Israeli warplanes carried out retaliatory strikes against Hamas early Sunday and rocket alarms sounded near communities inside Israel as the terror group said it launched missiles at Israeli aircraft, in the latest tit-for-tat that threatened to send the region spiraling into another round of conflict.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a short statement just after 1 a.m. Sunday that it was attacking Gaza in retaliation for a Saturday evening missile strike, which had broken a month of relative calm. It said a central rocket-making site used by Hamas was among the facilities targeted.
Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades armed wing said a short time later that it had had targeted the Israeli planes with anti-aircraft fire and surface-to-air missiles.
A rocket alert was issued for open areas near the small farming communities of Shlomit and Bnei Betzarim, which sit near the Egyptian border and opposite Gaza’s Rafah, the IDF said.
There was no confirmation of any missile strike inside Israel.
The Israeli sorties came hours after a projectile launched out of Gaza landed in an open field near the communities of Nahal Oz and Kfar Aza Saturday evening. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
????العدوان الإسرائيلي المتواصل على قطاع غزة الآن????????#غزة_تحت_القصف #غزة #فلسطين #القدس #نابلس pic.twitter.com/8nti9uqrq2
— Karim Kassem (@quranka62959257) December 3, 2022
The military said fighter jets targeted a weapons workshop and tunnel used by the Hamas, which de facto rules the Strip.
“The workshop is used as a main site for making most of the group’s rockets in the Strip,” the IDF said in a statement.
“The strike overnight continues the progress to impede the force build-up” of Hamas, it added.
The IDF said later that it targeted a Hamas military post in retaliation for the anti-aircraft fire. It tweeted a video showing the strikes.
בתגובה לירי לעבר מטוסי הקרב, צה”ל תקף עמדה צבאית של ארגון הטרור חמאס.
בנוסף, הלילה נתקף אתר מרכזי לייצור רקטות של ארגון הטרור חמאס בדרום רצועת עזה וכן הותקפה מנהרת טרור בדרום הרצועה pic.twitter.com/zcrUJoLzgA
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 4, 2022
There were no reports of injuries inside Gaza, according to Palestinian medical sources.
On social media, Gazans reported hearing several rounds of air strikes near Khan Younis and Rafah in the south of the Strip.
Unconfirmed video footage appeared to show several large explosions.
غارات اسرائيلية على موقع للمقاومة غرب خانيونس pic.twitter.com/7zWeVRQcp1
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) December 3, 2022
Hamas’s decision to confront Israel could serve to ramp up tensions. The terror group pointedly stayed on the sidelines during the last major flare-up in August, which saw Israel mainly fighting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for all violence emanating from the Strip and generally responds to rocket fire with airstrikes against the group regardless of the who launched the attack.
There was no claim of responsibility for the Saturday night rocket launch, which came after Israeli officials reportedly expressed concerns over the weekend about potential retaliation, including in the form of rocket fire from Gaza, over the deaths of two Palestinian Islamic Jihad members.
Both PIJ and Hamas threatened to hit back over the deaths of the pair, who were killed…
Read More: Hamas fires at Israeli jets as air force hits terror group following rocket attack