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Two Palestinian teenagers were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City, while three Israelis were wounded from a rocket that landed on a residential home.
Israel said it was focused on hitting militant targets and was warned Gaza civilians to keep their distance from certain sites. But even before the report of casualties the intense tit-for-tat airstrikes and rocket dams still marked a significant flare-up after a long period of low-level, simmering conflict.
"The Israeli army delivered its most painful strike against Hamas since the 2014 war." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Late Saturday, Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists in Gaza announced that they had agreed to fire in Egypt, but were still in danger. holding company.
Lt. Collar. Jonathan Conricus said the latest Israeli exit, the third of the day, struck down some Hamas targets including tunnels, logistical centers and a Hamas battalion headquarters. He said the escalation was the result of the sustained Hamas rocket attacks, its fomenting of violence along the border and its campaign of launching incendiary kites and balloons that have devastated Israeli farmlands and nature reserves.
"Our message to Hamas is that we will enhance the intensity of our effort if needed," he said. "What Hamas is doing is pushing them ever closer to the edge of the abyss … Hamas will have to understand that there is a price to be paid."
Later, warned that Israeli warplanes were dropped in the Gaza Strip, and that it was destroyed in Gaza City. The four-story building is adjacent to a public park. Gaza's Health Ministry said two teenagers were killed in the strike and ten others injured.
It marked the first casualties of the day. Striking in the heart of Gaza City is typically only one of the most important events in the world.
The Israeli military had no immediate reaction to this strike, but it had been decided that it was a high-rise Gaza Strip that was used as a Hamas urban warfare training facility. It said a tunnel was dug under the building.
Shortly after, Israeli medical officials said three Israelis were wounded from a rocket that landed in southern Israel. It said in the southern city of Sderot was a 52-year-old man with a chest wound, a 17-year-old girl with a face wound and a 20-year-old woman with injuries to her limbs.
Sirens wailed overnight and most of the day Saturday in southern Israel as waves of rockets and mortars were launched from Gaza's airstrikes. Sixty-one launches of rockets and mortars from Gaza to Israeli territory, of which about 10 were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system. As a precaution, the military shut down in southern Israel. Israeli police say that the projectiles caused damage.
Israel has been warning Hamas in recent weeks that it has not gotten into the fight against terrorism, it will not tolerate Gaza activists' continued efforts to breach the border Israeli border communities with incendiary attacks.
With Israel focused on rising tension along its northern border in its efforts to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military foothold in post-civil war Syria, it has been wary of escalating hostilities in Gaza. But Netanyahu has also come under pressure to act from southern Israeli communities, who have found themselves under fire from Gaza in the future.
"We are ready to operate in different theaters," Conricus said, referring to the dual threats of Syria and Gaza. "It will be difficult to fight but it is something we can do to prepare for."
Israel's military chief visited the border area for briefings and the Security Cabinet, Israel's decision-making body, is expected to convene Sunday to discuss further actions.
On Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered near the Gaza Strip for their near-weekly protest. A 15-year-old Palestinian who tried to climb over the fence in Israel was shot dead. Later the military said an Israeli officer was moderately wounded by a thrown thrown at him.
Gaza's health ministry said Saturday that a 20-year-old struck by gunfire Friday during the protests in the southern Gaza Strip had also died of his wounds.
The Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza Strip protests in the Gaza Strip in Gaza Strip in 2007. The demonstrations have been fueled in large part by pervasive despair caused by the blockade, which has caused widespread economic hardship.
Over 130, mostly unarmed, Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since protests began on March 30.
Israel says it's defending its sovereign border and accuses Hamas of the protests. Most recently, it has been struggling with the fire caused by the incendiary kites and balloons floating over the border.
In a statement, the military said Hamas' activities "violate Israeli sovereignty, Israeli civilians and sabotage endanger Israel's humanitarian efforts Gazan civilians."
In a relatively rare admission, Hamas said it fired the rockets to deter Israel from further action. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said it was an "immediate response" that was meant to "deliver the message."
Hamas tunnels and other weapons, including those involved in the production of the kites and balloons. It said the Hamas battalion headquartered in the north of Gaza.
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