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GAZA / JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli army hit dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the Israeli army said, and Palestinian militants fired their biggest rocket salvos since August. .
An explosion occurs during Israeli air strikes in the southern Gaza Strip on October 27, 2018. REUTERS / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
No casualties were reported during the firefight in Israel or Gaza, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas.
Islamic Jihad, one of the other armed groups operating in Gaza, said in a statement that it fired rockets in response to Israel's massacre of four Palestinian protesters near the border on Friday.
He said that he would stop his fire if Israel did the same.
The Israeli army said that it held Hamas responsible for everything that was happening in Gaza. The air force hit about 80 targets, including a four-story building used by Hamas as the headquarters, in response to more than 30 rocket attacks on Israel.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
In Israel, alarm sirens have been ringing all night in towns and communities near the Gaza border, sending residents to bomb shelters. Some rockets were intercepted.
Explosions echoed Gaza, where militants generally leave their potential targets when violence breaks out, buildings quiver and flames illuminate the night sky.
The outbreak began after the four Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops on Friday during weekly demonstrations along the border. Israel said its forces were attacked with grenades and explosive devices launched by some of the protesters, some of whom had crossed the border.
Palestinians have been demonstrating along the border since March 30, calling for the lifting of the Israeli blockade of the territory and the right to return to the lands they drove out or were expelled at the founding of Israel in 1948.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 213 Gazans were killed by Israeli forces during the demonstrations. An Israeli soldier was killed by a Palestinian sniper.
Egyptian security officials discussed separately with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to restore calm along the border.
About two million Palestinians are packed in the Gaza Strip, which is going through a serious economic crisis, hit by poverty and high unemployment.
Israel says it maintains a naval blockade and tight control of its crossing points with the enclave for security reasons, to prevent weapons from reaching militant groups.
Report by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell; edited by John Stonestreet
