Fighting continues for fourth day after cease-fire collapse
Palestinian health officials report five dead, dozens wounded in IAF strike; army confirms hits on terror targets across coastal territory.
By JPOST.COM STAFFA rocket is launched from the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel(photo credit: REUTERS)
The IDF struck 30 targets across the Gaza Strip since Friday night in response to rocket fire from the Hamas-run enclave the previous evening.Targets included underground rocket launchers, facilities for storing and manufacturing weapons, and apartments used to coordinate terrorist attacks. The IDF also hit three mosques used for terrorist activities. One target was used for meetings between members of Hamas's military wing in southern Gaza; a second mosque was used to store terrorist infrastructure in southern Gaza, while a third in the north was used as a meeting point for Hamas members.Three rockets fired from the Strip slammed into open territories in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, which borders the Gaza Strip to the west, as sirens continued to rattle Negev communities and Gaza frontier towns, including Ashkelon. One rocket was intercepted over the coastal city.Three rockets exploded in open areas in Sdot Negev, as the Iron Dome missile defense system shot down another. A rocket which slammed into an open field outside of a northwestern Negev community ignited a fire as it exploded.Over 120 rockets were fired towards Israel since Friday.While Israel saw a relatively quiet night, Palestinians reported five deaths, including a woman, in an airstrike on a house in central Gaza. Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said several people were wounded in the attack.Another 40 Palestinians were injured in an Israeli air raid on a home in the Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City, he added. In Khan Yunis, a man died of his wounds, bringing the Palestinian death toll since the breakdown of a temporary cease-fire earlier this week, to 81, according to reports. In the Zeitoun neighborhood, eight were injured and transferred to the Shifa Hospital for medical care.The strikes come a day after a mortar shell fired from Gaza killed a four-year-old child in a kibbutz in a western Negev kibbutz.Daniel Tregerman is the first Israeli civilian to be killed since the Egyptian-mediated truce collapsed on Tuesday.Meanwhile, in Cairo, Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas in slated to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for talks about the escalating Gaza conflict. On Friday, he met with Islamic Jihad representatives and reiterated his long-held belief that there is no alternative to the Egyptian proposal for a lasting agreement.
The meeting comes after Abbas met with the Emir of Qatar and Hamas leaders in Doha to discuss the resumption of negotiations in Cairo.Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.
