Israeli aircraft carried out a series of airstrikes on four Hamas military sites at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, hours after Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket into southern Israel.
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Videos on social media showed plumes of smoke and fire rising from the targeted camps in the central and northern Gaza Strip and eastern Gaza City.
Hamas responded to the strikes, saying: "The occupation military's bombing of the Gaza Strip is the continuation of the aggression in all Palestinian territories: in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, and inside [Israel].
"The occupation is trying without success to stop the escalation of revolutionary action across Palestine. Despite the aggression, we will continue our struggle against the occupier until the liberation of our people's targets."
Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit
No Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the rocket fire on Israel. The IDF blamed Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces said the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted the projectile, which activated warning sirens in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon. There were no reports of casualties.
According to Palestinian reports, machine guns were also fired from the north of the coastal enclave toward the area of Netiv Haasara in response to the bombing of a Hamas observation post overlooking communities in the Gaza periphery region.
An Israeli military raid in the West Bank early Friday, in which three Palestinian terrorists were killed and eight wounded, could have triggered the rocket attack from Gaza.
#فيديو آخر للحظة قصف طائرات الاحتلال موقع صلاح الدين التابع للمقاومة وسط قطاع غزة pic.twitter.com/oWEygi5jG6
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) June 18, 2022
Also on Friday, an Israeli observation balloon crashed and fell in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident but clarified the balloon was not downed by Palestinian terrorists and no classified information has been compromised. According to the Palestinians, Hamas now has the balloon.
The Israeli military has been carrying out near-daily raids in the West Bank since a series of attacks earlier this year killed 19 people in Israel. Many of the arrest raids have been launched in and around Jenin, the hometown of several of the attackers.
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