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Wednesday 6 March 2019 - 05:43

Israeli jets strike northern Gaza Strip in fresh act of aggression

Story Code : 781648
Fire and smoke billow following Israeli airstrikes targeting Rafah town in the southern Gaza Strip, near the border with Egypt, on November 12, 2018. (Photo by AFP)
Fire and smoke billow following Israeli airstrikes targeting Rafah town in the southern Gaza Strip, near the border with Egypt, on November 12, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The Israel Air Force said in a statement that its aircraft hit a number of targets in a military compound belonging to Hamas resistance movement late on Tuesday. No immediate reports of casualties in the aerial assaults were available.

The statement added that the strikes were conducted after two balloons with explosives were flown from the Gaza Strip into Israeli-occupied territories earlier in the day. The balloons exploded inside communities in the southern sector of the region. There were no injuries or damage. 

On Tuesday evening, two Palestinians sustained injuries when Israeli military forces opened fire on them east of the Bureij refugee camp.

Local sources told Arabic-language Palestinian Safa news agency that the 17-year-old teenagers were struck in their legs. They were later transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, located over 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) south of Gaza City, to receive medical treatment.

Palestinians have held weekly protests on the Gaza border, over the siege on the enclave and the right for refugees to return to their homes they fled during the 1948 creation of Israel.

Nearly 270 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces ever since anti-occupation protest rallies began in the Gaza Strip on March 30. Over 26,000 Palestinians have also sustained injuries.

The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14 last year, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.

On June 13, 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, sponsored by Turkey and Algeria, condemning Israel for Palestinian civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution, which had been put forward on behalf of Arab and Muslim countries, garnered a strong majority of 120 votes in the 193-member assembly, with 8 votes against and 45 abstentions.

The resolution called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to make proposals within 60 days “on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection, and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation,” including “recommendations regarding an international protection mechanism.”

It also called for “immediate steps towards ending the closure and the restrictions imposed by Israel on movement and access into and out of the Gaza Strip.”
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