Thursday, January 16, 2014

Israel Bombs Gaza Again, Five Hurt

16 January 2014
Last updated at 00:24 ET
BBC World Service

'Five hurt' in Israel-Gaza Strip air raids

Five people including four children have been injured in a series of Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics have told the BBC.

The raids took place on Thursday shortly after militants fired five rockets towards Ashkelon in southern Israel, the military said.

An army spokesman said the missiles were intercepted.

In Gaza, witnesses said planes attacked five different sites and explosions could be heard across the Strip.

At least one missile hit a training facility for Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamist movement, Hamas, which governs Gaza.

Another raid was reported to have targeted a rocket launcher cell in an agricultural farm east of Gaza City.

Israeli sources say no injuries were caused by Thursday's rocket attacks.

There has been intermittent violence along the border since a ceasefire ended an eight-day conflict between Israel and militants in Gaza in November 2012.

On Monday, the Israel Air Force struck two targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire on southern Israel earlier in the day.

Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 under the orders of late former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was buried at his ranch near the Gaza Strip on Monday.

It considers Gaza a "hostile territory" after it was taken over by the Islamist Hamas movement in 2007.

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