Israel strikes Gaza after missile across border: army

by Staff Writers Jerusalem (AFP) July 24, 2017 AFP

Israel struck a position of Islamist group Hamas in Gaza on Monday, the army said, hours after a missile was fired across the border from the Palestinian enclave.

"An (Israeli) tank targeted a post belonging to the Hamas terror organisation in the southern Gaza Strip" in the early hours of the morning, the army said in a statement.

A Hamas security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that five strikes hit an observation post of the group's military wing near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

The source said separate strikes hit farming land in central Gaza, with no injuries reported in either incident.

The Israeli strike came hours after a "projectile fired from the Gaza Strip" hit an open area inside Israel without causing any injuries, the army said.

Israel and Hamas, who run Gaza, have fought three wars since 2008.

Since the last one in 2014, a fragile ceasefire has been observed along the largely closed border.

Missiles and rockets are periodically fired at Israel, generally by hardline Islamist groups opposed to Hamas.

But Israel holds Hamas responsible for all rocket fire from Gaza regardless of who carried it out, and usually retaliates within hours.