Israeli planes hit targets in Gaza

Israeli planes struck targets across the Gaza Strip early Sunday morning, injuring seven people according to Palestinian reports.

The aerial attacks come two days after an exchange of fire near the border left a Palestinian gunman and an Israel Defense Forces soldier dead, threatening to push the fragile border into another round of hostilities.

Palestinian sources reported that Israeli planes hit targets near Beit Lahiya in the northern strip and an apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central strip. Palestinian sources said seven people, among them four children, were injured in the attack on the apartment.

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The IDF said it hit three sites related to terror activity and two tunnels, one in the north and one in the south of the Strip. The army said the sorties were in response to Friday’s attack.

IDF Staff Sgt. Netanel Moshiashvili, 21, was killed early Friday in a gunbattle with a Palestinian who cut through the border fence near the Kissufim crossing and infiltrated Israel. The Israel Air Force bombed open fields in the Strip following the killing, and terrorists in the Hamas-controlled territory fired two mortars into Israel. Both landed in open areas.

The IAF responded by hitting a terror ring, injuring three, Palestinian medical sources said.

Gazan terror group Islamic Jihad initially claimed responsibility for the gunman but later rescinded the claim.

Israel and the Gaza Strip have held to a shaky truce since an outbreak of rocket fire and IAF sorties in February. Friday’s shooting was the first major incident that threatened to break the calm.