GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas says it will fire rockets at Israeli towns of Beersheba, Ashdod if Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continue.</s>Qatar pays Gaza salaries to ease tensions; Israel says money not for Hamas

GAZA: A $15 million Qatari cash infusion was paid out to impoverished Palestinian civil servants in the Gaza Strip on Friday, offering Hamas a potential domestic reprieve though Israel said the money would not go to the dominant Islamist group.

Hamas’s political rival based in the West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has slashed Gaza budgets, beggaring tens of thousands of government employees. That has helped stoke a half-year of bloody protests and occasional shelling exchanges across the border of Gaza, which Israel keeps under blockade.

Palestinian sources said the Qatari payout, received on Thursday, was the first of a total of $90 million that would come into Gaza over the next six months with Israeli approval.

Israel had previously agreed to the gas-rich Gulf Arab state donating materials for civilian construction projects or fuel, worried that more fungible cash donations could reach Hamas, against which it has fought three wars in a decade.

“One day, I have no money to get food or medicine for my children - and now I will buy them food, medicine and clothes,” said Wael Abu Assi, a traffic policeman, outside a Gaza City post office where people queued to draw their salaries.

Branded a terrorist group in the West, Hamas has been under years of embargo by Israel and neighboring Egypt. Hamas leaders said in the past they had received funds from other countries including Iran.

Observers for Qatar were present at all 12 post offices across Gaza to monitor the salary disbursements. Employees had to present their identity card and be finger-printed.

Doha’s donations, as well as U.N.-Egyptian truce mediation and winter rains, have tamped down the violence at the border, where Gaza medics say Israeli army fire has killed more than 220 Palestinians since the protests began on March 30 to demand rights to lands lost to Israel in the 1948 war of its creation.

Israel, which says its lethal force prevents armed infiltrations, has had a soldier killed by a Gaza sniper and tracts of forest and farmland burned in brushfires set by incendiary material flown over on kites or helium balloons.

On Friday, the Israeli army shot dead a Palestinian and wounded 37 other on the border, Gaza medics said. The military said troops faced some 10,000 Palestinians protesters, some of whom threw grenades.

Earlier, Qatar’s point-man for Gaza relief efforts, Mohammed Al-Emadi, visited a site near the border fence. “Long live Qatar!” shouted some of the Palestinian youths there. “Long live Gaza!” he replied.

But as the diplomat’s convoy departed, some youths threw stones that smashed a window on his bodyguards’ car - suggesting not all Palestinians were pleased with Qatar’s intervention. Al-Emadi’s car was unscathed.

“They told me they don’t have money for me,” one employee told Reuters on condition that he would not be named. “Maybe Israel vetoed my name?”

Officials from Hamas, Qatar and Israel have been largely silent about the details of the Gaza payouts arrangement.

But a member of right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet played down their significance.

“This is not money that is going to Hamas activities. It is money that is going to the salaries of civil servants, in an orderly, organized manner,” Environment Minister Zeev Elkin told Tel Aviv radio station 102 FM.

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Elkin accused Abbas, whose peace talks with Netanyahu stalled in 2014 and who is boycotting the United States because of its pro-Israel policies, of cutting salaries to “inflame Gaza, because he has not been successful on other fronts”.

“The Qataris came along and said: ‘We are willing to pay this instead of Abu Mazen (Abbas), in order to calm Gaza down’. What does it matter who pays it?” Elkin said.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the executive committee of the Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organization, criticized the move.

“Arrangements through Qatar and elsewhere prolong the crisis of Palestinian division,” Abu Youssef told Reuters.</s>Gaza-based Hamas terrorists sent 300 rockets into Israel Monday, bringing about a major Israeli Defense Forces strike in Gaza.

Hamas “has crossed a red line,” said Israeli Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun, who said Israel would “continue to respond with an iron fist against all terrorist activity or rocket fire.”

Israel said it intercepted 70 of the rockets.

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The full extent of Israeli casualties was unclear early Tuesday. The Jerusalem Post indicated in a running summary of the attacks and the Israeli response that at least one man was killed and close to 100 were wounded, many from the community of Ashkelon.

Other accounts put the overall total number of injured between 10 and 20.

In what appeared to be a separate attack, a mortar shell hit a bus in which Israel Defense Force personnel had been riding. Six people were injured, including a 19-year-old who was listed in critical condition, Fox News reported.

The latest round of violence was triggered Sunday when a firefight broke out in Gaza between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters.

“The aim of the operation was not to abduct or to kill a Hamas operative,” said IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus. He said that once the Israeli force met trouble, it “acted swiftly, professionally, was able to defend itself, exfiltrate in a very professional manner, making sure that all soldiers got back to Israel, that none were left behind.”

Hamas, however, claimed that Israeli undercover troops slipped two miles into Gaza killed and killed Nour el-Deen Baraka, a commander of the group’s military wing. Five Hamas soldiers and one Israeli solder were killed Sunday.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, which began at sunset local time on Monday.

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In retaliation, Israel hit a wide range of targets, including the Al-Aqsa TV station. The BBC reported that three Palestinians were killed.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the attack on the station an act of “barbaric aggression,” according to The New York Times.

“It contributes to Hamas’ military actions, including by providing operational messaging to militants, directing and explicitly calling for terror activities against Israel, and providing guidance on how to carry out such terror activities,” the IDF said in a statement.

Israeli Cabinet minister Michael Oren said Israel “will do whatever it takes” to defend itself, according to U.S. News and World Report.

“We expect the world to stand with us,” he said.

The EU’s ambassador to Israel, Emanuele Giaufret, begged for an end to “indiscriminate” rocket fire targeting civilians.

“Everyone must step back from the brink,” he said.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called for the world body to condemn Hamas.

“After a day of rocket barrages, there is no room for any other definition of Hamas except that of terrorist organization. To the world it presents its civilians as victims, but then uses them as human shields,” Danon wrote.

“Israel cooperated with all international bodies, including the UN, but the aggressive escalation from Gaza indicates that there are elements pushing for another round of violence that will cause destruction and losses within the Gaza Strip,” he wrote.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.</s>Israel's military said it was carrying out air strikes "throughout the Gaza Strip" on Monday after rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave towards its territory.

A number of rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, AFP journalists said, while Israel's army said an Israeli bus was hit by fire from the Palestinian enclave. It was not clear if there were injuries.

The flare-up follows a clash that erupted during an Israeli special forces operation in the Gaza Strip late Sunday that killed eight people. Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, had vowed revenge.</s>GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian militants on Monday carried out their most intensive shelling of Israel since the 2014 Gaza war in retaliation for a botched cross-border commando raid, drawing Israeli air strikes against Hamas’ television station and other targets.

The flare-up, in which three Palestinian gunmen and a civilian in Israel were killed, threatened to derail efforts by the United Nations, Egypt and Qatar to broker a long-term truce and head off another major conflict in the impoverished enclave.

Hamas, Gaza’s dominant Islamist movement, and other armed factions launched more than 300 rockets or mortar bombs across the border after carrying out a surprise guided-missile attack on a bus that wounded an Israeli soldier, the military said.

Sirens in southern Israeli towns and the port of Ashkelon sent residents rushing to bomb shelters. Several homes were hit.

Israel responded with dozens of air strikes against Gaza buildings including a Hamas intelligence compound and the Al-Aqsa Television studios, whose employees had received advance warnings from the military to evacuate.

Egypt urged Israel to back down. The United States, whose peace mediation has been stalled since 2014, condemned Hamas.

“The escalation in the past 24 hours is EXTREMELY dangerous and reckless,” tweeted Nickolay Mladenov, a U.N. Middle East envoy. “Rockets must STOP, restraint must be shown by all!”

Violence has simmered since Palestinians launched weekly border protests on March 30 to demand the easing of a blockade on Gaza and rights to lands lost in the 1948 war of Israel’s founding. Israeli troops have killed more that 220 Palestinians during the confrontations, which have included border breaches.

A Qatari cash infusion of $15 million last week appeared to dampen Gazan anger. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped to reach an “arrangement” to avoid another Gaza war and ease Palestinian economic hardship.

But hours later, a botched incursion by undercover Israeli troops in Gaza led to fighting that killed a Hamas commander, six other Palestinian militants and an Israeli colonel.

“In response to yesterday’s crime, the joint command of Palestinian factions announce the beginning of bombardment of the enemy’s settlements with scores of rockets,” Hamas said in a statement on Monday.

In an apparent attempt to defuse tensions, Israel’s military spokesman said the special forces had not been dispatched to assassinate Hamas commanders, a tactic that led to wider conflict in the past and which has largely been abandoned.

Israeli media reports suggested the raid was mounted to gather intelligence.

Hamas, which is branded a terrorist group in the West, and Israel have fought three wars in the last decade and neither side appeared keen to precipitate another full-on conflict.

On Monday, Palestinian factions placed the onus on Israel to cease fire, saying they were prepared to increase the range of rocket fire for as long as the air barrage on Gaza persisted.

But the Israelis, jarred by dozens of civilian casualties in their border communities, appeared set on deterring Hamas.

Brigadier-General Ronen Manelis, Israel’s military spokesman, said Hamas was “leading Gaza to ruin” and that Israeli attacks on it would “intensify to the degree required”.</s>The latest on a fresh wave of fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip (all times local):

Hamas' militant wing says undercover Israeli forces drove a civilian vehicle into the Gaza Strip and shot dead one of the group's commanders.

Hamas was providing details on a sudden, late-night burst of violence between Israel and Gaza militants Sunday that came just as the sides were taking steps that appeared to be toning down months of fighting.

In a statement late Sunday, Hamas says militants chased the car down, which prompted Israeli airstrikes that led to the deaths of at least five militants.

The Israeli military said only that there had been an exchange of fire during operational activity. It said that its rocket defense system intercepted two launches from the Gaza Strip and that air raid sirens were sounding in southern Israel.

A spokesman for Israel's Airport's Authority says some flight landings and departures have been changed at the country's international airport amid a new spasm of violence between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Ofer Lefler said Sunday that the runway changes were made after the fighting began. He says they would not affect the flight schedule.

It was not immediately clear what sparked Sunday's fighting. Shortly after the exchange of fire, air raid sirens sounded in southern Israel, indicating rocket fire from Gaza. Gaza militants have rockets capable of reaching into the Israeli heartland, where Ben-Gurion International Airport is located.

Sunday's exchange of fire came as Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers appeared to be making progress toward an unofficial cease-fire.

Palestinian health officials in the Gaza Strip say six militants have been killed and six have been wounded by Israeli fire in a sudden, late-night burst of fighting.

Sunday's exchange of fire came as Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers appeared to be making progress toward an unofficial cease-fire.

Israel last week allowed Qatar to deliver $15 million to Hamas, while Hamas scaled back its weekly demonstration along the Israeli border.

It was not immediately clear what sparked Sunday's fighting. Shortly after the exchange of fire, air raid sirens sounded in southern Israel, indicating rocket fire from Gaza.</s>ASHKELON, Israel — Loren Amar was watching TV with her father around midnight when an air-raid siren warning of incoming rocket fire blared through their working-class neighborhood in southern Israel.

Their old apartment had no in-house shelter, so they huddled in the stairway just before a rocket from Gaza slammed into the building next-door, sending shrapnel and debris flying into their bedrooms — and the 29-year-old Amar to the hospital with shock symptoms.

"The walls shook and the hallway filled with white smoke. It felt like an earthquake," she recalled Tuesday, a hospital identity tag still wrapped around her wrist. "The electricity went out and we didn't know whether to go up or down. I was hysterical."

It was the first lethal rocket attack from Gaza in years, and yet the only fatality was a Palestinian laborer from the West Bank. Two Israeli women were critically wounded.

In just 24 hours, Gaza militants fired more than 450 rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel, the most serious escalation since a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2014. Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes it said targeted militants.

Residents angrily demanded the government restore calm for good, even if that means another war. Yet many people wearily expressed a sense of helplessness, as successive governments fail to come up with an effective policy to bring quiet to the Israel-Gaza frontier.

Hamas militants seized Gaza in 2007, triggering an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade that has choked the territory of 2 million people. Israel refuses to lift the blockade unless Hamas disarms, a demand the militants refuse. The volatile standoff has produced repeated rounds of violence, including indiscriminate Gaza rocket fire at Israeli border towns.

Word late Tuesday that Gaza militants agreed to a cease-fire was unlikely to sway people's minds that there is no long-term solution to the Gaza conundrum.

"I don't know how you stop this thing. Nothing helps. Whatever you do it always comes back," said Shlomit Hayat, 38.

She noted that the deadly violence came just days after Israel allowed Qatar to deliver $15 million in cash to Gaza to alleviate its economic hardship and after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he'd do everything he can to prevent an "unnecessary" war.

The latest fighting was triggered by a botched Israeli raid into Gaza on Sunday that set off clashes resulting in the deaths of seven Palestinian militants, including a local Hamas commander, and a senior Israeli military officer. Palestinian militant groups said the rocket barrage was a message to Israel that such incursions have a cost.

Gazans have similar fears when fighting breaks out. While Israel says it has confined its airstrikes to military targets, hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been killed in the three previous wars. For many in Gaza, the latest outbreak of fighting brought back fears that no place is truly safe in the densely populated territory.

On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a six-story residential building in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City that housed a kindergarten on its ground floor. Israel said the building was used by Hamas for military purposes — a charge denied by residents.

"All the people here are civilians, children and families," said Mamdouh al-Shurafa, a building resident. "When we are bombed in the middle of the city, where can we go?"

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the group seized Gaza from the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority in 2007. In the most recent war, over 2,200 Palestinians were killed, more than half of them civilians, and tens of thousands were left homeless. Seventy-three people, most of them soldiers, were killed on the Israeli side.

Israel's Iron Dome rocket-defense system and advanced warning networks have provided a large degree of protection from the rockets, which killed some 30 civilians in the decade prior to the 2014 war. Casualties have dropped considerably since then and a proliferation of rocket-proof safe rooms in newer buildings has allowed many Israelis to feel much safer in their own homes.

But this week's onslaught showed the system is not foolproof. The overnight rocket that slipped through penetrated the roof of a four-story apartment building, leaving the entire structure pockmarked, its windows blown out and the balcony shutters hanging limply.

Emergency forces evacuated a critically wounded woman to hospital. Only an hour later, a neighbor sifting through the rubble discovered the other wounded woman and the dead man. "I heard a murmur and then I saw a hand reach out," said Shlomi Lankry.

Relatives in the West Bank town of Halhoul identified the dead man as 48-year-old Mahmoud Abu Asbeh. A married father of six, he would typically sleep in Ashkelon during the week and return home for weekends.

"The rockets don't have eyes to see, they hit randomly, and this happened randomly, it was unintentional," said his father, Abdel Hamid Abu Asbeh. "Last night he told me the rockets are falling like rain. He said: 'May God protect us,' as if he expected something."

Those around the building were at a loss to describe the shock of a rocket landing in the heart of their neighborhood.

"It's like Russian Roulette," said Elie Mozes, 57. "It just comes out of nowhere."

Back at home after her stint in the hospital, Amar said she was at a loss to prescribe a solution. With glass strewn across her bed and holes blown through her hanging laundry, she said all she knew was that something had to be done.

"If anyone still lives in a fairytale that there will be peace here they need to snap out of it," she said.</s>JERUSALEM -- Gaza militants fired dozens of rockets at southern Israel early on Tuesday, killing a man in a strike on a residential building, and warning they would escalate their attacks if Israel continues bombing targets in the Gaza Strip.

The cross-border attacks, which were triggered by a botched Israeli undercover raid into Hamas-ruled Gaza late Sunday, marked the most serious escalation since an Israel-Hamas war in 2014.

International mediators appealed for restraint, hoping to avert another war.

The Israeli military said some 400 rockets and mortars have been launched from Gaza since the current round began on Monday afternoon, with about 100 of them intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defence system.

Israel has hit more than 100 targets it says are linked to militants in Gaza, including a strike that destroyed the TV station of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza.

On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said two Palestinians in their 20s were killed in separate airstrikes, raising the number killed since the Israeli offensive began Monday to six, including four militants. At least 25 people have been wounded.

Israeli medical officials said a 48-year-old man was found early Tuesday under the rubble of a building hit by a rocket in the southern city of Ashkelon. Relatives in the West Bank town of Halhoul identified the man as Mahmoud Abu Usbeh, a Palestinian labourer who had been working in Israel. He left a wife and six children behind.

"Everyone in town is sad. It's God's will and there nothing we can do about it," said his cousin, Jihad Abu Usbeh.

At least 20 people have also been wounded in Israel, three critically, according to medical officials.

The military said jets struck several "key strategic" Hamas targets, including military compounds, rocket launching posts and part of its vast underground tunnel network. Also targeted was a Gaza City building serving Hamas' military and intelligence forces that houses a munition warehouse.

The armed wing of Hamas threatened to step up its attacks and fire rockets further north toward the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Beersheba if Israel continued its airstrikes.

The spokesman for the Hamas military wing, identified only as Abu Obeida, said the deadly attack on the coastal city of Ashkelon showed the city "has entered the range of fire as a response to the bombing of buildings in Gaza." He said Ashdod and Beersheba "are the next targets if the enemy continues bombing civilian buildings."

School has been cancelled in large parts of southern Israel and a local election has been postponed because of the threat of further attacks.

Over the past few months, the sides have come close to a major escalation several times, only to step back in favour of giving a chance to a long-term Egyptian mediated truce.

However, the current level of escalation and angry rhetoric, including Hamas' warnings to strike deeper inside Israel, might make it more difficult to restore calm.

The Israeli security Cabinet began meeting to discuss the next steps, as the United Nations appealed for calm and said it was trying to broker a cease-fire.

The eruption of fighting cast doubt over recent understandings brokered by Egypt and U.N. officials to reduce tensions. Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had defended those understandings, saying he was doing everything possible to avoid another war. But he will now be under intense pressure to retaliate, given Hamas' unrelenting rocket barrages.

The rocket fire was triggered by a botched Israeli military raid in Gaza on Sunday. Undercover troops, apparently on a reconnaissance mission, were discovered inside Gaza, setting off a battle that left seven militants, including a Hamas commander, and a senior Israeli military officer dead. Hamas then fired a guided missile that struck a bus from which soldiers had just disembarked, an upgrade over its typical inaccurate projectiles.

The strike set the bus on fire, sending a large plume of black smoke over the area. A 19-year-old soldier was critically wounded and rocket attacks and Israeli retaliation fire quickly ensued.

The airstrikes and rocket barrages resumed at dawn Tuesday after nearly two hours of calm.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said Israeli warplanes, tanks and naval vessels were involved in strikes against military compounds, observation posts and weapons facilities belonging to the two main Gaza militant groups behind the attacks -- Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

He said the Israeli military has enhanced its deployment along the border but had yet to mobilize its reserves. He said Gaza militant groups were believed to have an arsenal in excess of 20,000 rockets and mortars of different calibre and range.

In Gaza, schools and public institutions were closed as people ventured outside to inspect the damage after a long night of aerial raids. Near the destroyed TV station, residents salvaged papers and belongings from their damaged houses. Debris was strewn across the streets and shattered window glass crunched under people's feet.

In Gaza City's Rimal neighbourhood, a six-story residential building that also housed a kindergarten on its ground floor was destroyed.

"All the people here are civilians, children and families. We took our children and fled from here. When we returned, we found great destruction," said Mamdouh al-Shurafa, a resident of the building. "When we are bombed in the middle of the city, where we can go?"

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza from the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority in 2007. In the most recent war, over 2,200 Palestinians were killed, more than half of them civilians, and tens of thousands were left homeless. Seventy-three people, most of them soldiers, were killed on the Israeli side.

Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade on Gaza since the Hamas takeover, a blockade that has devastated Gaza's economy.

In recent weeks, Egyptian and U.N. mediators had appeared to make progress in brokering informal understandings aimed at quieting the situation.

Last week, Israel allowed Qatar to deliver $15 million to Gaza to allow cash-strapped Hamas to pay the salaries of thousands of government workers. At the same time, Hamas has lowered the intensity of its border protests in recent weeks.

Netanyahu cut short a visit to Paris because of the flare-up and returned to Israel on Monday for consultations with top security officials.</s>Israel has hit more than 100 targets it says are linked to militants in Gaza, including a strike that destroyed the TV station of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. Palestinian officials say at least three people, including two militants, have been killed. In Israel, at least 20 people have been wounded, several seriously.</s>JERUSALEM (AP) — The latest round of fighting in Gaza is rooted in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and comes after Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers have fought three wars in the past decade.

The fighting in recent years has killed thousands of Palestinians and scores of Israelis, but has yet to dislodge the Islamic militant group or resolve any of the other underlying disputes between the two sides.

Here is a look at some key events in the Israel-Hamas conflict:

Israel withdraws all settlements and military personnel from the Gaza Strip, marking the end of its 38-year occupation of the territory.

The Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas wins an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections, sparking a struggle for primacy with its rival, the Fatah movement of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas militants capture Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit in a cross-border raid, triggering heavy fighting with Israel. Schalit is released five years later following a lopsided prisoner exchange.

Hamas violently ousts Fatah forces from the Gaza Strip and solidifies its control of the territory. Israel and Egypt tighten their blockade of Gaza, which will devastate Gaza's economy over the next decade. Two rival governments emerge, Hamas in Gaza and the Abbas' Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

In response to heavy rocket fire from Gaza, Israel launches a major three-week offensive. After a 22-day war that kills 1,200 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, the two sides announce a cease-fire.

Israel targets and kills Hamas military chief Ahmad Jabari, sparking eight days of militant rocket fire and an Israeli air campaign. Egyptian mediators secure a cease-fire after some 150 Palestinians and six Israelis are killed.

Following the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers by Hamas members, Israel conducts a sweep against Hamas in the West Bank, prompting rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli air raids in response. The seven-week conflict that ensues results in more than 2,200 Palestinian deaths in Gaza, more than half of them civilians. In Israel, 67 soldiers and 6 civilians are killed. Israel comes under heavy international criticism for its use of what the United Nations calls disproportionate force.

Palestinian protesters, led by Hamas, stage massive demonstrations along the perimeter fence against the blockade. Although mostly unarmed, many protesters burn tires, throw rocks and grenades at Israeli troops and damage the perimeter fence. Israeli troops kill more than 170 protesters over a period of several months. Israel says it is defending its border but is accused of using excessive force. Israel and Hamas engage in a number of rounds of intense but brief fighting during this time.

Violence flares up after a botched Israeli undercover raid into Gaza that killed seven Palestinian militants and a senior Israeli army officer, marking the most serious escalation since the war in 2014. Gaza militants fire hundreds of rockets at Israel in response, killing a Palestinian laborer in southern Israel. At least seven Palestinians, among them five militants, are killed in Gaza.
Israel and Hamas exchange missile fire with 300 rockets being launched from Gaza within the span of three hours.