Israeli jets kill Hamas operative, wound another in retaliation after attacking Israel

Israeli Jets strike Gaza second time, killing Hamas operative and seriously wounding another after they hit an Israeli home with gunfire directed at earlier IAF retaliatory response for Hamas detonating explosive device near IDF border patrol. Apparently the  explosive device was placed under cover of the thick smoke during ‘peaceful’ Gaza demonstration days earlier.

By Yoav Zitun, Elior Levy and Matan Tzuri

 

Israeli fighter jets attacked overnight Wednesday a Hamas terror position in the northern Gaza Strip in retaliation for an explosive device that detonated Wednesday morning near an IDF force on the border.

After the attack, a terror cell in the strip fired bullets at the aircraft [captured in video above], triggering two Code Red alert sirens in Israeli towns neighboring the northern sector of the Hamas-ruled enclave.

One bullet fired from the strip hit the roof of a home in an Israeli community. No one was hurt in the incident.

Damaged roof in southern Israel from falling anti-aircraft fire from Gaza – Ynet (no attribution)

The device that detonated in the early hours of Wednesday, which was planted east of Sujjaiya near the Karni Crossing, was the latest in a string of similar incidents as tensions have escalated in recent weeks on the Gaza border. No one was injured in the bombing.

The Israel Air Force (IAF) again responded to the gunfire, killing Mohamed Hajila, a Hamas’s military operative, and seriously wounding another.

The IDF later confirmed that it had carried out the attack against a Hamas military compound.

“After the IDF attack in the Gaza Strip, a cell of terrorists fired at the jets which did not hit or cause damage. The gunfire activated Code Red sirens,” an IDF statement said two hours after the sirens blared in the region.

Hamas burns thousands of tires, creating thick smoke to cover operatives planing IED devises to detonate on border as IDF patrols. – Screenshot: Taken from Hamas drone video-clip.

“The IDF, using aircraft, attacked the cell. The IDF sees the Hamas terror group as being responsible for all terror activities emanating from the Gaza Strip, and will act firmly against any attempt to carry out terror attacks against the citizens of Israel or IDF forces acting to defend them,” the statement continued.

The first Code Red siren was sounded at 1:33 am, followed by the second at 1:36 am in the Negev and Sdot Negev Regional Councils, an hour after Palestinian reports surfaced about the IAF attack.

Over recent weeks, Hamas has attempted to shoot down Israeli drones using heavy gunfire.

 

View original Ynet publication at:
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5228073,00.html