Eyewitness told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli airstrikes targeted a training site for the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, in Beit Lahia town in northern Gaza Strip.
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Israel ended its permanent military presence in the Gaza Strip in 2005 in what it called the “Gaza disengagement”.
The rocket caused no injuries or damage in Sderot, where it landed in a residential area, police said.
“Normalizing ties with Israel does not mean that we will keep silent in the face of attacks against the Palestinian people”, the Turkish Foreign Ministry was quoted as stating. Palestinian health and security sources said between two and five people were lightly wounded by Israel’s retaliatory fire.
Israel has always insisted the ship, carrying aid for Gaza, was repeatedly warned not to approach Israeli waters, and that its soldiers were attacked upon boarding.
Army spokesman Peter Lerner said Israeli forces then targeted the Palestinian movement Hamas in northern Gaza with bombs and tank fire. It came after militants in the Gaza strip fired a rocket at the Israeli border town of Sderot on Sunday (21 August).
Israeli jets and artillery hit several military installations in Gaza overnight after a missile was sacked into the Israeli town of Sderot on Sunday afternoon.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, according to reports. The 50-day military aggression, which ended on August 26, killed almost 2,200 Palestinians, including over 570 children.
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The Gaza Strip is under Hamas control since 2007, and in the past years Israel has held the islamist organisation responsible for all attacks originating in the coastal enclave of Gaza. There were no casualties in either incident.
