought a 50-day war in 2014.
Hamas and the smaller militant group Islamic Jihad issued a joint statement claiming responsibility for what Israel said were 70 rockets and mortar bombs fired from Gaza on Tuesday. The militants said they were retaliating for Israeli attacks on their positions.
Israel reported three soldiers were wounded, while Iron Dome intercepted most of the militant fire. The IDF responded with dozens of airstrikes, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to “exact a heavy price” for attacks against Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that while the Palestinians want and demand peace, Israel’s attacks show it does not want peace.
Tensions along the border have been high for two months with Palestinians holding protests calling for a right to return to land they fled or were forced to leave when Israel was created in 1948. Protesters have also rallied against a blockade of Gaza that has been in place for more than a decade as well as the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The United States called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the latest attacks on Israel out of the Gaza Strip. The council is expected to meet Wednesday.
Also Tuesday, the Israeli Navy stopped a flotilla of Palestinian activists who set sail from Gaza to protest years of a naval blockade by Israel and Egypt on the Gaza Strip.
The navy prevented the flotilla from crossing the blockade line – six nautical miles off the coast. Navy ships also stopped one of the boats, carrying students and medical patients, after it violated the blockade, Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said.
The military said the boat was taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod and that those aboard would be taken back to Gaza.
Israel bars Gaza boats from going more than 10 kilometers into the Mediterranean Sea.
Eight years ago, Israeli commandos raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing nine pro-Palestinian Turks and sparking an international outcry against the blockade.
Israeli forces have killed at least 115 Palestinians since the end of March, drawing criticism for the use of force. Israel has blamed the militant group Hamas for provoking violence and says it has acted to protect the border. | via Voice of America
