The Israeli army said it bombed a Hamas military compound in the Gaza Strip on Sunday after a number of Palestinians allegedly breached the Gaza border fence and set fire to an army vehicle.
No injuries were reported in the incident, which comes days before mass Palestinian protests are set to take place along the Israel-Gaza border.
Sporadic clashes along the border have increased since US President Donald Trump sparked Palestinian outrage by declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Hamas called for Palestinians to gather around the Israel-Gaza border area on March 30 in a mass protest of Trump’s Jerusalem move and set up tents encampments.
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Multiple Palestinians have died and scores wounded in the border protests which the army terms riots since many Palestinians throw rocks and other things at army posts.
Hamas on Sunday said the army strikes were aimed at disrupting the planned protest, called the March of Return.
“All the Israeli attempts to break the will of the Palestinian people, their resistance and their national duty will fail,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement.
On Sunday, in an apparent reference to the planned protest, the Israeli army (IDF) warned against “riots that serve to conceal attempts to harm security infrastructure and attempts to harm Israeli civilians and or IDF troops.”
Last month, four Israeli soldiers were injured by an explosive device along the border fence and Israel retaliated with large-scale bombings of Hamas targets.
Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and Israel.
It seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
(dpa/NAN)
