New Attack on Israel Raises Tension in Gaza Strip as Netanyahu Meets Trump

MISHMERET.- Today, in the middle of his visit to

United States,

the Prime Minister of Israel,

Benjamin Netanyahu,

announced his anticipated return to his country because of the new increase in
tension in the

Gaza strip,

after last night a
a rocket fired from there reached a house north of Tel Aviv and left seven wounded.

The sound of the anti-aircraft sirens awakened residents of the Sharon area, northeast of the city, shortly before 5 am and sheltered them in shelters. Then the sound of a loud explosion was heard.

The missile hit a house in Mishmeret, more than 80 km from the Gaza Strip, an unusual range for those shots from the Palestinian enclave. Four adults and three children, including a six-month-old baby, were hospitalized. Six belong to the same family and have minor burns and shrapnel wounds.

The house was left in ruins, with tiles, broken furniture and scattered rubble around. Among the remains was a broken cradle and the remains of two dead family dogs in the blast. As for what happened, the Israeli armed forces have accused the Islamist movement Hamas.

In addition, the Israeli military command has decided to send "two brigades of reinforcement in the area of ​​the southern command", the region of the Gaza Strip, and to call a number of reservists, without specifying their number. The army added that the rocket had been fired from southern Palestinian territory and that it had traveled about 120 km.

Netanyahu, visiting the United States, promised to react "firmly" to the attack and decided to "shorten" his trip. "In a few hours I will meet the President

Donald Trump

and right after, I come back to

Israel

to direct our operations closely, "he said.

In the middle of the election campaign for the April 9 legislative elections, in which Netanyahu aspires to impose for a new term, the prime minister claimed that a "criminal attack against the state of Israel had been committed and we would react with force. No retaliatory measures have yet been recorded in the Gaza Strip.

Voltage

Israel and Hamas have clashed in three wars in the Gaza Strip since the Islamist movement took power by force in 2007, after the international community refused to recognize its victory in the Palestinian legislative elections.

In 2018, both parties find themselves almost at war. However, after an informal ceasefire in November and the approach of the first anniversary of the protests, the "March of the Great Return", the tension is rising.

The last serious confrontation between Gaza and Israel took place in mid-March when Israeli forces bombed a hundred Hamas targets, including what the Israelis described as an important underground rock-making complex in retaliation for shot on Israeli territory.

This new escalation only occurs on March 30, the first anniversary of the "Great March of Return", a mobilization against the Israeli blockade of the enclave and for the right of Palestinians to return to their original lands. or flight. expelled with the creation of Israel in 1948.

Since March 2018, at least 258 Gazans have been shot dead by Israeli soldiers, the vast majority at demonstrations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Two Israeli soldiers have died since that date.

AFP and AP agencies