Israeli drones bombed a number of targets near the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday night, killing at least four people, including a senior Hamas commander, Palestinian media reported, as intense fighting along the border region broke out.
Palestinian reports also indicated there were firefights between Israeli troops and Gazan fighters led by the Hamas terror group.
The Israeli military confirmed that “an exchange of fire broke out during security activities by the IDF in the Gaza Strip region,” but did not elaborate further.
Following the reports of Israeli airstrikes, rocket sirens sounded in the Eshkol region of southern Israel, the army said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from missile strikes.
Local government officials said the alarms may have been triggered by the IDF’s air raids, not by rockets from Gaza.
Residents of southern Israel had been instructed to remain close to their bomb shelters in the event of reprisals Sunday night.
The flight paths into and out of Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport were altered in light of the Gaza clashes.
According to local Palestinian outlets, the head of Hamas’s eastern Khan Younis battalion was killed in the drone strike, along with at least three unidentified people. Others were reported injured.
The Gaza-based Shams news reported that Palestinians fired at the attacking drones.
Palestinian outlets also reported on exchanges of light arms fire between Israeli special forces and Gazan fighters.
A Hamas spokesperson praised the “brave resistance that repulsed the Israeli aggression.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was informed of the flareup while in Paris on an official state visit. An official in the Prime Minister’s Office could not immediately say who had been left in charge of convening the top-level security cabinet in Netanyahu’s absence.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman called for a security assessment with top defense officials in the army’s Tel Aviv headquarters.
Israelis in the Eshkol region, across from Khan Younis, reported hearing multiple explosions as fighting broke out at around 9:30 p.m.
Roads immediately surrounding the Gaza Strip were closed in light of military activities, the police said.
Hamas’s interior ministry told Palestinian media that the terror group’s military wing and police force were put on high alert throughout Gaza, following the clashes.
Unlike most Israeli attacks on Gaza, which are reprisals, it was unclear what prompted the drone strikes, which came as the sides were said to be nearing a deal for a ceasefire along the restive border.
On Friday, Israel allowed in $15 million of Qatari cash for Hamas to pay workers amid intensive Egyptian led efforts to reach a calm between the sides.
Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was doing its utmost to prevent “unnecessary wars” in the Gaza Strip, but maintained that diplomacy was futile with the Hamas leaders of the Palestinian enclave.
At a press conference in Paris, where the prime minister had attended the 100th anniversary commemorations of the end of World War I along with other world leaders, Netanyahu said no final diplomatic deal was possible with Hamas — the ruler of the beleaguered enclave.
“There is no diplomatic solution for Gaza, just as there is no diplomatic solution for ISIS,” said Netanyahu.
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