The Israeli public radio said that the war jets resumed raids on Hamas targets in response to continued rocket firing towards the Israeli forces that are carrying out works near the security barrier surrounding the Gaza Strip in search of tunnels.
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In a Saturday statement, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas (which has governed the strip since 2007), claimed responsibility for having dug the tunnel.
There were no casualties reported on Friday, but a woman was killed in a strike on her home in the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis on Thursday.
It was the fourth day of the worst cross-border violence since the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas which left 2,251 Palestinians and 73 Israelis dead in 2014.
The recent round of violence comes nearly two years after Israel’s devastating 50-day war on Gaza in summer 2014 that killed more than 2,500 Palestinians.
Kerem Shalom is close to where the army has uncovered two Hamas tunnels, reportedly stretching into Israeli territory, in recent weeks, with the most recent discovery on Thursday.
On a near daily basis, the Israeli army fires “warning shots” on Palestinian fisherman, farmers, and shepherds entering the Israeli-enforced “buffer zone”, implemented after Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip a decade ago.
In a statement, the Israeli army said “Israel Air Force aircraft targeted a Hamas terror infrastructure”.
Israel’s military has traded blows with Hamas over the past few days. “We will not be deterred by Hamas threats, and we will continue our operations until we find and expose the last of the tunnels”.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that Palestinian farm lands in Gaza city’s al-Shujaiyya neighborhood were hit in the Israeli attack.
In all, Israel has carried out four air strikes – and Hamas has fired 10 mortar rounds – since Wednesday.
In a separate incident, four members of the same family were wounded – three children and a 65-year-old man – in an airstrike on a workshop in Gaza’s Al-Zeitoun district.
A major survey published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) found that 75,000 Palestinians are still homeless after their houses were destroyed during the 2014 Israeli onslaught on Gaza.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene senior ministers on Friday to discuss the situation.
