Positions of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas have been hit, the Israeli military said. There were initially no reports of possible victims. Tensions had increased again in the past week.
Militants from the Gaza Strip shot down a rocket at Israel on Friday and again on Saturday. They responded to the arrest of several Palestinian prisoners who escaped from an Israeli maximum security prison on Monday. The Israeli military responded to the rocket fire with retaliatory attacks.
A total of six Palestinian militants escaped through a hole in their prison cell. According to Israeli police, four of them were caught in an Arab village near Nazareth in northern Israel where they were hiding. Two of the escaped are still at large. The men have already been convicted or are suspected of planning or carrying out deadly attacks on Israelis.
In May, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip for years, ended 11 days of fierce fighting. 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in them.
