Israeli military pounds targets in Gaza Strip

The Israeli military has carried out overnight airstrikes against the besieged Gaza Strip.

Early on Wednesday, Israeli warplanes and helicopters bombed targets in the blockaded enclave, claiming that they were positions held by the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas.

In a statement issued following the attacks, the Israeli military said that the raids had been carried out in response to an alleged rocket attack that was launched from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening. The Israeli military claimed that its attacks targeted “a rocket manufacturing site and military post” belonging to Hamas.

The Israeli military strikes targeted sites near northern Gaza City and the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah, Palestinian sources said.

An Israeli military spokesperson alleged that the rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave had hit an open area near Beersheba.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the purported rocket attack. And there was no claim of responsibility.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Beersheba when the rocket was allegedly fired. He was visiting the city to whip up support among voters, as people in the Israeli-occupied territories headed to the polls for the fourth time in less than two years.

Video shared on social media showed him being removed by security guards at a restaurant in the city when the rocket was fired.

The Israeli military pounded Gaza shortly after Netanyahu’s visit.

Netanyahu’s campaign events have been targeted in the past. In 2019, Netanyahu was forced to flee and seek shelter during a campaign event in the port city of Ashdod ahead of snap legislative elections as rockets were fired from the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Israeli regime often launches strikes against positions in the blockaded enclave, accusing the resistance groups there of launching rockets.

It has also conducted attacks in response to the launch of incendiary balloons from Gaza to the occupied territories over the past years.

Flying fiery kites and balloons has become a new mode of protest by Gazans since March 2018, when the Tel Aviv regime began a crackdown against anti-occupation demonstrations near the fence separating Gaza from the Israeli-occupied lands, killing and injuring many people.

Israel, however, blames the launch of incendiary balloons on Hamas.

Gaza has been under Israeli siege since June 2007, which has caused a decline in living standards.

Israel has launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.

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