Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Israel exchanges intense fire with Hamas militants
Gaza attack leaves 2 teens dead as tensions escalate
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military carried out its largest daytime airstrike campaign in Gaza since the 2014 war Saturday as Hamas militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel throughout the day, threatening to trigger an all-out war after weeks of growing tensions along the volatile border.
Two Palestinian teenagers were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City, while three Israelis were wounded from a rocket that landed on a residential home.
Israel said it was focused on hitting militant targets and was warning Gaza civilians to keep their distance from certain sites. But, even before the report of casualties, the intense tit-for-tat airstrikes and rocket barrages still marked a significant flareup after a long period of a generally low-level, simmering conflict.
“The Israeli army delivered its most painful strike against Hamas since the 2014 war and we will increase the strength of our attacks as much as necessary,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said the latest Israeli sortie, the third of the day, struck some 40 Hamas targets, including tunnels, logistical centers and a Hamas battalion headquarters. He said the escalation was the result of the sustained Hamas rocket attacks, its fomenting of violence along the border and its campaign of launching incendiary kites and balloons that have devastated Israeli farmlands and nature reserves.
Later, witnesses reported that Israeli warplanes dropped four bombs on an unfinished building near a Hamas police and security compound in Gaza City, reducing the old structure to rubble. The fourstory building is adjacent to a public park.
Gaza’s Health ministry said two teenagers were killed in the strike and 10 others injured.
The Israeli military had no immediate reaction to that strike.
Sirens wailed overnight and throughout most of the day Saturday in southern Israel as waves of rockets and mortars were launched from Gaza amid the airstrikes.
The military said it identified about 60 launches of rockets and mortars from Gaza toward Israeli territory, of which about 10 were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system.
As a precaution, the military shut down a popular beach in southern Israel and placed limitations on gatherings of large crowds.
Israel has been warning Hamas in recent weeks that while it has no interest in engaging in the kind of conflict that led to the sides fighting three wars over the past decade, it will not tolerate Gaza militants’ continued efforts to breach the border.
On Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered near the Gaza border for their near-weekly protest.
A 15-year-old Palestinian who tried to climb over the fence into Israel was shot dead.