Description

Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip,
on March 13, 2014 (AFP/Said Khatib)

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by IMEMC & Agencies

[Friday, March 13, 2014] Despite talks of a truce between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, the Israeli Air Force said that it carried out on Friday, at dawn, various air strikes targeting different areas in the besieged coastal region.

Palestinian security sources in Gaza, said the Israeli Air Force fired several missiles at two locations in Gaza.

The first target is a training ground used by fighters of the Salah Ed-Deen Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, while the second strike targeted a camp used by fighters of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

The army also bombarded a land located close to the Safina resistance camp, near Gaza City.

A fourth strike, carried out by the army, targeted an open land in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources reported no casualties, while excessive damages have been reported.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the army targeted sites in southern and northern Gaza, and alleged that the escalation comes in retaliation to homemade shells fired by resistance groups, in Gaza, targeting adjacent Israeli areas.

In related news, medical sources in Gaza have reported that five Palestinians were wounded in an explosion, in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

One of the wounded is a 55-year-old woman who suffered a serious injury; all wounded Palestinians were moved to a local hospital.

Although an agreement was reached to declare a truce, the army continued its strikes against Gaza, while armed groups in Gaza fired homemade shells.

Israeli sources quoted a state security official claiming that Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have “raised the White flag, and asked for a truce through media outlets”, according to the sources.

The statements came shortly before Palestinian fighters fired at least eleven shells in retaliation to the Israeli bombardment.

Israeli military officials threatened that “should Palestinian armed groups continue to attack Israel, Tel Aviv will prove it has various means to counter such attacks…”

Commenting on shells fired by fighters of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza, a security official claimed Hamas “knew beforehand shells will be fired into Israel”, and added that Hamas “was surprised by the number of shells, and acted fast to restore calm.”

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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Six rockets from Gaza struck southern Israel on Thursday evening after the ceasefire, according to an Israeli military spokesman, causing no damage but putting into danger an already tenuous cessation of hostilities.

Three rockets struck "open areas" around 8 p.m. across the south and caused no casualties, according to an Israeli military spokesperson, while two rockets were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile-protection system.

The attacks follow an earlier rocket attack around 5:30 p.m, which also hit an open area.

Israeli military sources earlier denied that a new ceasefire had been put in place but said that "calm will be answered with calm" according to an Israeli media report, echoing statements from top officials in Islamic Jihad earlier Thursday.

Israeli news website Ynet reported that an unnamed Israeli security source said that no new ceasefire agreement had been reached, but that Israeli forces would not launch any unprovoked attacks, in keeping with the terms of the 2012 ceasefire.

Despite this, earlier in the day Israeli armed forces called up its air force reserves, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

The decision to call the reserves was made by Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya'alon in the cabinet. According to a military source, calling up reserves requires the approval of the Knesset security and foreign committee, and a waiting period of 48 hours, the report said.

Senior Islamic Jihad official Khalid al-Batsh earlier on Thursday had said that his movement would adhere to the calm "on condition that the occupation adheres."

The rocket comes after Egyptian intervention allowed the re-activation of a truce between Gaza militants and Israel, after Israeli air forces bombarded more than 30 targets across the Gaza Strip overnight and on Thursday morning.

The bombardment, which injured three Palestinians, came in response to the firing of dozens of rockets by Islamic Jihad on Wednesday, which themselves were a response by the group to Israel's killing of seven Palestinians -- including three of the groups' members -- in separate incidents earlier in the week.

A major eight-day confrontation in November 2012 between Israel and militants from Gaza claimed the lives of 177 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and six Israelis.