IDF shells Gaza after soldiers come under fire
Hamas position reported hit after troops targeted while working on border fence; no casualties reported on either side
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An Israel Defense Forces tank shelled a Hamas position in the Gaza Strip on Monday, after Israeli troops came under fire while carrying out routine repairs on the border fence.
Shots were fired towards Israeli soldiers by the fence along the largely closed border by unknown assailants, the army said in a statement.
“In response, tanks targeted a Hamas post,” the IDF said.
Sources close to the Hamas-run interior ministry said the tanks targeted an observation tower near the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
According to Palestinian media reports quoted in the Hebrew-language media, the tank fired three shells at the Hamas post.
No casualties were reported on either side.
No group has yet to take responsibility for the attack on the troops. Hamas has controlled the entire Strip since ousting its rival Fatah in a bloody 2007 coup.
Israeli farmers working within a mile of the Gaza border had been instructed to evacuate the area, according to the Hebrew-language news website Ynet.
IDF soldiers have often been targeted while working on the border fence, which serves to prevent the infiltration of Gaza-based terror groups into Israel.
(AFP PHOTO / MAHMUD HAMS)
Tensions between Israel and Gaza have ramped up following the killing of a Hamas drone expert in Tunisia on Thursday, which the terror blamed on Israel and vowed to avenge.
Tunisia said Sunday that “foreign elements” were involved in the assassination, and on Monday, a court spokesperson in Sfax, Tunisia, said a Belgian and a Swede were sought in connection with the assassination.
The Times of Israel Community.