Lerner added that Israeli forces would “continue to protect the residents of Israel and the forces guarding them on the border”.
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Hamas announced on Twitter that 23 year-old Musa Zuiater was killed and three others were injured in the strike.
The Israeli army said Wednesday that it attacked a military cell it accused of planting explosives in northern Gaza.
There was no reported rocket fire from Gaza before today’s strike, but there have been a number of recent incidents along the Gaza border, including explosions and gunfire targeting Israeli soldiers.
Israel has also waged three wars on Gaza since 2008, including a devastating 50-day aggression in 2014. The Gaza Strip has been under a tight Israeli blockade since the Islamic Hamas movement violently took over the coastal enclave in the summer of 2007, since then Israel has imposed tight security restrictions on import and export.
Since Oct. 1 Israeli forces or armed civilians have killed at least 143 Palestinians, 91 of whom authorities described as assailants.
The report suggested it is possible that the Israeli-Gaza front will be set ablaze once more, amid the ongoing wave of violence between Israel and the Palestinians across the Israeli country and the West Bank and east Jerusalem territories, which started in October and claimed the lives of 23 Israelis, one US citizen and more than 140 Palestinians.
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In December an improvised explosive device (IED) was thrown at Israeli troops and a few days later, engineers from Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) discovered further devices along the Gaza border.
