BICOM

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) bombed two Hamas military targets in Gaza yesterday after a missile was fired into Israel from Gaza.

According to Palestinian sources, the IAF attacked three Hamas positions, including an observation post in the eastern Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported. In a statement Hamas warned the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that: “The escalation is dangerous and using fire won’t bring security to Israel and its residents.” The IDF said it holds Hamas responsible and “will continue to act in defence of Israeli citizens and against terror from the Gaza Strip”.

On Friday, as part of the ‘Great March of Return,’ approximately 13,000 Palestinians rioted on the border between Gaza and Israel and threw explosives and grenades at Israeli army positions. In one location, protesters attempted to break through the border. Amal al-Taramsi, a 43-year-old activist who regularly attended the protests, was shot and killed. Al-Mezan, a Palestinian human rights group, reported that “she was shot at a distance of about 200 meters away from the fence”.

There was a brief exchange of fire last week when the IAF bombed Hamas targets in Gaza after a missile was fired towards Ashkelon from Gaza. A day earlier the IDF bombed two Hamas military positions after an explosive device was launched in a drone from Gaza concealed in a large cluster of coloured balloons.

Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam brigades held a press conference on Saturday presenting its investigation into the IDF Special Forces operation that infiltrated Gaza last November resulting in the death of a senior IDF officer and seven Hamas fighters. According to Hamas, the IDF action sought to establish an espionage network in Gaza. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeidah implied they had captured Israeli surveillance equipment and said: “The enemy and its security forces should be very worried. The treasure of information we gained will give us a strategic advantage on the level of the battle of wits with the Zionist enemy.”

Abu Obeidah also offered a $1m reward and a pardon to any Palestinian “collaborator” with Israel who assists in the capture of IDF personnel.

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot appointed a commission to conduct a general assessment of the army’s special operations following the November incident.