A new Israeli attack in Gaza raises tensions in the region

JERUSALEM .- The day after the approval of a controversial law that declared the country " "Jewish state," Israel yesterday launched a violent offensive with airplanes and tanks in "Military objectives throughout the Gaza Strip," which left four Palestinians dead and 120 wounded. An Israeli soldier was shot dead by Palestinians from the enclave.

He also warned that he would react "with greater force" if the Islamist Hamas movement continued its rocket fire from Gaza to the Jewish state, warned the Israeli Defense Minister. Avigdor Lieberman

The offensive alarmed the United Nations, which called on Israel and Hamas to "move away from the precipice," according to the United Nations Special Envoy for the Middle East, Nickolai Mladenov. The Gaza Strip must move away from the precipice, not next week, not tomorrow, immediately, "Mladenov wrote on his Twitter account.

According to the Israeli armed forces, his offensive was a response to shots fired at his side. troops near the border with the Palestinian enclave and the launching of rockets.

The attacks took place during "violent demonstrations along the security fence" that exists On the border between Gaza and Israel, The Israeli army badured, in response to the announcement of four Palestinian deaths, made shortly thereafter by Gazatí's Ministry of Health, the tension in the whole region worsened afterwards. Yesterday, the Israeli parliament pbaded a law declaring the country "Jewish state", excluding any reference to the Arab minorities who have Israeli nationality.

But since March 30, the Palestinians regularly demonstrate in the area f Borderline to denounce the blockade imposed by the Israeli authorities in Gaza and demand the return of Palestinian refugees expelled from Palestine in 1948 after the creation of the state of Israel.

More than a hundred Palestinians They were killed by the Israeli army during clashes that began at the end of March.

For the past week, Israel has been hardening its military response to the launch of fire kites and incendiary balloons from Gaza that have burned 2,600 hectares. Israeli, according to the Jewish state.

Agencies AFP and ANSA