IDF strikes tunnels, rocket launching cells in Gaza
Tunnels intended for infiltrations into Israel hit by IAF airstrikes overnight; Palestinians say 15 killed in strikes in past 48 hours.
By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST.COM STAFFSmoke rises after an IAF airstrike in Gaza 311 (R)(photo credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)The IAF struck a number of targets in Gaza Saturday morning and overnight Friday in response to attacks Thursday that claimed the lives of eight people, as well as continued rocket fire from the Strip.The death toll in Gaza stood at 15, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported, including at least one minor.RELATED:Erekat warns Israel against 'irresponsible action' in Gaza Livni calls for 'action' in response to terror attacks The IAF struck a terrorist cell in Gaza Saturday afternoon after it fired mortar shells across the border into Israel, the IDF Spokesman's Office said. The spokesman added that the Air Force recorded a direct hit.An airstrike hit the northern Gaza Strip earlier Saturday according to Palestinian reports. The IDF Spokesman's Office had no information on the airstrike.Two tunnels and one warehouse used for manufacturing weapons in southern Gaza were bombed Friday overnight by IAF aircraft, as well as one site used for terrorist activities in the northern Strip, an IDF Spokesman's Office statement said.According to the statement, the tunnels had been used to allow assailants to infiltrate Israel and carry out attacks.The IAF identified direct hits, and all aircraft returned to Israel safely, the spokesman's statement added.
Shortly before the strike, Palestinian news sources said that three Palestinians had been killed when their private vehicle was struck. Among the dead was one boy, the report said.Also on Friday, the IAF launched an air strike against a terrorist cell in the central Gaza Strip after the cell fired a rocket into Israeli territory, the IDF Spokesman's Office said in a statement. A direct hit was identified in the strike, the statement added.Minutes earlier, the Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip toward Ashkelon.An separate IAF strike in the northern Gaza Strip Friday evening killed Samed Abdul Mu'ty Abed, identified by Israeli media as a senior commander in the Popular Resistance Committees, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.The man was riding a motorcycle at the time of the strike, according to multiple Palestinian reports. Another 22-year-old man was injured in the strike.Ma'an cited medical sources in Gaza saying that another strike targeted a concrete factory in the northern Strip. The news agency said that 10 Palestinian have been killed by the IDF since Thursday night.Earlier Friday evening, the IAF struck terrorists who were firing projectile explosives into Israeli territory from the northern Gaza Strip in three different locations, the IDF Spokesman's Office said in a statement.
Israel Air Force aircraft struck four targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday afternoon in response to a series of rockets that hit Israel, one of which left six people injured in Ashdod. The army said it struck two weapons production facilities, and two other terror targets, one in the north and one in the south of the strip. No injuries were reported. Earlier on Friday, IAF aircraft struck seven Hamas security installations in Gaza, killing at least one Palestinian, in further retaliation for the three-stage terror attackon Thursday.Gaza residents said three compounds controlled by Hamas were hit in the overnight raids. Medical officials said a 13-year-old boy in a nearby building was killed and 17 people were wounded.On Thursday evening the IAF bombed the southern Gaza Strip, killing the leadership of the Popular Resistance Committees who had orchestrated the attacks.Eight Israelis, including a soldier from the Golani Brigade, were killed earlier in the day in the multi-stage attack in the South carried out by PRC members who infiltrated from Egypt.The PRC members killed in the retaliatory IAF air strike included the head of the terror group Kamal Nirab, who the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said had personally directed and planned the attack.Click for full Jpost coverage
