The Israeli military struck Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after operatives of the militant group opened machine-gun fire on an Israeli drone. The drone escaped but some damage was caused to several homes in an Israeli community near the border.
The IDF said it retaliated by hitting a Hamas position in the northern part of the enclave with tank fire.
The incident came shortly after a senior Hamas official admitted 50 of the 60 Palestinians killed during deadly riots on the Israel-Gaza Strip border Monday were, in fact, Hamas operatives.
The IDF said at least 24 of the dead were known Hamas terrorists, killed while trying to carry out terrorist attacks or breach the Israeli border, but the high casualty tall triggered international backlash nonetheless.
In an interview with Baladna TV, a private Palestinian news outlet that broadcasts via Facebook, top Hamas official Salah Bardawil confirmed the majority of those killed Monday were Hamas operatives.
Bardawil did not elaborate on the nature of their membership in the group.
For Israel, the admission was enough to cement its narrative.
"It was clear to Israel and now it is clear to the whole world that there was no popular prowwww. This was an organized mob of terrorists organized by Hamas," Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had tallied similar numbers to Hamas and "won't let those who call for our destruction to breach our borders and to threaten our communities."
In response to the uproar over his remarks, Bardawil later said in a statement that Israel was "legitimizing the killing of Palestinians just because they are Palestinians or just because they are Hamas, even if they were unarmed and defending their dignity and rights."
Omar Shakir, the local director for Human Rights Watch, said that under international law, Israel cannot use lethal force against unarmed protesters, regardless of their identity or possible affiliation with a militant group.
"These individuals that were killed, regardless of their affiliation or membership, were engaged in a demonstration in which they did not pose an immediate threat to life and were gunned down, and that's what's relevant."
Meanwhile, it seems that Gaza residents' support for Hamas policies has been eroding steadily.
In an interview with Radio Darom, a station based in southern Israel, Gaza resident Sami Obeid asserted that, given Hamas' failure to resolve the dire economic situation in the coastal enclave, which is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster, many Gazans would prefer Israeli rule to Hamas' rule.
"The Palestinian Authority and Hamas are both thieves but the people have no way of coping with them. We are stuck between a rock and the hard place," he said.
Commenting on the recent bloodshed on the border, he said, "We actually think you are merciful. Have mercy on us and help us once and for all. [Syrian President Bashar] Assad would have killed everyone in the city to get it over with but you won't. Listen, we want to live alongside the Jews."
Asked if residents of the Gaza Strip would prefer living under Israeli rule, Obeid replied, "Yes, yes, yes! All the residents say that."
