Ceasefire?: Israel launches three airstrikes on Gaza

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[Ma'anImages]
Gaza – Ma'an – Israeli F16 fighter jets bombed the borderline between the Gaza Strip and Egypt south of the city of Rafah, and an alleged training camp for Palestinian fighters near the city of Khan Younis on Tuesday evening.

Witnesses reported that the American-made warplanes fired at least one missile in Rafah, and also reported the sound of a massive explosion.

In a second strike warplanes struck what is said to be a training camp for the armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, on the outskirts of the city of Khan Younis, also in southern Gaza.

Later, Israeli warplanes bombed another alleged Al-Qassam installation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

Medical sources have not yet reported any casualties in any of the attacks.

Earlier Israeli planes dropped leaflets on Rafah warning residents to leave the area near the borderline, near the smugglers' tunnels.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was addressing a conference in Israel, informed the audience that his air force "is currently operating in the Gaza Strip," according to the website of the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

Earlier Israel warned that it would retaliate for a Grad missile fired from Gaza that landed in the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Later, Israel said in a statement sent to Ma'an that the strikes were retaliatory.

"In response to the barrage of Qassam rockets, mortar shells, and Grad missiles fired at Israel in recent days, the Israel Air Force attacked a number of targets throughout the Gaza Strip," the statement said.

"The targets included five smuggling tunnels, a rocket launching site and a Hamas outpost," it added, charging Hamas with "full responsibility" for any attacks originating in Gaza.


***Updated 4 February; 10:54 Gaza time  
 

   

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