Palestinian report: Egyptian delegation enters Gaza
An Egyptian security delegation entered Gaza to follow up on ceasefire talks with Israel on Sunday, just hours after the Israel Air Force struck Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an earlier drone attack against an IDF humvee positioned along the border fence.
According to Palestinian media, the delegation is set to meet with senior Hamas officials in order to de-escalate the situation, in light of growing violence ahead of the upcoming Israeli election.
Following weeks of relative quiet along the border, the past weekend saw two Palestinian youth killed by the IDF during the “March of Return” border riots, which the IDF called “especially violent in nature.” Five rockets were launched from Gaza on Friday evening, and a drone flown from the southern Strip attacked an IDF vehicle on Saturday.
In retaliation for the drone attack, the military struck naval combat equipment belonging to the terrorist group and two military centers for Hamas’s aerial systems in airstrikes in the northern and central Strip, which lasted close to an hour.
“The IDF will continue to act against attempts to harm Israeli citizens, and holds the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas responsible for everything that takes place in the Gaza Strip, and which emanates from there,” the military said in a statement.
Palestinian Wafa news agency said the jets struck locations south of Gaza City and in the Nusseirat refugee camp, Bureij refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya, causing financial damages but no casualties.
The Eshkol Regional Council sent a message to residents in the area informing them that explosions that they were hearing were due to IDF operations.
Earlier on Saturday, a Gazan drone dropped an IED on a military Humvee deployed along the border fence. While no IDF troops were injured, there was slight damage caused to military vehicles by the drone attack.
The incident came hours after the IDF struck several Hamas posts in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday night, in retaliation for five rockets that were fired toward southern Israel communities bordering the Hamas-run enclave.
Following two days of violence along the border, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that Israel would respond forcefully to any attempt to harm its citizens and soldiers.
“Hamas is responsible for all aggression emanating from the Gaza Strip,” he said. “Any attempt to harm our citizens and our soldiers will be met with a forceful response.”
Also on Sunday, a 26-yearold Israeli man was stopped by police from crossing into Gaza near the community of Netiv Ha’asara, after he called his mother and told her that he wanted to cross into the coastal enclave. According to reports, the man was hit by a mortar shell in his youth, and has since been treated with psychiatric medication. He was taken to a nearby police station for questioning.
This comes five years to the day since Avera Mengistu crossed into Gaza in close to the same area.