ISRAEL / PALESTINE – The Israeli army launched air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after a bomb attack wounded four Israeli soldiers on the border with the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources said.
Israeli air strikes on Saturday night raided three Hamas bases east of Gaza City, causing no injuries, according to Palestinian sources.
In response to an AFP question, an Israeli military spokesman refused to confirm the air strikes.
Earlier on Saturday, four Israeli soldiers were wounded, two of them critically, when an explosive device exploded as their vehicle was passing near the fence separating Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, the army said in a statement.
The response came from an Israeli tank fired at a control post not far from the site of the explosion, specifically east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian sources confirmed the attack, saying that no injuries were reported.
From Munich, where he is attending the annual security conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described what he said was “dangerous.”
“We will respond in the appropriate way,” he said in a statement.
“A group of mobs have adopted the attack,” army spokesman Jonathan Conricos told AFP, referring to Salafi groups in Gaza.
But in our view, Hamas is responsible for organizing demonstrations on the border between the besieged strip and Israel.
He explained that the device that was detonated was placed Friday during one of these demonstrations, pointing out that the lives of the two soldiers, who were seriously injured are not threatened.
In the Gaza Strip, there has been a fragile cease-fire since the end of the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas.
In early February, Israeli air strikes raided the southern Gaza Strip after firing rockets into Israeli territory.
The rocket fire is generally attributed to militant Salafi groups affiliated with Hamas.
