From Al Jazeera – A ceasefire between the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and Israel is holding in the Gaza Strip after two days of heavy fighting. Following Egyptian and international mediation, the truce came into effect at 11:30pm (20:30 GMT) on Monday, Ihsan Ataya, a senior Islamic Jihad leader based in Lebanon, said in a press statement. No projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip overnight, a spokeswoman for the Israeli army confirmed. During two days of fighting, Israeli aircraft pounded dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip while Islamic Jihad bombarded southern Israel with heavy rocket fire. The latest escalation began after Israeli soldiers on Sunday shot dead Mohammed al-Naim, a member of the Islamic Jihad's armed wing, who was allegedly planting an explosive device at the heavily secured Israeli fence east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. more

The Israeli air force launched at least two airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip early Tuesday, with the Israeli army saying the attacks targeted two Hamas military infrastructures and were in response to a rocket fired from Gaza late Monday, which allegedly landed in an open area in Israel's Shaar Hanegev Regional Council that borders northeastern Gaza, causing no injuries or damages. No injuries were reported as a result of the airstrikes. Palestinian news agency Wafa cited local sources in Gaza, saying that strikes hit multiple locations across the small Palestinian territory, including northwest of Gaza City, east of the Gaza Valley area, and Nasr neighborhood in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. The strikes left material damages to a number of homes, the report said. more

The Israeli army targeted multiple sites across the besieged Gaza Strip with airstrikes and artillery fire midday Monday leaving at least four Palestinians injured, hours after an Israeli army spokesperson said that a rocket fired from Gaza landed in an open area in southern Israel that caused no injuries or damages. Witnesses said Israeli fighter jets launched two missiles at a Hamas military site known as the Shuhada ("martyrs" in Arabic) post just after 1 p.m. in the central Gaza Strip, near the coast and west of Nuseirat refugee camp. Other local Palestinian news sites said five missiles were fired in the area. Shortly after, an Israeli reconnaissance plane fired a missile at a monitoring post east of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, as Israeli fighter jets fired three missiles at the Hitteen post in Beit Lahiya in the northern region of the small Palestinian territory. A separate strike in the Nahda neighborhood of Rafah left three Palestinians moderately injure...

Two Palestinians were killed and five were injured during a reported airstrike on a smuggling tunnel between Egypt and Gaza on Wednesday night, official Palestinian sources said. Gaza Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said on Thursday that Hussam Hamid al-Sufi, 24, from the town of Rafah, and Muhammad Anwar al-Aqraa, a 38-year-old resident of Gaza City, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, while five other Palestinians were injured. An Israeli army spokesperson however denied to Ma’an that the army was involved in the reported strike. However, Israeli media stated that the alleged tunnel attack came in the wake of four rockets being fired from the blockaded Palestinian territory towards the southern Israeli city of Eilat. No casualties were reported in the incident. The casualties came in the wake of multiple airstrikes launched by the Israeli army inside the Gaza Strip on Monday which injured two Palestinians, after a rocket that landed in an open area in the ...

Israeli forces resumed attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip Monday evening, injuring two Palestinians, after injuring a Palestinian earlier Monday in a series of Israeli army airstrikes in northern Gaza, in response to a rocket that landed in an open area in the Ashkelon region of southern Israel Monday morning. Witnesses told Ma'an that at least eight Israeli missiles were fired at several locations across the besieged coastal enclave. One airstrike hit agricultural land in the center of Khan Yunis city in the southern Gaza Strip. A spokesman of the Gaza Ministry of Health Ashraf al-Qidra confirmed that two people were injured in Khan Yunis. According to locals, the airstrikes hit a “resistance” military post as well as an agricultural area east of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, in addition to the al-Shujaiyya neighborhood in Gaza City, causing damages to several residential buildings. The air strikes also hit agricultural lands east of al-Maghazi and al-Bureij refugee ca...

Israeli air forces shelled a military post allegedly belonging to the Hamas movement in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning, according to Israeli army and local Palestinian sources. Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses told Ma’an that at least one Israeli artillery shell hit a military post belonging to what they called the "Palestinian resistance," east of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, next to the border with Israel. The shelling caused material damages, though no human injuries or casualties were reported. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that early Monday morning, sirens went off in the Shaar Hanegev area of southern Israel -- which borders the northeastern Gaza Strip -- alerting the residents of the area that a rocket had been fired in their direction. While the rocket did not in fact land inside Israeli territory, the Israeli air force in response "targeted a Hamas military post in the northern Gaza Strip," the spokesperson said. more

Israeli airstrikes and artillery shells hit multiple targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday, after a a rocket fired from the blockaded Gaza Strip landed on a road inside the Israeli city of Sderot Wednesday morning. No injuries have been reported on either side. Local sources told Ma'an after 3 p.m. that an Israeli airstrike targeted the "al-Qadisiya" training ground in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, which reportedly belonged to Hamas' military wing the al-Qassam Brigades. Israeli warplanes also targeted the al-Wahah building, a headquarters for Gaza’s naval police, in northwestern Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip. Another airstrike hit an agricultural field near a gas station in the northern Gaza Strip, the sources added. Local reports also said that Israeli artillery shells landed in an open area near Jabal al-Rayyis east of Gaza City Wednesday afternoon. Spokesman for Gaza's Ministry of Health Ashraf al-Qidra confirmed there were no injuries in the Israe...

Israeli forces carried out several airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip during predawn hours on Thursday after a rocket was launched from Gaza and exploded near the border with Israel. The Israeli army had said the rocket hit an area near the Eshkol According to locals, Israeli forces targeted empty agricultural lands northwest of Beit Lahiya in the northern region, reportedly striking a site used by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement. Israeli forces also shelled another site northwest of Beit Lahiya in the area of al-Shayma also allegedly used by Hamas, causing a fire to break out in the area. Meanwhile, in Gaza city Israeli forces targeted the al-Yarmouk site allegedly used by the al-Qassam brigades in al-Shujaiyya neigborhood in the eastern part of the city. No injuries were reported. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on three “Hamas outposts” in the northern part of the coastal enclave in res...

The Israeli army has fired missiles into the northern Gaza Strip. A rocket was fired from the Palestinian territory into southern Israel, causing no injuries or damage. A spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry said in a social media post that a 17-year-old Palestinian youth suffered a minor shrapnel injury in his foot during Sunday night's attacks on several areas in the north of the strip. Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner said Israeli forces retaliated to the rocket attack by hitting targets of the Hamas movement, which governs the besieged Gaza Strip. "In response to the rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) and tanks targeted two Hamas posts in the northern Gaza Strip," Lerner said in a statement, according the the AFP news agency. No group claimed responsibility for the rocket that was fired into the southern Israeli city of Sderot. On July 2, Israeli air raids hit four sites in Gaza after a rocket struck a building in Sder...

Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes in the central and southern Gaza Strip early on Thursday, targeting two sites used by the Hamas movement’s military wing, after a Palestinian militant group fired rockets towards Israel. Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli planes fired rockets at a site used by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in southwestern Rafah, while another strike hit a site known as Shuhada al-Qassam west of the al-Nuseirat refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. Medical sources said that no injuries had been reported. The Israeli army said in a statement that the airstrikes were launched after a rocket launched from the besieged Gaza Strip on Wednesday hit “an open area in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council in southern Israel.” Israeli media reported that a total of four rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, three of which fell at the Gaza borderline. No injuries were reported. The Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group claimed responsibility for the rockets. However, the ...

From the Electronic Intifada - In recent days, has Israel launched a series of aggressive military actions in the besieged Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian woman and injuring several other people, including three children. And like clockwork, mainstream Western media swooped in to throw the narrative in Israel’s favor, brushing aside Israel’s relentless violations of the Gaza ceasefire and its killings of dozens of civilians in the besieged territory. But first, the facts. Israel started it As is almost always the case, the Israeli military initiated the latest round of violence with ground incursions into Gaza as part of a supposed mission to destroy cross-border tunnels. This is the same pretext Israel used to justify its ferocious military assault on Gaza in the summer of 2014, which killed 2,251 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, 551 of them children. The independent inquiry commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council into the 2014 assault found that Hamas “tunnels we...

Israeli airstrikes continued on the southern Gaza Strip in the predawn hours Saturday for the fourth consecutive day, in response to an alleged projectile being shot into southern Israel. Witnesses told Ma’an Israeli forces launched two airstrikes on open areas east of Khan Yunis. No injuries were reported. In a statement released Saturday, the Israeli army said the airstrikes targeted two Hamas “terror infrastructures,” in retaliation for a rocket that was reportedly shot from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. Israeli army spokesperson Peter Lerner accused Hamas of carrying out the attack in the statement, and demanded that the party be “held accountable.” The Israeli aerial offensive on the Gaza Strip began on Wednesday evening as Israeli authorities claimed airstrikes were carried out in response to mortar rounds that were launched from the besieged enclave since Tuesday at Israeli forces conducting “operational defense activities” in search of Hamas-built tunnels near the se...

Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip continued Friday morning for the third consecutive day, with the Israeli army accusing Hamas of launching mortar rounds near the border area. Witnesses told Ma’an Israeli warplanes targeted open areas east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, with no injuries reported. At dawn, Israeli forces also fired three shells at eastern Rafah, with no injuries reported, witnesses said. In a statement released Friday morning, the Israeli army said the Israeli airforce targeted “Hamas terror infrastructure” earlier at around 6 am Friday. The statement accused Hamas of launching mortar rounds since Tuesday “against forces during operational defensive activities adjacent to the security fence with the Gaza Strip,” adding that Friday morning’s offensive was the 12th such incident over the last three days. Israeli army spokesperson Peter Lerner said in response to the incident: ”The repeated attacks against the IDF (Israeli army) activities to locate and ...

GAZA (Ma’an) -- Tensions continued to escalate in the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday, with reports of one Palestinian woman killed by Israeli shelling, as Israeli forces said airstrikes were in response to Palestinian resistance groups targeting its troops with mortar rounds. Medical sources told Ma'an that a Palestinian woman in her fifties, identified as Jana Aytah al-Amur, was killed by Israeli shelling on Thursday evening in the al-Fakhari area east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. An Israeli army spokesperson said they could not confirm the case. Medical sources also said that an Israeli airstrike injured a Palestinian woman, identified as 21-year-old Khazima al-Farra, in the al-Rayyan area in eastern Rafah. Witnesses told Ma'an that Israeli F-16 jets launched several rockets in the southern Gaza Strip at around 5 p.m., hitting agricultural land in the Abu al-Rus area in eastern Rafah. An Israeli army statement issued at 5:48 p.m. read: "In response to ...

Tensions continued to escalate in the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon, with Israeli forces carrying out a number of airstrikes as they accused Palestinian resistance forces of targeting its troops with mortar rounds. Airstrikes hit in the southern Gaza Strip at around 5 p.m., targeting the Abu al-Rus area in eastern Rafah. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma'an they were looking into the reports. Four Palestinians, including three children, were injured earlier in the day when Israeli forces carried out several airstrikes across the small Palestinian territory, one of which hit a metal workshop in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood southeast of Gaza City. The strike injured 65-year-old Hassan Hassanien and three children from the family, who were all taken to the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Israeli forces also carried out several airstrikes in an open area of the al-Sorany mountain east of Gaza City. The southern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya was struck by two rockets...

A six-year-old Palestinian girl on Saturday succumbed to wounds sustained earlier in the day when her home was hit during Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip. Gaza’s Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra confirmed that Israa Abu Khussa had died due to critical injuries. Her death came hours after her 10-year-old brother,Yasin, was killed in the strike and buried in the al-Salatin cemetery. The Israeli air force had reportedly targeted four Hamas sites in the northern Gaza Strip early Saturday after four rockets were fired from the besieged enclave the evening before. A Ma’an reporter based in Gaza said the children were in their house at the time of the airstrike, located in northwestern Beit Lahiya, adding that the family was still living in their home that was partially destroyed during the most recent Israeli offensive on the strip in 2014. The Israeli army said the rockets fired from Gaza had landed in open areas in southern Israel, without reporting damage or ...

The Israeli air force early Monday morning launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, targeting Hamas facilities, after rockets were fired from the besieged enclave, officials said. Official sources in Gaza told Ma’an that Israeli warplanes hit the al-Muhararat training site south of Deir al-Balah in the central strip used by the military wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, while the another hit an open plot of land south of Khan Younis. No human casualties have been reported, though the strikes reportedly left noticeable material damages. The Israeli army said in a statement that the airstrikes were in response to a rocket that had been launched from the Gaza Strip at Southern Israel on Sunday night. Sirens reportedly sounded throughout communities in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, as the rocket hit an open area. While no group has taken responsibility for the rocket fire, the Israeli army reiterated their long-held stance that, "Hamas is responsible and is accou...

Israeli forces launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Monday, targeting a training site used by Hamas' military wing, Gaza security sources and Israel's army said. Gaza security sources said Israeli military helicopters launched two airstrikes before dawn, one in the al-Sudaniya neighborhood of northern Gaza City, and another in the central Gaza Strip. The security forces said no injuries resulted from the strikes. An Israeli army spokesperson said the two strikes were in response to a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel, which caused no injuries. Sporadic rocket fire has come from the Gaza Strip this year and has been met with retaliatory Israeli attacks, with the military making at least 50 incursions into the enclave since the start of 2015, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. more

Israeli military forces launched airstrikes on the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, targeting a training site used by Hamas' military wing, locals and Israel's army said. Witnesses told Ma'an that Israeli warplanes fired two missiles at the Tunis military training ground, reportedly used by the Al-Qassam Brigades, in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, causing noticeable material damage but no injuries. The Israeli army said it was responding to incidents of gunfire from the besieged enclave. On Friday and Sunday gunshots fired from Gaza caused damage to Israeli army vehicles patrolling the territory. "In response to the shootings, an IAF aircraft targeted a Hamas military post in the northern Gaza Strip," the Israeli army said. more

Israeli forces early Wednesday launched airstrikes in the Gaza Strip damaging infrastructure belonging to Hamas' military wing, locals said. Local sources told Ma’an that the strikes targeted two locations in western Gaza City used for training by Hamas’ military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, causing material damages to nearby homes. In the central Gaza Strip, Israeli forces hit an area known as “Brigade 13” used by the militant group, locals said, adding that no injuries were reported. The strikes came after the Israeli army said a rocket fired from the besieged strip exploded near the border fence. The Israeli air force “targeted two Hamas sites in the Northern and Central Gaza Strip,” the army confirmed, adding that Israel holds Hamas responsible for “any act of terror” from the strip. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the rocket launched from the strip Tuesday, and no injuries or damages were reported. Sporadic rocket fire has come from the Gaza Strip this year ...