Israel retaliates again after another rocket attack from Gaza

An explosion in Rafah in the Gaza Strip yesterday after an air strike by Israel. A fragile truce has held in recent years despite occasional flare-ups. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
An explosion in Rafah in the Gaza Strip yesterday after an air strike by Israel. A fragile truce has held in recent years despite occasional flare-ups. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

JERUSALEM • The Israeli military said yesterday it had conducted air strikes against targets in the Gaza Strip following a rocket attack from the Palestinian enclave, in the second such exchange in as many days.

The strikes hit what the military described as "terror targets" operated by Gaza's Islamist ruling party Hamas.

They included a "training facility, an anti-aircraft missile launcher post, a concrete production plant and terror tunnel infrastructure".

Witnesses and security sources said the strikes hit two militant "training sites" in southern Gaza and another target in central Gaza.

A Hamas spokesman said that despite the Israeli action, "Gaza still fights and doesn't break".

The strikes came hours after militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into southern Israel.

An Israeli army spokesman said the rocket hit open ground and caused no casualties or damage.

It was the second such exchange in recent days.

Late on Thursday, Palestinian militants fired a rocket at southern Israel, prompting the army to launch retaliatory air strikes on Gaza that caused no casualties.

Israel imposed a blockade of Gaza's sea and land borders after Hamas seized control in 2007.

The two sides have since fought three wars.

A fragile truce has endured in recent years despite occasional flare-ups, with Palestinians firing rockets at Israel and the Jewish state responding with air strikes on the coastal enclave.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on April 18, 2021, with the headline Israel retaliates again after another rocket attack from Gaza. Subscribe