The Israeli military launched airstrikes at facilities used by the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, after rocket fire from the Palestinian territory to Israel.
“In response to the rockets fired from Gaza, Israeli Air Force IAF fighter jets struck both a weapons manufacturing site and military compound belonging to the Hamas Terrorist Organisation, located in central and northern Gaza,’’
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said this in a tweet.
Reports from Gaza did not confirm any injuries.
Several houses were reported to have been lightly damaged.
The Israeli military said that the targeted compound was located near a mosque, a medical clinic, and a school.
Hamas “exploits the civilian population of Gaza by deliberately placing its weaponry in the centre of civilian areas,’’ the IDF said.
A couple of hours earlier, the army had said that six rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israeli territory.
Five were intercepted while one fell in an open area.
A Hamas spokesman said on Monday that the Palestinian people’s patience was running out.
Hamas, which governs Gaza, was classified as a terrorist organisation by the United States (U.S.), the European Union (EU), and Israel.
The security situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories has been extremely tense for weeks. A Kurdish activist was executed by hanging in Iran on Wednesday morning, the country’s Fars news agency reported later that day.
Iran’s judiciary had accused the activist, Arash Ahmadi, of causing the death of a policeman.
Hengaw, an Oslo-based human rights group, said the man had been in prison for two years.
According to their report, the 29-year-old was a member of the Kurdish Komala Party in Iran.
The execution took place in the city of Kermanshah.
Human rights activists have been highly critical of the use of the death penalty in Iran for many years.
It said this can be used as a means of repression and after unfair trials.
Official figures on executions were not known.
According to the Amnesty International rights organisation, at least 250 people were executed in Iran in the first half of 2022, mainly for drug offences.
(dpa/NAN)
