Israeli strikes target Hamas in Gaza Strip

GAZA: Israeli war jets carried out three separate air strikes on the northern and central Gaza Strip early yesterday in response to a rocket fired from the coastal enclave into southern Israel, security officials said.

During the raid, the Israeli war jets launched three missiles at two alleged military posts belonging to Hamas, in the north and east of Gaza Strip, the security officials said, adding that no injuries were reported throughout the strikes.

Unknown militants reportedly fired one rocket from the Gaza Strip overnight, which landed on an open area close to the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon; no injuries or damage were reported.

This is the fifth time that Israel retaliated with such air strikes for rockets fired into Israel since the end of the Jewish state’s largescale military air and ground operation last summer that lasted for 51 days.

Egypt brokered a truce between Israel and Hamas-led militants in Gaza on August 26 last year, ending the fighting between the two sides that killed more than 2200 Palestinians and 73 Israelis.

Radical Islamists, belonging to the Salafist armed groups in the Gaza Strip, have been responsible for several rockets fired from the enclave into Israel in May and June this year.

A third party has been mediating a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas.