Israel jets conduct fresh airstrikes against Gaza Strip

Israeli warplanes have conducted fresh airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, shortly after Israeli troops attacked and injured dozens of Palestinians during anti-occupation protests near the fence separating the coastal sliver from the occupied territories.

According to a statement by the Israeli military, Israeli fighter jets struck on Friday two underground infrastructures purportedly belonging to the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement in the northern and central Gaza Strip.

There have been no immediate reports of possible causalities or damage as a result of the Israeli air raids.

The Israeli statement added that the airstrikes had been conducted in response to a rocket launch allegedly by Hamas against a target in the Israeli-occupied territories earlier in the day. It further said that the rocket had been intercepted and shot down in the south of the occupied territories.

The rocket fire had reportedly sounded sirens in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council and in the Sderot settlement. Some settlers also said that they had heard sounds of explosions.

The developments came hours after at least 38 Palestinians sustained injuries, 20 of them by direct Israeli live fire, during anti-Israel protests in Gaza.

Palestinians have held weekly rallies in the area since last year to protest the siege on the enclave and stress the right to return of the refugees who have fled Israeli aggression since 1948.

At least 305 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces ever since the anti-occupation protest rallies began in the Gaza Strip on March 30, 2018. Over 18,000 Palestinians have also sustained injuries.

Gaza has been under Israeli siege since June 2007, which has caused a decline in living standards.

ِIsrael has also launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.