IDF strikes terrorist cell after drone attack along Gaza border
Incident comes after rockets fired into Israel, 2 Palestinians killed in fence riots
The IDF struck a terrorist cell in the southern Gaza Strip after a drone dropped an IED on a military position along the border fence on Saturday, the IDF said in a statement.
While no troops were injured, there was slight damage to IDF vehicles by the drone attack.
According to Palestinian reports, the cell was hit near Rafah in the southern Strip.
The incident came hours after Israel struck several Hamas posts in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday night in retaliation for five rockets which were fired towards border communities near the Hamas-run enclave.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement on Saturday night, saying that “Hamas is responsible for all aggression emanating from the Gaza Strip. Any attempt to harm our citizens and our soldiers will be met with a forceful response.”
The military said that an IDF tank shelled a Hamas outpost north of Beit Hanun and an IAF drone stuck a Hamas observation post near Beit Lahiya.
The strikes came shortly after incoming rocket sirens were activated in Sderot and the nearby communities of Ibim and Kibbutz Or Haner. Two women were treated for shock.
A small fire also broke out after at least one rocket hit an open area near Sderot.
The exchange of fire came hours after two teenagers were killed by IDF snipers during the weekly Great March of Return protests along the Gaza border fence, which saw some 6,200 Palestinians riot along the fence, throwing explosive devices at troops.
“The demonstrations were of an especially violent nature, which included a large amount of IEDs, grenades and Molotov cocktails being thrown towards IDF forces along the fence,” read a statement by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. “There is noticeable damage to the border fence in several locations, and there has been a rising number of attempts to approach the border fence.”
The Hamas-run health ministry identified one of those killed as Ali al-Ashqar, 17, who was shot in the neck in northern Gaza Strip. A second teenager, Khaled al-Raba’i, 14, was shot in the stomach east of Gaza City.
Another 48 protesters were injured by live bullets and 33 others by rubber-coated rounds, including two medics and a photojournalist.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem tweeted in response to the deaths that “violating the blood of peaceful demonstrators in the marches of return and deliberately targeting them is a crime that the occupation bears all its repercussions.”