Saturday 26 December 2020
Retaliation for rocket fire
Israel attacks Hamas targets in Gaza
Israeli Air Force jets bomb Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip at night. The Islamists' underground facilities are also said to have been hit. The army justifies the operation with rocket fire from the narrow coastal strip.
Israeli warplanes attacked Islamist Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip during the night. The Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) announced on Twitter that a production facility for rockets, underground structures and a military base were shot at, among other things. This was preceded by rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on targets around southern Israel.
At the end of the IDF tweet, "Hamas will bear the consequences for any terrorism out of the Gaza Strip," the Israeli military had reported on Christmas Day hours earlier. "While families around the world are sitting around their Christmas trees, families in southern Israel run into bomb shelters," read the IDF Twitter. Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.
Alarm sirens sounded in the southern city of Ashkelon and in areas near the Palestinian Territory. According to Israeli rescue workers, several people in shock had to be treated. It was the first rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in more than a month.
At the end of August, Hamas, after mediation by Qatar, announced a ceasefire with Israel. But then there were already several violations. Israel tightened a blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2007, which is now supported by Egypt. Both countries justify the measure with security considerations.
Around two million people live under very poor conditions in the coastal strip on the Mediterranean. The Islamist Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the USA and the EU.
. (tagsToTranslate) Politics (t) Hamas (t) Israel (t) Gaza Strip (t) Air Strikes