Israeli jets, tanks strike Hamas targets in response to cross-border fire

Israeli jets and tanks retaliated to the shooting with strikes on three Hamas posts in the Strip.

By ANNA AHRONHEIM
Updated: MARCH 7, 2017 11:38
Merkava 4 tank. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT)
Merkava 4 tank.
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT)
The military attacked two Hamas targets in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Thursday, in response to gunfire against Israeli soldiers.
The air force carried out one strike, and IDF artillery were responsible for the other.
Troops carrying out routine security activities near the border security fence had come under fire, and while no one was injured, a military tractor was lightly damaged.
Moira Dror, from Moshav Netiv Ha’asara, directly across the border from Beit Lahiya, told The Jerusalem Post that despite the shelling by the IDF, “the [enemy] outpost is still standing.”
Dror, who can see the outpost from her kitchen window, said that even the antenna of the post was still there, adding, “Perhaps this [the IDF response] is a warning to them.”
According to Dror, it had been quiet since the end of Operation Protective Edge in August 2014. “We’ve been living a normal life, not thinking about where and when the next rocket will come. But recently things have been heating up,” she added, referring to a rocket Gazans fired at Israel on Wednesday night.
IDF strikes Hamas targets after rocket fired from Gaza, February 27 (credit: REUTERS)
No rocket warning siren sounded as the projectile came, striking in an open area near the Ashkelon coast. There were no injuries or damage from the rocket, which was fired from Beit Hanun in the northeastern Gaza Strip.
The projectile’s remains were found on Thursday by security personnel who had been searching the area.
It was the fifth rocket fired at southern Israel within the last month, including two launched by Islamic State’s affiliate in Sinai.
The United Nations’ special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, condemned the Palestinian attack, saying that “such provocation seek only to undermine peace.”
“This is the third such incident in the past 30 days after a period of almost four months of quiet,” he said, calling for restraint from both sides in order to avoid escalations “that jeopardize the lives of Palestinians and Israelis.”