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GAZA, June 18 (Reuters) – Palestinian militants fired a rocket towards a metropolis in southern Israel on Saturday, drawing Israeli air strikes, the Israeli navy mentioned, after months of relative calm within the space.
There have been no quick stories of casualties in Gaza or Israel, which intercepted the rocket that was launched towards town of Ashkelon, setting off air raid sirens and sending residents to bomb shelters.
Israel mentioned Hamas, the Islamist militant group which controls Gaza, fired the rocket.
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“In response to the rocket assault, Israel Defence Forces plane struck quite a lot of Hamas terror targets within the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli navy mentioned in an announcement.
A spokesperson for Hamas’s political wing, Hazem Qassem, declined to touch upon the Israeli allegation and referred Reuters to the group’s navy wing which didn’t instantly remark.
The Israel-Gaza frontier has been comparatively calm since Might 2021, when Israel and Palestinian militants fought an 11-day battle.
Though Saturday’s cross-border fireplace didn’t seem to sign a wider escalation, violence has risen within the occupied West Financial institution and in Israel in latest months.
On Friday, Israeli troops killed three Palestinian gunmen within the West Financial institution metropolis of Jenin, the place navy raids have been stepped up after males from the world carried out a number of deadly avenue assaults in Israel. learn extra
Hamas mentioned one of many gunmen was amongst its members, whereas one other militant group that pulls on members of Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad claimed the useless gunmen as its personal.
Qassem mentioned Saturday’s Israeli air strikes had been a “helpless try to finish the revolutionary actions spreading throughout Palestine”.
U.S.-brokered peace talks aiming to determine a Palestinian state in east Jerusalem, the West Financial institution and Gaza collapsed in 2014 and there’s no signal of their revival.
U.S. President Joe Biden is predicted to fulfill Israeli and Palestinian leaders throughout a go to to the area in July.
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Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem
Writing by Maayan Lubell
Modifying by Clarence Fernandez and Mark Potter
Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.
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