1st LD Writethru: Israeli war jets strike on southern Gaza, no injuries

Israeli war jets struck on Thursday afternoon with three missiles an area east of Rafah town in southern Gaza Strip; no injuries reported, according to security officials and paramedics.

The sources and eyewitnesses said the airstrike targeted a field close to the commercial crossing of Kerem Shalom on the borders between southeast Gaza Strip and Israel. Huge explosions were heard in the area.

It is the third round of Israeli war jets air strike on the Gaza Strip in less than 24 hours; at predawn on Thursday, four Palestinian civilians were injured, including an old man and three children in several successive airstrikes on southern, eastern and northern Gaza.

On Wednesday night, Israeli war jets carried out five separate airstrikes on empty fields, mainly at the area of the destroyed and inoperative Gaza Airport southeast of the Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported.

Since Tuesday, the Israeli army has been operating near the fence of the borders between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel. Gaza militants of Hamas and Islamic Jihad traded fire with the Israeli army ground forces that acted in the area.

On Thursday, the Islamic Jihad armed wing claimed responsibility for firing five mortar shells on the Israeli army ground forces acting near the fence of the borders with Israel.

The group said in an emailed leaflet that it is the first time that the group claims responsibility for firing mortars since the end of 2014 large-scale military air and ground operation Israel waged on the Gaza Strip for 50 days during the summer.

Tension grew on Thursday afternoon as Gaza security officials said the Israeli army forces pulled their bulldozers and tanks that rolled around 300 meters into the territory of eastern Gaza Strip close to the fence of the borders.

Well-informed sources, close to Hamas, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that Egypt intervened between Hamas and Israel to defuse the growing tension between the two sides.

The sources said that on Thursday morning, Israel responded to Egypt's mediation and pulled out its ground forces from the area, while Hamas and other militants refrained from firing mortars and attacking the force.

Musa Abu Marzooq, the senior Hamas top leader, who is based in Qatar, wrote on his Facebook page in Arabic that the Egyptian sponsor reached a truce agreement between Hamas and Israel.

He said the two sides have immediately accepted the Egyptian sponsor mediation and brought the situation back to calm "and defused the current tension between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli army."

Mohamed al-Amadi, the Qatari ambassador to reconstruct the Gaza Strip said Thursday in earlier statement that Qatar is exerting efforts to defuse tension on the borders between Gaza and Israel.

In 2014, Israel waged a large-scale military operation on Gaza that lasted for 50 days during the summer, which left 2,200 Palestinians and more than 70 Israelis killed besides large destruction in housing and infrastructure. Endit