BICOM

An improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated near the perimeter fence of the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

Israel Defence Force (IDF) personnel were not in the area and no one was injured.  In response to the IED attack, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) bombed Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday night and the IDF destroyed a Hamas observation post with artillery fire. Saturday’s IED explosion was the fifth in the last three months.

Palestinian sources reported several airstrikes east and south of Gaza City. They said that houses sustained damage in one of the airstrikes.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai said: “The provocations by Hamas and the other terrorist groups are liable to precipitate an escalation and put the residents of the Gaza Strip in danger. Setting off bombs against IDF soldiers was a severe and irresponsible act that was liable to end in disaster, and it disrupted repairs on a water line to the Gaza Strip as well as the operations of the new wastewater purification installation that was just opened. Damaging the installation, and especially the large gas tank inside, was liable to hurt everyone who lives nearby and hurt the 300,000 people whom the installation is supposed to serve.”

On Sunday, the Israeli military announced that it had destroyed two underground tunnels, one that entered Israeli territory and another in the centre of the Gaza Strip.

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that the border-crossing tunnels destroyed on Sunday morning were located in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman responded, saying: “Whoever thought they could attack us from underground has come up against an iron wall. Hamas invested billions in its tunnel project and now they’re drowning in the sand. I recommend that Hamas invest its money in the welfare of the citizens of Gaza because by the end of the year its tunnel project will be destroyed.”