The Israeli Defense Forces carried out retaliatory airstrikes on Hamas military compounds in the Gaza Strip, responding to rockets fired from within the enclave earlier in the day. According to the IDF, the training sites and weapons storage units of the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization were the main targets.
The IDF's spokesperson has confirmed the attack in his official Twitter account…
Tonight, in response to the rockets fired at Israel, the IDF targeted 3 Hamas terror facilities across Gaza using IAF platforms. The terror facilities were used as training & weapons storage compounds
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) 14 декабря 2017 г.
…while adding that Israel will do its best to prevent any casualties among its civilians, and blaming Hamas for the dire plight in the Gaza Strip:
The State of Israel will not allow anyone to harm or attempt to harm its civilians, and will continue to guard its sovereignty. The IDF holds the Hamas terror organization responsible for the poverty, destruction, and despair amongst the citizens of the Gaza Strip
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) 14 декабря 2017 г.
Earlier in the day, three rockets were fired towards Israeli territory; two of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome Aerial Defense System. The third fell in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s unit.
The IAF successfully intercepted two rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) 13 декабря 2017 г.
A short while ago, an additional rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory and fell in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council, southern Israel
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) 13 декабря 2017 г.
Hamas has previously said that the rockets launched from the Palestinian territories towards Israeli were “the right of Palestinians for self-defense,” and had been incited by the United States.
Israeli troops have been involved in clashes with Palestinians all across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank for over a week, since US President Donald Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate the US Embassy to the ancient city from Tel Aviv. The Muslim world has been protesting Trump’s move, which resulted in Hamas announcing the beginning of the third intifada Tuesday.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this year’s chairman of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), called an emergency summit Wednesday to address Trump’s “flagrant violation of international law.” In the framework of the extraordinary meeting, the OIC has declared East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine. Delivering a speech on Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened that if the Jerusalem situation didn't change, Palestine would withdraw from all previous agreements with Israel.
