Israeli military says Palestinian fire kills soldier near Gaza border, first Israeli killed there in months of violence

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military says Palestinian fire kills soldier near Gaza border, first Israeli killed there in months of violence.</s>Israeli military says Palestinian fire kills soldier near Gaza border, first Israeli killed there in months of violence

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military says Palestinian fire kills soldier near Gaza border, first Israeli killed there in months of violence.</s>Sign up for one of our email newsletters.

JERUSALEM — Israeli airstrikes pummeled Hamas targets in Gaza, killing four Palestinians, mostly Hamas operatives, after Palestinian snipers killed an Israeli soldier near the border Friday, officials said.

The military said a “terrorist squad” fired at troops, and one soldier was severely injured and later died of his wounds. He was the first Israeli military fatality in months of violence along the Gaza border.

After the Palestinian gunfire, Israel’s military said, it struck 25 Hamas positions, including weapon warehouses, command and control centers, training facilities, observation posts and other sites.

It said “fighter jets commenced a wide-scale attack against Hamas military targets throughout the Gaza Strip.” It added that “Hamas chose to escalate the security situation and will bear the consequences for its actions.”

The Gaza Health Ministry said four Palestinians were killed. The militant Islamic Hamas that rules Gaza said three of the dead were members of the group. Gaza media reported that gunmen had fired mortars toward the border.

Sirens wailed Friday night in parts of southern Israel warning of incoming Palestinian rockets. Israel said two were intercepted by its Iron Dome aerial defense system.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with military brass Friday night to assess the developments, media reported.

Earlier Friday, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Sderot, an Israeli town near Gaza that has been hard hit by Palestinian rockets over the years. “The heads of Hamas are forcibly leading us to a no choice situation in which we will need to embark on wide and painful military operation,” Lieberman said.

On Saturday, Israel pounded Hamas targets in its largest bombardment campaign since the 2014 war, as Gaza militants fired dozens of rockets toward Israel.

Israel says it has no interest is engaging in another war with Hamas but says it will no longer tolerate the Gaza militant campaign of daily flying incendiary kites and balloons across the border that have torched Israeli crops, burned nature reserves and killed wildlife.

Hamas on Friday vowed it will continue weekly protests and the launching of incendiary devices at Israel.

Khalil al-Hayya, a top Hamas leader, said “the protests will remain, flaming and existing, and its tools will multiply and diversify, including kites, until our goals are achieved.”

For the first time, an incendiary balloon of the kind used in Gaza was found in the garden of a southeast Jerusalem home close to the Palestinian town of Beit Jala. Police sappers dealt with the device.

The weekly protests led by Hamas against Israel are meant in part to draw attention to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after the militant group assumed control of Gaza in 2007.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Palestinians hurled seven grenades and several explosive devices at troops along the border on Friday. There were no Israeli casualties.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 80 Palestinians were wounded by gunfire in that rally.

The demonstrations have been fueled in large part by pervasive despair caused by the blockade which has caused widespread economic hardship.

Over 135, mostly unarmed, Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the border protests began on March 30.

Israel says it is defending its sovereign border and accuses Hamas, a group sworn to its destruction, of using the protests as cover for attempts to breach the border fence and attack civilians and soldiers.</s>Israeli military says Palestinian fire kills soldier near Gaza border, first Israeli killed there in months of violence

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military says Palestinian fire kills soldier near Gaza border, first Israeli killed there in months of violence.</s>GAZA City, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel targeted militant sites in Gaza, after Palestinians shot at its forces near the border, the military said Friday, using airstrikes and tank fire that Hamas said killed three of its members.

The militant Islamic Hamas that rules Gaza said the three Palestinians killed were members of the group. Gaza media reported that gunmen fired mortars toward the border.

Earlier Friday, Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Sderot, an Israeli town near Gaza that has been hard hit by Palestinian rockets over the years. "The heads of Hamas are forcibly leading us to a no choice situation in which we will need to embark on wide and painful military operation," Lieberman said.

On Saturday, Israel pounded Hamas targets in its largest bombardment campaign since the 2014 war, as Gaza militants fired dozens of rockets toward Israel.

Israel says it has no interest is engaging in another war with Hamas, but says it will no longer tolerate the Gaza militant campaign of daily flying incendiary kites and balloons across the border that have torched Israeli crops, burned nature reserves and killed wildlife.

Hamas on Friday vowed it will continue to protest by launching the incendiary devices at Israel.

Khalil al-Hayya, a top Hamas leader, said "the protests will remain, flaming and existing, and its tools will multiply and diversify, including kites, until our goals are achieved."

The weekly protests led by Gaza's Hamas rulers against Israel are meant in part to draw attention to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after the militant group assumed control of Gaza in 2007.

The demonstrations have been fueled in large part by pervasive despair caused by the blockade which has caused widespread economic hardship.

Over 135, mostly unarmed, Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the border protests began on March 30.

Israel says it is defending its sovereign border and accuses Hamas, a group sworn to its destruction, of using the protests as cover for attempts to breach the border fence and attack civilians and soldiers.</s>Image copyright AFP Image caption A fireball rises from Gaza city following an Israeli air strike on Friday

Israel says it has attacked military targets in the Gaza Strip, after its soldiers came under gunfire at the border.

The Israeli military announced that one soldier had died from his wounds, the first in the most recent clashes.

Gaza officials said four Palestinians were killed in the strikes, three of them members of militant group Hamas.

They said a fourth Palestinian was shot dead during protests along the border. Hamas, who run Gaza, later said a ceasefire had been agreed with Israel.

"With Egyptian and United Nations efforts it has been agreed to return to the era of calm between (Israel) and Palestinian factions," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters news agency.

Israel has yet to comment on a ceasefire.

What about the Israeli strikes?

The military said it had struck 15 Hamas military targets in the northern Gaza Strip and an additional 25 in Khan Yunis in the south, adding that the strikes were continuing.

The operation came during another Friday of protests by Palestinians at the border between Israel and Gaza. The Israeli army said three projectiles had been fired into Israel by Palestinian militants.

Israel last week carried out its biggest attack against Hamas targets in Gaza since the war in 2014, in response to more than 200 rockets and mortars fired into the country.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption A relative of a Palestinian killed by Israeli troops on Friday reacts at a hospital in the central Gaza Strip

Palestinians have now been protesting at the border for 17 weeks. Gaza health officials say more than 130 Palestinians have been killed and 15,000 injured by Israeli forces during that time.

The death of a soldier on Friday is the first Israeli fatality in the exchanges.

Human rights groups have accused Israeli troops of using excessive force. Israel says it has only opened fire in self-defence, or on people trying to infiltrate its territory under the cover of the demonstrations.

Following Friday's clashes, the UN's envoy for the Israel-Palestinian conflict called on all sides to "step back from the brink" of war.

"Everybody understands that unless the situation is defused we will very quickly be back to another confrontation," said Nickolay Mladenov.

"I expect all parties, all sides to do their best right now. Not next month, not next week, right now, to prevent this escalation."

Mr Mladenov called specifically on Hamas and Islamic Jihad - the two largest militant factions in Gaza - to end the launch of rockets and prevent attempts by Palestinians to breach the border fence.

Image copyright EPA Image caption A Palestinian protester taking part in violent protests at the Gaza border on Friday

Israel resumed air attacks on Gaza after last week's projectile attacks, warning that it would take whatever action necessary to stop incendiary kites and balloons being flown over the border.

It accuses Hamas of controlling the makeshift devices, which have set fields in Israel ablaze, as well as orchestrating the protests at the border, which Israel regards as a threat to its border communities.

The past week had seen efforts to try to keep the situation under control, but Israel's Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned on Friday of a "much tougher" response against Hamas if continued to fire rockets from the Gaza Strip.

"If Hamas continues to fire rockets then Israel will respond in a much tougher way than they think," Mr Lieberman said in a statement.</s>Israeli aircraft and tanks hit targets across the Gaza Strip Friday after shots were fired at troops on the border, the army said, with Hamas reporting three members of its military wing killed.

A fourth Palestinian was shot dead during protests along the frontier with Israel, Gaza's health ministry said.

The flare-up is the latest in months of tensions that have ratcheted up fears of a wider conflict between Israel and Gaza's rulers Hamas, who have fought three wars since 2008.

An Israeli army statement said shots were fired at troops during renewed protests along the Gaza-Israel frontier and "in response... aircraft and tanks targeted military targets throughout the Gaza Strip."

It did not say if any Israeli soldiers were hurt in the shooting.

Two Palestinians were killed in a strike east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, the health ministry in the enclave said.

A third man was killed by Israeli fire east of Rafah, also in southern Gaza, the ministry said.

The military wing of Islamist group Hamas named the three men as Shaban abu Khatar, Mohammed abu Farhana and Mahmoud Qushta, saying they were fighters.

Israel's military said its aircraft and tanks had targeted "eight military posts" belonging to Hamas.

A fourth man named as Mohammed Badwan was later shot dead by Israeli forces during protests along the border, Gaza's health ministry said.

Israeli media reported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was receiving an emergency briefing from the army on the situation.

Last weekend saw the most severe exchange of fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza since a 2014 war, raising worries of another round of conflict.

Israel hit dozens of sites it said belonged to militants in the Gaza Strip in Saturday's strikes, killing two Palestinian teenagers.

The same day, around 200 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel from Gaza and four Israelis were wounded when a rocket hit a house in the nearby Israeli city of Sderot.

Since protests broke out on March 30, at least 149 Palestinians have been killed.

Most were shot during demonstrations and clashes along the border, but others were killed in air strikes or by tank fire.

No Israelis have been killed.

For more than a week, Israel has been hardening its response to kites and incendiary balloons launched from Gaza, which authorities say have set ablaze more than 2,600 hectares on Israeli territory.

In recent days, the Israeli army has opened fire at groups launching such devices.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has raised the threat of a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip if Hamas does not stop the kites and balloons being launched.

Israeli television this week broadcast footage of army training manoeuvres for an incursion into the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu also conducted a tour along the border region for the first time since the start of the clashes.

Government officials such as Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan have called for systematic attacks on kite launchers.

Israel has also further tightened its blockade of Gaza by closing the only goods crossing, suspending oil and gas deliveries.</s>GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Israeli forces unleashed a wave of deadly strikes across the Gaza Strip on Friday after a soldier was shot dead along the border.

A ceasefire agreement was reached early Saturday after Egyptian and United Nations mediation, a spokesman for Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas said, reducing fears of a wider conflict.

On Friday, three Hamas militants were killed as air raids sent fireballs exploding into the sky over Gaza, while Israel said rockets had been fired back at its territory.

The United Nations urged all sides to step ‘‘back from the brink’’ after months of increasing tensions, with a fourth Palestinian shot dead during protests along the border with Israel.

The flare-up is the latest as demonstrations and clashes on the frontier since March have seen at least 149 Palestinians killed.

 The soldier was the first Israeli killed in that time.

The army said ‘‘a terrorist squad shot’’ him on the border with southern Gaza, without naming him.

A spokesman told AFP it was the first time an Israeli soldier had been killed in or around Gaza during operations since the most recent war in 2014.

The United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, said ‘‘everyone in Gaza needs to step back from the brink. Not next week. Not tomorrow. Right NOW!’’

‘‘Those who want to provoke Palestinians and Israelis into another war must not succeed,’’ he wrote on Twitter.

Later Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the UN and Egypt had helped negotiate a ceasefire, with an agreement reached ‘‘to return to the previous state of calm between the (Israeli) occupation and the Palestinian factions.’’

Israel did not confirm the deal, which was the second such ceasefire agreement in a week.

Earlier the Israeli military said its aircraft and tanks targeted 40 Hamas posts and that the strikes formed part of a ‘‘wide-scale attack’’ in response to the border shooting.

Air raids continued into Friday evening, with a number of explosions in different parts of Gaza, AFP correspondents said.

The military wing of Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, said three of its fighters were killed in strikes.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned of a ‘‘much tougher’’ response to any fresh missile fire by Hamas after the army reported ‘‘three launches’’ from the territory, two of which were intercepted.</s>GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip killed a member of the Islamist group Hamas on Thursday and wounded three others, Hamas sources and medical officials said.

The Israeli military confirmed it had carried out a strike targeting Hamas militants who were about to launch balloons rigged with flammable material over the border into Israel.

Hamas sources said the casualties were security men working at an observation post near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

After the air strike, the Israeli military said Palestinian militants had fired mortar bombs at Israeli soldiers across the border, but no casualties had been reported.

Fires caused by incendiary helium balloons and kites launched by Palestinians in Gaza have ravaged tracts of farmland in Israel in recent months. Israel has vowed to stop the attacks, even at the risk of wider conflict.

Clashes at the Israel-Gaza border have kept tensions high for months. More than 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during protests at the frontier held every week since March.

Israel says Hamas has been orchestrating the demonstrations, dubbed The Great March of Return, to provide cover for militants’ cross-border attacks. Hamas denies this.

Cross-border violence surged on Saturday when Palestinian militants fired more than 100 rockets into Israel and the Israeli military carried out dozens of air strikes in the Hamas-ruled enclave.</s>GAZA City, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel targeted militant sites in Gaza, after Palestinians shot at its forces near the border, the military said Friday, using airstrikes and tank fire that Hamas said killed three of its members.

The militant Islamic Hamas that rules Gaza said the three Palestinians killed were members of the group. Gaza media reported that gunmen fired mortars toward the border.

Earlier Friday, Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Sderot, an Israeli town near Gaza that has been hard hit by Palestinian rockets over the years. "The heads of Hamas are forcibly leading us to a no choice situation in which we will need to embark on wide and painful military operation," Lieberman said.

On Saturday, Israel pounded Hamas targets in its largest bombardment campaign since the 2014 war, as Gaza militants fired dozens of rockets toward Israel.

Israel says it has no interest is engaging in another war with Hamas, but says it will no longer tolerate the Gaza militant campaign of daily flying incendiary kites and balloons across the border that have torched Israeli crops, burned nature reserves and killed wildlife.

Hamas on Friday vowed it will continue to protest by launching the incendiary devices at Israel.

Khalil al-Hayya, a top Hamas leader, said "the protests will remain, flaming and existing, and its tools will multiply and diversify, including kites, until our goals are achieved."

The weekly protests led by Gaza's Hamas rulers against Israel are meant in part to draw attention to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after the militant group assumed control of Gaza in 2007.

The demonstrations have been fueled in large part by pervasive despair caused by the blockade which has caused widespread economic hardship.

Over 135, mostly unarmed, Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the border protests began on March 30.

Israel says it is defending its sovereign border and accuses Hamas, a group sworn to its destruction, of using the protests as cover for attempts to breach the border fence and attack civilians and soldiers.
The Israel Defense Forces engage in a gunfight with Hamas' military wing after an Israeli soldier is killed by a Palestinian sniper; four Hamas members are killed. Israel responds to the incident with strikes on Hamas targets across Gaza.