Israel aircraft attack Hamas targets after rocket fired from Gaza

Israeli aircraft carried out a series of strikes in Gaza on Monday (February 27), wounding at least four people, witnesses said, after a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory hit an empty area in southern Israel.

In a statement, the Israeli military said the air force attacked five positions belonging to Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, in response to the rocket strike.

Witnesses said the four Palestinians wounded in the Israeli air strikes were passersby.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Israel would be responsible for any escalation if it continued to target “resistance positions”.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. Israel said that it holds Hamas accountable for what happens in the territory.

After the air strike, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that while Israel has “no desire or intention to initiate any military move in the Gaza Strip”, it will not tolerate even a “drizzle” of rocket fire.

“We will not get into a ping-pong situation of fire and counter-fire. I suggest Hamas take responsibility, impose order and calm down,” Lieberman said in public remarks to legislators of his Yisrael Beitenu party in Jerusalem.

Hamas has observed a de-facto ceasefire with Israel since a 2014 war but small armed cells of Jihadist Salafis have continued to occasionally launch rockets at Israel. When those attacks occur, Hamas usually orders its fighters to vacate potential targets for Israeli retaliation.