Israeli jets carried out airstrikes on a Hamas target in the central Gaza Strip late Saturday night in retaliation for a bombing on the southern border earlier in the day, the army said.
The raid just after midnight on Sunday came hours after a bomb planted near the Israel-Gaza border exploded, causing no casualties. Israeli tanks earlier on Saturday had destroyed a Hamas post in the area in response to the bombing.
The army said it held the Gaza terrorist group Hamas, which controls the enclave, responsible for the explosion at the security fence. It said a Hamas “terror target” in central Gaza was struck by the Israeli fire overnight Saturday-Sunday, without elaborating.
Earlier on Saturday, the IDF said there were no troops near the bomb when it detonated, the latest in a series of attempted bomb attacks on Israeli troops.
On Thursday, two improvised explosive devices were detonated as a military patrol vehicle drove by the security fence surrounding northern Gaza, prompting the Israel Defense Forces to retaliate with tank fire at terror targets. There were no Israeli injuries reported in the IED attack.
On Friday, Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians issued a warning to Hamas about the bombs, saying, “The provocations by Hamas and other terrorist organizations could lead to an escalation” of violence along the Gaza border.
Israeli fighter pilots bombed a terror target in central Gaza late Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces announced.
“IDF jets attacked a terror target belonging to Hamas in the central Gaza Strip,” the IDF said in a statement released to media after midnight. “The attack was carried out in response to the placement of explosive devices on the border fence.”
Israeli air strikes were seen in a number of locations, according to Arab media.
The attack follows the explosion of an improvised explosive device near the security fence along the border of northern Gaza earlier in the day on Saturday, and the subsequent retaliation by IDF artillery.
“An explosive device detonated near the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip. No forces were in the vicinity at the time of the explosion,” an IDF statement said. “No damage or casualties were caused to our forces.”
Israeli tanks fired two shells at a target east of the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City in retaliation for the bombing. There were no casualties on the Israeli side, the IDF said.
There have been at least five IEDs planted by terrorists along the Gaza border in recent weeks. Two soldiers were critically injured in the first explosion.
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