BICOM

Israeli Aircraft hit four targets in the Gaza strip early this morning after homes in Sderot were hit by heavy machine gun fire from Gaza.

The six homes in Sderot in Southern Israel were hit by heavy machine gun fire from the Gaza Strip, causing limited damage but no injuries. This was the first time that machine gun fire had hit the city.  It is likely that Hamas positions fired at Israeli aircraft or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that had been flying overhead and the stray fire reached the Israeli city.

The IDF said that Israeli Air Force (IAF) jets struck “four targets, among them buildings and terror infrastructure, a military compound and a weapons production facility”.

The IDF added: “The strikes were conducted in response to the heavy machine gun fire that targeted the city of Sderot and the numerous shooting attacks that targeted IDF soldiers throughout the day.”

Last night, Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar said Hamas “reached agreements with Egypt not to deteriorate the situation into a military conflagration, but if Israel spills a lot of blood we will be forced to use military resistance”.

Commenting on the relative quiet, Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz told Army Radio that an Egyptian intelligence chief had warned Haniyeh that Cairo “knows and has proof” that Hamas was funding the protests and sending people to the border.” Katz said that the Egyptian official “made unequivocally clear to Haniyeh that if this continues, Israel will respond and take far harsher steps, and Egypt will stand by and will not help”.  “Haniyeh returned to Gaza, Hamas gave an order … and miraculously, this spontaneous protest by a public that could not handle the situation any more dissipated,” he added.