Gaza City: The military wing of Gaza’s rulers Hamas on Thursday vowed revenge after Israeli strikes killed three fighters in the latest flare-up of violence. Israel said the artillery fire late on Wednesday was in retaliation for shots fired at troops along the border which injured one soldier.
“We announce the raising of the preparedness level to the highest and alert all of our soldiers and forces in every location,” said a statement from the Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.
“The enemy shall pay a high price in blood for the crime which it commits daily against the rights of our people and our fighters.”
The Gaza border was quiet on Thursday morning, however.
The three men were killed on Wednesday by Israeli artillery fire targeting a Hamas military base near the border east of Gaza City.
In total the Israeli army said it hit seven Hamas sites throughout Gaza in response to the border shooting.
The military said nine projectiles — likely mortars or rockets — were fired at Israel from Gaza overnight, including one that was intercepted by air defence systems.
It said most were fired at “open territory adjacent to the security fence”. No injuries or damage were reported.
The latest bloodshed came five days after the UN and Egypt brokered a deal to halt a July 20 surge in violence. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.
Tensions have spiked since Palestinians began protesting along the Gaza border in late March, with Israeli fire killing at least 153 Palestinians since then.
Most were shot dead during protests and clashes but others were killed in Israeli airstrikes or artillery fire. One Israeli soldier was killed by sniper fire from Gaza, setting off a wave of Israeli strikes on July 20.
Meanwhile, a long-awaited Middle East peace plan from the Trump administration will include what the White House is calling a robust economic plan to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an official has said.
US President Donald Trump’s envoys are also working on the most detailed set of proposals to date for the overall plan, the White House official said in a briefing with reporters on Monday.
The plan thus far has no release date. Trump had hoped to reveal it early this year but his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the embassy there, reversing decades of US policy, inflamed tensions in the region.
The Palestinians have said that they have lost faith in the Trump administration to act as a fair mediator and have boycotted the process since last December’s Jerusalem announcement.
The White House has offered few details on a peace plan that has drawn widespread scepticism even before its unveiling.
Trump’s proposals are the product of shuttle diplomacy to regional capitals by senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and Jason Greenblatt, a lawyer who is playing a role in the negotiations.
The two envoys have asked leaders in the region to outline for each issue an outcome that they could live with and that the other side could accept, the official said. Past attempts by American presidents at negotiating peace between Israel and Palestine have fizzled based on differences over the status of Jerusalem and borders.
— AFP
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