Israeli warplanes hit Hamas in Gaza: army

JERUSALEM: Israeli jets pounded Hamas positions in Gaza overnight after Palestinians staged a cross-border raid into southern Israel, the military said early Sunday.

“Israel Air Force fighter jets targeted a terror target in a military compound belonging to the Hamas terror organisation in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip,” it said in an English-language statement. A Palestinian security source in the coastal enclave said the planes hit a base of Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, causing damage but no injuries.

The strike on the Strip’s Islamist rulers came after four Palestinians “carrying bottles filled with flammable material” breached Gaza’s border fence on Saturday evening near the kibbutz of Kissufim, Israeli daily Haaretz reported, citing the army. There, they attempted to torch heavy equipment used for work on the frontier barrier, an army spokeswoman told AFP.

The machinery was damaged but did not catch fire, and the attackers fled back into Gaza, she said.No casualties were reported. “The incident that took place yesterday is one of many severe incidents that have taken place in the security fence area,” the statement said.

Israel holds Hamas, which rules Gaza, accountable for all attacks launched from the blockaded coastal territory.Last month there was a surge in cross-border violence, seen as among the most serious since Israel and Hamas fought a war in 2014 — their third since 2008.

After a bomb wounded four Israeli soldiers inspecting the border fence on February 17, Israel responded by pounding 18 Hamas facilities in two waves of air strikes.Israeli ground forces also killed two Palestinian teenagers in cross-border fire.