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JERUSALEM (AP) – The Israeli warriors carried out their largest airstrike campaign in Gaza since the 2014 war Saturday as Hamas activists fired dozens of rockets in Israel throughout the day, threatening to trigger an all-out war after weeks of growing tensions along the volatile border.
Two Palestinian teenagers were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City, while three Israelis were wounded by a rocket that landed on a residential home.
Gaza civilians to keep their distance from certain sites. But even before the report of casualties the intense tit-for-tat airstrikes and rocket barriers still marked a significant flare-up after a long period of a low-level, simmering conflict.
"The Israeli army delivered its most painful The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza announced that they had agreed fire brokered by Egypt, but sirens warning of incoming rockets still wailed in southern Israel early Sunday and it was unclear if the cease-fire was holding.
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 Hamas rocket attacks, its fomenting of violence along the border and its launching of incendiary kites and balloons that have devastated Israeli farmlands and nature reserves.
"Our message to Hamas is that we "He said," he said, "we can not help it. "What Hamas is doing is pushing them ever closer to the edge of the abyss …"
Later, warned that Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on an unfinished building near a Hamas police and security compound 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.
It marked the first casualties of the day. Striking in the heart of Gaza City is typically only one of a kind in the world.
The Israeli military had no immediate reaction to that strike A separate high-rise building in the Gaza Strip that was used as a Hamas urban warfare training facility. It was a tunnel under the building.
Shortly after, Israeli medical officials said three Israelis were wounded from a rocket that landed on a house 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. [19659002] Sirens wailed overnight and most of the day Saturday in southern Israel as waves of rockets and mortars were launched from Gaza the 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 says the cause of the projectiles caused damage.
Israel has been warned Hamas in recent weeks that it has not gotten involved in the fight against it. Tolerate Gaza activists' continued efforts to breach the border and its campaign to devastate Israeli border communities with incendiary attacks
With Israel focused on rising tension along its northern borders in its efforts to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military foothold in post-war 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 the influence of rocket fire from Gaza in the future.
"We are ready to work together in different theaters," Conricus said, referring to the dual threats of Syria and Gaza. "
Israel's military chief visited the border area for briefings and the Security Cabinet, Israel's top decision-making body," It will be difficult to do so. Expected Sunday to discuss further actions.
On Friday, 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. An Israeli officer was recently wounded by a grenade 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 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 is defending its sovereign border and accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover for attempts to breach the border fence and attack civilians and soldiers. Most recently, it has been wrought by the incendiary kites and balloons floating over the border.
In a statement, the military said Hamas' activities "violate Israeli sovereignty, Israeli civilians endanger and sabotage Israel's humanitarian efforts to help Gazan civilians. "
In a relatively rare admission, Hamas said it fired the rockets to deter Israel from further action. Most of the recent rockets from Gaza have been fired by smaller factions but Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said it was an "immediate response" that was meant to "deliver the message."
The military said its jets targeted two Hamas tunnels as well as other military compounds, including those involved in the production of the kites and balloons. It said the Hamas battalion headquartered in the north of the country was destroyed by a large number of explosions that left a gaping hole in the ground.
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