Israel Defense Forces fired on two terrorist positions in the central Gaza Strip with Israel Air Force fighter jets on Thursday in response to mortar fire, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s unit.
Earlier in the day, IDF tanks and aircraft fired towards four positions in the Gaza Strip after Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired about 12 mortar shells towards an army outpost earlier in the afternoon.
Several hours later, an additional salvo of mortars was fired from Gaza towards the Erez crossing, according to Palestinian reports.
According to IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis, two of the targets hit by IDF fire belonged to Hamas while the other two belonged to Islamic Jihad. Hamas is nonetheless held responsible for this “severe attack.”
Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, claimed three Palestinians were lightly injured.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot and the Head of the Southern Division and Intelligence met to discuss the incident and felt that no further restrictions should be imposed on the civilian population of the region.
Last month, the Islamic Jihad terror group vowed vengeance against Israel after 12 of its members were killed when the IDF blew up a tunnel they were digging that stretched under the Israel-Gaza border. In response to the threat, Israel placed protective Iron Dome batteries in central locations around the country.
“It is exactly 1 month since the IDF destroyed the tunnel and PIJ carried out their retaliation today,” Manelis added.
#Gaza sources suggest that the Islamic Jihad’s Sarayat Al Quds have conducted today’s mortar attack in response to the tunnel detonation last month. https://t.co/DfNJjYgdHx
— Gaza Report (@gaza_report) November 30, 2017
Alarms were heard in the city of Sderot and the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. Shortly after the IDF said they were false alarms.
Train service in the area was temporarily halted but was resumed just before 4 pm, Israeli media reported.
Civilian communities were not threatened at any moment.
Islamic Jihad Spokesman Daoud Shehab said Israel is trying to “cause confusion” and “divert attention away from the settlers’ crime in Kusra,” according toPalestine Today, a news site affiliated with the group.
Shehab also said the Palestinian resistance has “the full right” to retaliate.
Minister of Transportation and Intelligence Israel Katz said Israel would continue to hold a “zero tolerance” policy towards enemy fire from Gaza.
He said the mortar fire from Gaza “proves that [Palestinian Authority] Mahmoud Abbas is nothing more than a fig leaf that covers up a severe reality of armed and threatening terror organizations.”
Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus said the militants’ mortar barrage was aimed the Israeli army post and at construction crews working close by on the Israeli side of the Gaza border.
Israel has been constructing a sensor-equipped underground wall along the 60-km (36-mile) Gaza border, aiming to complete the $1.1 billion project by mid-2019.
Conricus said Israel was not looking to escalate the situation but any further Israeli action would depend on what Gaza militants did. At least three rounds of airstrikes had taken place by dusk, the Reuters witness said.
“We remain ready with the tools necessary and the capabilities at hand should Hamas or the Islamic Jihad act aggressively again… We are not looking to escalate the situation or to initiate hostilities,” Conricus said.
Jpost.com staff and Adam Rasgon contributed to this report.
Article source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Haredim-demand-PM-halt-state-mandated-construction-work-on-Shabbat-497318
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