Israel-Gaza Border Violence Flares With Mortars, Airstrikes
(Bloomberg) -- Violence escalated along the volatile Israel-Gaza Strip border on Saturday, with the Israeli air force striking dozens of sites inside the enclave and Palestinian militants retaliating with mortar and rocket fire.
No serious casualties were reported on either side as Israel on Saturday carried out what spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus called the biggest daytime strike against the Hamas-ruled territory since their 2014 war. Targets hit in the operation that started overnight included underground passages used by militants to infiltrate Israel and a site used to prepare kites and balloons for airborne arson attacks, the military said.
Conricus described the assaults from Gaza as increasingly violent, and said the purpose of the operation Saturday was to stop them.
“Our message to Hamas is we can and will enhance the intensity of our efforts as needed,” he said. Gaza militants “have crossed a threshold.”
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the militants’ swift response to Israeli attacks was meant as a deterrent and “to force the enemy to stop the escalation.” According to the Israeli military, at least 55 mortar shells and rockets were fired into southern Israel from the Palestinian territory on Saturday.
The hostilities followed a day of protests in Gaza that included arson attacks and the wounding of an Israeli officer.
Volatility along the border intensified since Gazans launched near-weekly protests against Israel in late March. Almost 140 Palestinians, some of them unarmed, have been killed in the confrontations. Militants have tried repeatedly to break through the security fence along the border, and have destroyed thousands of acres of farmland and nature reserves in southern Israel with their airborne weapons.
At the latest protest on Friday, two people were shot dead -- a 15-year-old who tried to breach the border and an 18-year-old who died of his wounds on Saturday. The military said soldiers were attacked during the protests with grenades, explosive devices and rocks. One was moderately injured, it said.
While protest organizers have said the demonstrations that began in late March are meant to be peaceful, Israel says Gaza militants use them as cover to attack.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/2018/07/14/israel-gaza-border-violence-flares-with-mortar-fire-airstrike
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