CAIRO/GAZA: Palestinian group Islamic Jihad fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday as fighting raged in Gaza and Israeli tanks advanced deeper in parts of the enclave, residents and officials said.
The Islamic Jihad said its fighters fired rockets towards several Israeli communities near the fence with Gaza in response to “the crimes of the Zionist enemy against our Palestinian people”.
The volley of around 20 rockets caused no casualties, the Israeli military said. But the attack showed fighters still possess rocket capabilities almost nine months into an offensive that Israel says is aimed at neutralising threats against it.
Violence also flared on Monday in the Israeli occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian health ministry said a woman and a boy were killed in the city of Tulkarm during an operation by Israeli forces. A day earlier, an Israeli strike in the same area killed an Islamic Jihad member.
Israel army says Palestinian fire barrage of ‘20 projectiles’
In some parts of Gaza, Hamas continue to stage attacks on Israeli forces in areas that the army had left months ago.
Israeli tanks deepened incursions into the Shejaia suburb of eastern Gaza City for a fifth day, and tanks advanced further in western and central Rafah, in southern Gaza near the border with Egypt, residents said.
The Israeli military said it had killed a number of fighters in combat in Shejaia on Monday and found large amounts of weapons there.
Hamas said its fighters had lured an Israeli force into a booby-trapped house in the east of Rafah and blown it up, causing casualties.
The Israeli military announced the death of a soldier in southern Gaza without providing details. Israel’s Army Radio said the soldier was killed in Rafah in a booby-trapped house – a possible reference to the incident reported by Islamic Jihad.
Israeli tanks advance into areas in north and south Gaza, fighting rages
Also in Rafah, the Israeli military said that an airstrike killed a fighter who fired an anti-tank missile at its troops.
American Dollar Exchange Rate