The Israel Air Force struck two Hamas military targets in the southern part of the Gaza Strip overnight Saturday in response to an earlier incident in which a projectile emanating from the coastal enclave was fired into Israeli territory. Tensions on the Gaza border have escalated over the past week with the IDF's second discovery of a Hamas terror tunnel stretching from the Strip into Israel in the last month. Hamas has fired a number of mortar shells at troops carrying out operational activities on the border, prompting IDF reprisals with tank fire and air strikes.Just after midnight on early Saturday morning a mortar was fired toward an uninhabited part of the Eshkol Regional Council in the South, setting off a siren. No injuries or damage were reported.The previous mortar attacks during the current escalation had fallen near troops close to the border fence, failing to set off alarms in border communities, although Hamas has warned that this will be the next step if Israel does not stop its work to combat the organization's attack tunnels. The tunnels were a key Hamas asset during the 2014 conflict with Israel, used by the organization to carry out a number of cross-border attacks.The IDF said said Saturday that it holds Hamas solely responsible for all aggression originating from Gaza. “The IDF will not tolerate terrorists opening fire onto Israeli territory and will continue to act severely against any attempt to disturb the peace of [its] communities."
On Friday morning, the Israeli Air Force struck multiple targets in the Gaza Strip in response to mortar attacks on troops carrying out operational activities on the border.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting of his security cabinet on Friday to discuss the Gaza border escalation.
