Three people killed as Israeli fighter jets strike 140 Gaza targets in response to 150 Hamas rockets - UPDATE: Israel preparing for war

RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 09:00 UTC

© Reuters

An explosion during an Israeli air strike on Gaza, August 8, 2018

The IDF has conducted another series of air strikes against at least 20 alleged Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, after the militant group fired over 150 projectiles into southern Israel.

"IDF fighter jets targeted over 20 terror sites in military compounds and in a Hamas training camp. Among the sites targeted were a weapons manufacturing and storage facility, a complex used for the Hamas naval force and a military compound used for rocket-launching experiments," the IDF said Thursday morning.

A pregnant woman and her toddler were among three people killed by Israeli fire, the Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed. The victims - identified as Enas Khammash, 23, and her 18-month-old daughter Bayan - were killed in the Jafarawi area of central Gaza, according to AFP.

The Israeli military said it was forced to respond to an ongoing barrage of missile fire coming from the Gaza strip. Throughout the course of Wednesday and early hours of Thursday morning, Hamas fired over 150 projectiles into southern Israel, forcing the IDF to initially conduct 12 raids on the Palestinian enclave. More raids were then ordered after Hamas failed to stop their belligerent activity.

Additionally, five training camps were targeted as well as a main warehouse and a meeting point used by the senior commanders of the Khan Yunis Brigade," the IDF said. "Thus far, over 140 of Hamas' strategic military sites have been targeted."

The IDF remains on high alert and said it is prepared for a variety of scenarios. "Hamas is responsible and bears the consequences for the ongoing events," the military reiterated.

While sirens continue to sound off in southern Israel, the Iron Dome managed to intercept 25 launches out of an estimated 150 fired by the militants. The city of Sderot saw the most action throughout Wednesday, with at least four projectiles landing there.

The rest of the missiles are believed to have landed in uninhabited areas. At least 19 people so far have sought medical help related to the attacks. Among the latest casualties is a 30-year-old foreign worker from Thailand who suffered severe injuries to her chest and limbs, Times of Israel reports.

Wednesday's cross-border escalation is believed to have started after an IDF tank struck Hamas posts in Gaza, in retaliation for an attack on a vehicle involved in the construction of a barrier along the border.

Comment: A spokesman for the Gaza health authority said earlier that a Palestinian died in Gaza on Wednesday after Israel shelled the exclave allegedly in retaliation to rockets fired into its territory.

"A 30-year-old Palestinian man died in a shelling near the city of Beit Lakhia. Six people have been injured so far as a result of Israeli aggression," Ashraf Qidra told Sputnik.

Update: Meanwhile, a senior Israeli army official told Israeli daily Haaretz on Thursday that Tel Aviv is approaching a new war on Gaza.

"We don't see the end of the escalation. We are closing in on operation in Gaza," he said.

Another Israeli official warned Hamas against further escalation in the region.

"The way things continue to play out is significant. Hamas will understand in the coming hours, as in the past months, that this is not the direction it wants to chose," he was quoted as saying on the army['s Twitter account.