Israeli fighters launched attacks on Hamas military targets. A weapons production site, a smuggling tunnel and a military post were hit. Last night a rocket landed in an uninhabited area of Sderot, without causing damage or injuries. Isolation and Covid-19 worsen the situation of population living in the Strip.
Gaza (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In the early hours of the morning the Israeli army launched a series of air strikes against military targets in the Gaza Strip, in response to the launch of rockets from the Palestinian enclave in the south of Israel.
According to reports from the Armed Forces fighter jets and assault helicopters hit "a site for the production of weapons, a tunnel for the smuggling of weapons and a military post" belonging to Hamas.
"We are not willing - concludes the Israeli military note - to tolerate any kind of threat against the civilian population".
Missile launches from the Strip towards the south of the country are a frequent phenomenon in recent years, such as Israel's targeted operations against military targets of the Palestinian movement that governs the area, described as an open-air prison and in serious difficulty due to the pandemic of COVID-19.
Last night the inhabitants of Sderot, a town in the south, hastily hid in shelters or other safe places following the launch of a large rocket from Gaza. According to reports by Shaar Hanegev, spokesman for the local municipal administration, the bomb landed in an open area and caused no damage or injuries.
Israel imposed a land and sea border blockade on Gaza after Hamas came to power in 2007. Since then, the two fronts have fought three very hard wars, which have exacerbated the already precarious living conditions of the local population even more. In recent years it has withstood a fragile truce, interrupted by brief escalations of violence. In most cases these are rocket launches from the Strip, to which Israel responds with targeted air strikes.
For 10 years, the Israeli government has been using a missile defines system called the "Iron Dome", which has made it possible to intercept hundreds of attacks from Gaza or neighbouring Syria.
On the other hand, conditions in the Strip have worsened even more since local authorities issued blocks, restrictions and lockdowns to counter the spread of the new coronavirus, after the area had been spared from the pandemic every month - thanks to isolation.