Israeli jets bombed the Gaza Strip for the fourth day on Friday killing 11 Palestinians, taking the death toll to 103, as the Jewish State was targeted for the first time by rocket attacks from lebanon since the military offensive began.
Eleven Palestinians, including a woman and seven-year-old child, were killed as Israeli jets pounded targets in Gaza, escalating the conflict in which more than 500 people have been injured. Friday’s deaths have brought the overall death toll to 103, medics said.Even as the casualty in Gaza has been heavy, so far, no one in Israel has been killed, and less than a dozen people hurt, two of them seriously, medics said. In Gaza City, Israeli warplanes targeted a fifth-floor apartment building, killing one.
“Two Palestinians were killed and a third was wounded in an Israeli strike that targeted a car belonging to the Bureij municipality,” Ministry Spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.Over 300 homes have been totally destroyed or severely damaged and around 2,000 Gazans have been made homeless, Palestinian media reported.
A rocket fired from lebanon struck a gas station near Israel’s northern border, the Israeli military said.lebanon’s State-run news agency said two rockets were fired from the country. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the strikes, which prompted Israel to retaliate with artillery fire toward the source of the firing.Israel military Spokesman lt Col Peter lerner said it was unclear whether the new front was “symbolic or something more substantial.”
Meanwhile, Hamas has warned airlines that it intends to target Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport with its rockets from Gaza and has told them not to fly there. “In the light of Israel’s ... Attacks on the residents of Gaza Strip ... The armed wing of Hamas movement has decided to respond to the Israeli aggression and we warn you against carrying out flights to Ben-Gurion airport, which will be one of our targets today because it also hosts a military air base,” the Jerusalem Post quoted Hamas’ statement as saying.
“The vast majority of Israel’s population is in the range of Hamas missiles, which have been fired so far at Israel’s major cities Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa and many more. Since July 7th to July 11th, 442 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza, aimed deliberately at Israeli civilian targets,” an Israeli official said.
He said throughout the operation, Israel has made extensive efforts to avoid civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, but Hamas fires rockets on civilian Israeli population from within civilian Palestinian populated areas.