Israel bombs Gaza and kills three Palestinians and wounds 12

[Askor lml]

Israeli forces have fired missiles into the Gaza Strip in response to the launch of some 150 Hamas rockets.

 

At least three people have died and 12 have been injured, two of them in critical condition, in the Gaza Strip as a result of a massive bombing launched at dawn by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which have responded to the launch of about 150 projectiles by militants linked to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the victims have been identified as a 23-year-old pregnant woman and her 18-month-old daughter and a 30-year-old man.

Israeli forces have attacked 12 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including a tunnel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has convened a meeting of his security cabinet at the Kirya military complex to analyze the situation and an IDF source quoted by The Jerusalem Post has confirmed troop movements to southern Israel, without discard a terrestrial operation.

"Approximately 150 shells have been launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel," the IDF have announced on their official Twitter account. 25 of the rockets have been intercepted by the air defense system, while, of the rest, "most have fallen in open areas," they said.

Medical sources at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, southern Israel, have indicated to the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth that they have treated 22 people: 13 in a state of shock - including two pregnant women - eight with minor injuries and a man that has had to be operated. One woman has been seriously injured and another slight after one of the projectiles reached a house in the Eshkol regional council, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Despite the negotiations

Hamas has issued a statement in which it claimed responsibility for the rocket fire of the last hours: "We are fulfilling our promise, the resistance has accepted responsibility on the field with the enemy and is succeeding."

This escalation occurred just on the same day that Hamas has ensured that indirect negotiations with Israel, sponsored by the United Nations and Egypt, are already at an "advanced stage", which opens the door to a possible truce between the parties.

The mediation efforts were resumed in the wake of the latest wave of violence in Gaza, which began on March 30 with Palestinian mobilizations to demand the return of refugees. Since then, clashes between the military and demonstrators have left 158 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead.