(Bloomberg) -- Israel’s air force carried out strikes Friday evening against Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip after Palestinian snipers fired at Israeli troops along the border, amid warnings that the situation was sliding toward war.
Four Hamas members were killed in the airstrikes, the militant group that rules the Gaza Strip said. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the airstrikes came after a “severe shooting attack” against its soldiers on Friday afternoon.
Three rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza, with two brought down by the Iron Dome missile-defense system, Israel’s army said.
Volatility along the border has intensified since Gaza residents began weekly protests against Israel in late March. Almost 140 Palestinians, some of them unarmed, have been killed in the confrontations, which have grown increasingly violent after a largely peaceful beginning.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned Friday that Hamas was dragging Israel toward war, which he said would be a larger and “more painful” confrontation than the previous round of major fighting between the sides in 2014.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a meeting of his top advisers Friday afternoon to evaluate the situation. Residents of Israeli communities near the Gaza border, which came under bombardment by more than 100 rockets and mortars from Gaza last weekend, were ordered to stay indoors.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the will of the Gazan protesters “won’t be broken” by the Israeli attacks.
To contact the reporters on this story: Michael S. Arnold in Tel Aviv at marnold48@bloomberg.net;Saud Abu Ramadan in Jerusalem at sramadan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert, Ros Krasny
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
Advertisement