Israel says air strikes hit Hamas underground missile factory in Gaza

Israel hit Gaza with air strikes on Monday in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave at the weekend, the army said, as unrest persisted in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said one person was killed in a predawn Israeli army raid in Nablus in the northern West Bank, the scene of near-relentless violence over the past year.

The army did not immediately comment on the Nablus raid.

But in Gaza, the military claimed it had struck “an underground complex containing raw materials used for the manufacturing of rockets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation”.

The strikes were launched “in response to the Saturday rocket launch from Gaza into Israel”, the army added in a statement.

Following the Israeli strikes, air raid sirens sounded in communities near the Gaza border, the military said.

Photos show Palestinians inspecting a destroyed wedding hall, early Monday, following the Israeli strikes on the city.

There were no reported casualties in Gaza following the latest round of missile fire.

But the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is enduring a dramatic increase in violence.

Since the start of the year, the conflict has claimed the lives of 47 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians, following the latest death in Nablus.

Nine Israeli adults and children and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

Source: reuters