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Israeli warplanes carried out a fresh wave of airstrikes across the blockaded Gaza Strip on Saturday, the largest since 2014, according to the Israeli military.
In a statement, the army said the attacks targeted 40 military sites belonging to Palestinian group Hamas in the northern city of Beit Lahiya.
The airstrikes came after dozens of rocket sirens sounded in southern Israel after rockets were fired from the Palestinian territory.
“This attack is an expression of the intelligence and operational capabilities of the IDF, which can intensify and expand according to need and assess the situation,” the statement said.
Saturday’s attacks were the largest since 2014 when the Israeli army launched a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 2,000 Palestinians and injuring thousands.
Earlier Saturday, the Israeli army said it had destroyed two underground tunnels in airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.
Tension has been running high across the Gaza Strip amid protests demanding an end to the decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and lifting an 11-year blockade, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of basic commodities.
Since the protests began in March, more than 130 people have been killed – and thousands more injured – by Israeli army fire.
Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager during protests along the Gaza border on Friday, Gaza medical officials said, and an Israeli soldier was wounded during the demonstrations that had turned violent, the military said.More than 130 Palestinians have been killed during the Israel-Gaza frontier protests which have entered their fourth month and have drawn a lethal Israeli army response.Thousands took part in Friday's protests, which marked 100 days since their launch, with some venturing close to the border fence, burning tyres and throwing stones.Israel's military said Palestinian protesters hurled grenades, explosive devices and fire-bombs toward the Israeli troops across the border fence. One soldier was moderately wounded by a grenade, the army said in a statement.Israel claims to shoot down drone ‘launched from Syria’Israeli sirens sound over Golan frontier with Syria, Jordan: Israeli military"Troops responded by firing towards the terrorists," the military said.It said it fired toward a Palestinian who was attempting to infiltrate Israeli territory, but the incident appeared to be unrelated to the death of the teenager.The Gaza Health Ministry said the 15-year-old boy killed was shot in the chest. It said 70 others were wounded, at least 20 by live fire, and others by tear gas.There have been no Israeli fatalities during the so-called "Great March of Return" demonstrations but big tracts of Israeli land have been ravaged by fires set by blazing kites or helium balloons carrying burning rags and other objects floated over from Gaza.Protest organisers say the demonstrations aim to press demands such as for a right to lands lost to Israel in the 1948 war of its foundation and for an Israeli-Egyptian blockade to ease.Israeli navy intercepts humanitarian flotilla from GazaIsrael says Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza, has been orchestrating the protests to distract from their governance problems and provide cover for militants' cross-border attacks. Hamas, which Israel and the United States designate as a terrorist organization, denies this.Home to 2 million Palestinians, more than half of them war refugees and their descendants, Gaza has suffered deep poverty with vital infrastructure collapsing under a 12-year blockade by Israel, which says its aim is to curb security threats by Hamas.Egypt keeps tight restrictions on its border crossing with Gaza.Video: Israel banned call to prayer 298 times at key mosque
Palestinian teenager killed in Israel-Gaza border protests