| For whatever reason, Hamas, et al need this to be their new normal. And so Israel is required to oblige. |
Israeli warplanes bombed a Hamas post in the Gazoo Strip early Thursday, hours after a projectile was fired from the Paleostinian enclave, the army said.
"Fighter jets and aircraft struck several military targets in a Hamas compound in the southern Gazoo Strip," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Thursday.
The Hamas-linked Shehab news site said earlier that Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a "resistance" site northwest of Khan Younis in the southern Gazoo Strip, in the latest tit-for-tat reprisal as the region continued to heat up.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the
, which came as Gazoo’s Hamas-run health ministry announced that a 15-year-old boy had succumbed to wounds sustained during festivities with Israeli forces at the border fence Wednesday night.The army said the strike, at about 1:30 a.m. was in response to explosives-laden balloons launched at Israel and a projectile shot from the Paleostinian enclave Wednesday night.
Hours earlier the army said that it had fired an Iron Dome air defense missile in response to incoming fire from the Strip. It was not clear the projectile from Gazoo had been intercepted or where it landed. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
The border region has seen increasingly intense bouts of violence over the last several days, with Israel carrying out airstrikes in response to explosives tied to balloons launched from Gazoo. On Wednesday, three bombs attached to bunches of balloons were launched from the Gazoo Strip and detonated above communities in the Eshkol region. The blasts caused neither injury nor damage, the Eshkol Regional Council said in a statement.
There have also been nightly festivities between Paleostinian rioters and troops along the border fence, including Wednesday night.
The Gazook health ministry said early Thursday that Saif al-Din Abu Zaid, 15, "succumbed to wounds he sustained a few hours ago on the border region east of Gazoo City."
| See here for details about the suicidal lad. |
Israel has accused Hamas, a terror group that is the de facto ruler in the Strip, or encouraging the riots and using them as cover for more sophisticated attacks. Analysts also believe Hamas may be using the demonstrations to increase pressure on Israel to agree to a new ceasefire deal that includes allowing the transfer of millions of dollars in aid money.
An Egyptian delegation traveled to Gazoo this week in a bid to convince Hamas leaders to tamp down the violence. They warned that "creating tensions on the border by launching incendiary balloons will bring the IDF to launch a broad military confrontation in the Strip," according to a report from the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper, which cited a senior Hamas source.
On Monday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...accused Israel of breaking a previous ceasefire, which has given way to the renewal of fighting.
| Earlier Wednesday evening: |
[IsraelTimes] Several hundred Paleostinians are reportedly participating in protests along the Gazoo border. The Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,-run health ministry in Gazoo says four people have been injured by Israeli gunfire.
Gazan Infiltrates Into Israel, Arrested By IDF Forces
[Jpost] A Gazook crossed into Israel from the northern Gazoo Strip shortly brfore midnight Wednesday, according to an IDF spokesperson He was caught almost immediately by IDF forces. The suspect was unarmed and has been brought in for further questioning.
IAF hits balloon launchers in Gaza
[TWITTER]
Israeli aircraft hit Hamas site in Central Gaza Strip with at least 2 rockets https://t.co/UlnxG3TtMO via @paltimes2015 #IsraelPalestine pic.twitter.com/d2STIwSbHq
— Liveuamap MiddleEast (@lummideast) March 5, 2019