Israeli aircraft attack Hamas sites in Gaza, after rocket fire

• Israeli aircraft attacked Hamas military positions in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
• This was in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave governed by the Islamist movement.
• Ballasts of flame erupted into the air, creating a trail of dark smoke over the land.

Israeli airstrikes attacked Hamas military positions in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave governed by the Islamist movement, as per the Israeli army

“A short while ago, in response to the rocket attack, (Israeli military) aircraft struck a number of Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip,” the army said in a statement.

Hamas “launched a rocket… toward Israeli civilians in southern Israel,” according to the statement, adding that the projectile was intercepted by Israel’s air defences.

Read more: Israeli forces kill three Palestinians in Jenin

After the strikes, balls of flame erupted into the air, creating a trail of dark smoke over the land.

Earlier in the day, the army said that air raid sirens were activated in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and in regions near the Gaza Strip barrier.

The Israeli army raided Jenin on Friday, which is the stronghold of armed Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank. Three Palestinians were killed and twelve others were hurt.

According to the Palestinian news agency , the men were murdered after Israeli forces opened fire on the vehicle in which they were riding.

The Israeli army stated that soldiers were fired upon during a search for firearms.

The group stated that one of the victims was a Hamas commander and vowed that the murders “will not go unpunished.”

In April, Israeli aircraft also attacked Gaza in response to incoming rocket fire. Since 2007, the Hamas-controlled, 2,3 million-person coastal enclave of Gaza has been subject to an Israeli embargo.

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Israel and Hamas waged an 11-day battle last year, sparked in part by rioting over the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the holiest place for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.