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Israeli soldiers at a gathering area near the Israel-Gaza border on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu threatens to do ‘a lot more’ after overnight flare-up with Gaza

  • Leader cut short trip to the US to return after escalation of cross-border attacks
Middle East

The Gaza border region was quiet but tense on Tuesday morning after a night of heavy fire as Israeli aircraft bombed targets across the territory and militants fired rockets into Israel in what threatened to escalate into a major conflict, just two weeks before the Israeli election.

The failure of the ceasefire is said to have forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut short his trip to Washington. Upon arrival, he headed straight into military consultations.

Israeli soldiers and tanks at a gathering area near the Israel-Gaza border. Photo: AP

After Hamas said Egypt brokered a truce late on Monday, exchanges of fire continued until about 6.00am.

There were no deaths on either side, but seven Israelis and seven Palestinians were wounded in the hostilities.

After his meeting with the military, Netanyahu warned he was ready to order further action in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking via a video link from Israel to members of AIPAC in Washington on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

“I can tell you we are prepared to do a lot more. We will do what is necessary to defend our people and to defend our state,” he told the US pro-Israel lobby AIPAC by video link.

Israel kept up air strikes on Gaza into Tuesday and Palestinian militants launched new rockets despite the ceasefire claim.

The Israeli army reported late-night mortar fire and 30 new rocket launches from Gaza, on top of 30 rockets detected earlier in the evening.

Israel bombed about 15 targets, including what the army claimed was a Hamas military compound and an Islamic Jihad position.

Houses damaged in an Israeli attack on Gaza City on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua

A security source in Gaza said there were about 80 Israeli strikes.

Some of the rockets fired at Israel were intercepted by air defences while others hit uninhabited areas, the army said.

A house in the southern Israeli town of Sderot was damaged by a rocket.

Palestinians inspect their damaged house after an Israeli attack on Gaza City on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua

In Gaza, Raed al-Qahtawi, whose home was damaged in an Israeli attack on a Hamas office, said he received a warning call from Hamas authorities beforehand.

“We were sitting in the house and then they called us and told us to clear the house immediately,” he said. “My aunt is disabled so we took her using a walker and after approximately 30 minutes they bombed the area.”

Schools and government offices were closed in Gaza on Tuesday, while schools in parts of southern Israel were also closed.

The hostilities began early on Monday with a rare long-distance rocket strike from Gaza that hit a house north of Tel Aviv, wounding seven Israelis.

Israel warned of a strong response, sending reinforcements to the Gaza area and announcing a limited call up of reservists.

It also closed its people and goods crossing with the blockaded strip and reduced the zone in the Mediterranean it allows for Palestinian fishermen.

Israel’s strikes began around the same time Netanyahu met Trump in Washington.

The coastal enclave was rocked by explosions and fireballs rose in the sky in Gaza City.

After those strikes, militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets in response and air raid sirens wailed in southern Israel.

A joint statement from militant groups in Gaza, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, took responsibility for those rockets.

Israeli soldiers near their tanks at a gathering area near the Israel-Gaza border on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Hamas then announced Egypt had brokered the ceasefire – as it has repeatedly in the past – but Israel did not confirm it.

Israel’s army blamed Hamas for a rocket that hit a house on Monday morning in Mishmeret, 20km (12 miles) north of Tel Aviv.

A Hamas official however denied the group was responsible for the rocket, saying it may have been fired by accident and even suggested it may have been “bad weather”.

The hospital that treated the wounded said the seven Israelis were injured lightly by burns and shrapnel, including three children.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: G aza ten se in w ake of hea vy overnight fire
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