Israeli forces bombed Hamas positions in the southern Gaza Strip overnight on Saturday night after rockets were fired at Israeli territory by Palestinian-backed enclaves, according to sources closely related both to Palestinian security forces and the Israeli Staff.

The Israeli military said in a statement to the press that it was “currently conducting strikes against terrorist positions in the Gaza Strip,” a Palestinian area controlled by the armed Islamist group Hamas.

“Israeli warplanes hit an al-Qassam Brigades establishment (armed hand of Hamas) west of Khan Yunis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip,” sources close to the Palestinian Authority told AFP, referring to artillery fire against an observation post of the Islamist movement in the northern part of the enclave.

On Saturday morning, two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the Mediterranean, off the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv. The air defence warning sirens did not sound nor the missile defense system was activated, the Israeli army said in a statement.

Israel and Hamas, sworn enemies, were embroiled in an 11-day war in May 2021. This was the fourth conflict since the Islamist militant movement seized power in the Gaza Strip.

After the fragile truce between the parties took effect, a total of five missiles – rockets and mortars – were dropped from the Gaza Strip against Israeli territory. This is the lowest number ever recorded in the six months since any Israeli-Hamas conflict broke out, according to the Israeli Armed Forces Annual Report released on December 29.

Source: AMNA

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