{"id":2187,"date":"2018-10-17T19:02:53","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T19:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=2187"},"modified":"2018-10-17T19:02:53","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T19:02:53","slug":"israeli-jets-pound-gaza-after-rocket-hits-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2018\/10\/17\/israeli-jets-pound-gaza-after-rocket-hits-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli jets pound Gaza after rocket hits home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel says its fighter jets have struck 20 targets in the\u00a0Gaza Strip<\/a>, killing one Palestinian and injuring eight others.<\/p>\n

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Naji Ahmad al-Zaneen, 25, was killed in the attack in northern Gaza early on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Among the wounded are six children who were on their way to school in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.<\/p>\n

Palestinian sources said several rockets fired by Israeli warplanes targeted sites south of Gaza City, while another blast rocked the central region of the Gaza Strip. A powerful explosion also rocked Khan Younis in southern Gaza.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Israeli army stated that it carried out air raids in response to a rocket that hit a home in Beersheba in southern Israel, causing damage but no injuries.<\/p>\n

“At 4am [01:00 GMT] Israelis in the city of Beersheba were running to bomb shelters after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel,” the Israeli army said on Twitter.<\/p>\n

“We will defend Israeli civilians,” it added.<\/p>\n

The Israeli army said Hamas, which governs the besieged enclave, bears “full responsibility” for the rocket fire but the Palestinian movement denied their role.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement with allied armed groups, Hamas said it rejected “all irresponsible attempts” to undermine Egyptian efforts to broker a new long-term truce.<\/p>\n

It was one of the first rockets fired in months from the\u00a0Palestinian territory<\/a>\u00a0under Israel’s devastating 11-year blockade and comes at a time of renewed tensions between\u00a0Israel<\/a>\u00a0and Gaza.<\/p>\n

Another rocket from Gaza reportedly fell into the sea near Tel Aviv. No injuries were reported.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Israeli fighter jets struck numerous sites in Gaza on Wednesday [Reuters]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

‘Heavy Blow’<\/h2>\n

The rocket was the first to hit an Israeli home since the\u00a0devastating\u00a02014\u00a0Israeli military assault<\/a>\u00a0on the besieged enclave.<\/p>\n

It comes a day after Israel’s defence minister said the time had come to deliver a “heavy blow” to\u00a0Hamas<\/a>\u00a0after the Israeli army killed seven Palestinians on Friday, including two teenage boys, during demonstrations along Israel’s separation fence.<\/p>\n

It was unclear who fired the projectiles but the Israeli army says it holds Hamas accountable for what is happening in the territory under its control.<\/p>\n

The rocket fire comes after months of demonstrations in Gaza by the Israeli separation fence.<\/p>\n

The protesters are demanding to return to their homes in what is now Israel, under the UN Resolution 194, which stipulates their right of return.<\/p>\n

At least 70 percent of Palestinians in Gaza are refugees, their families been expelled or forced to flee the violence during the 1948 creation of the state of Israel.<\/p>\n

They are also demanding an end to the crippling 11-year Israeli-Egyptian siege.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Palestinians in Gaza face mounting mental health crisis<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Since the\u00a0Great March of Return<\/a>\u00a0demonstrations began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 205 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave, including journalists and paramedics, and have injured more than 18,000.<\/p>\n

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 68 Palestinians have had their limbs amputated due to serious injuries.<\/p>\n

In response to last week’s demonstrations in which some Palestinians threw rocks at soldiers and burned tyres, Israel halted Qatari-donated fuel shipments to Gaza’s power plant.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister\u00a0Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>\u00a0threatened “very painful blows,” saying Israel was very close to waging a “different kind of activity”.<\/p>\n

“If it has any sense, Hamas will cease its fire and violent outbursts – now,” he said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A member of Palestinian security forces inspects the scene of an Israeli air raid in southern Gaza [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa\/Reuters]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Closing borders, cutting off fuel\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On Wednesday Israeli\u00a0Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the closure of both of Israel’s border crossings with Gaza – the Kerem Shalom crossing for goods and the Erez crossing for people.<\/p>\n

The permitted fishing zone along the Gaza coast has also been reduced to three nautical miles from six, the defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, COGAT, said.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
WATCH:<\/strong>\u00a0Gaza protest: Funerals held for 7 Palestinians killed by Israel army (1:55)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Under the\u00a0Oslo Accords<\/a>, Israel is obligated to permit fishing for Gazans up to 20 nautical miles, but this has never been implemented; the widest range Israel has ever allowed is 12 nautical miles.<\/p>\n

Lieberman said on Tuesday the protests could not be allowed to go on.<\/p>\n

“We are not prepared to accept the level of violence we see week after week,” Avigdor Lieberman told troops and commanders at an army base near southern Israel’s border with Gaza.<\/p>\n

He also suspended shipments of fuel that had been trucked daily into Gaza over the previous week under a deal brokered by the UN and backed by the United States, Israel and others.<\/p>\n

It had seen thousands of litres brought into the fuel-starved Gaza strip.<\/p>\n

The UN says Israeli blockade of the enclave has resulted in a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation.<\/p>\n

Gaza’s two million residents endure dire living conditions including a shortage of safe drinking water and regular power cuts, partly because of the lack of fuel for the strip’s power station. Residents typically receive about four hours of electricity a day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel says its fighter jets have struck 20 targets in the\u00a0Gaza Strip, killing one Palestinian and injuring eight others. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Naji Ahmad al-Zaneen, 25, was killed in the attack in northern Gaza early on Wednesday. Among the wounded are six children who were on their way to school in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Palestinian sources… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2188,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187\/revisions\/2188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}