JERUSALEM: Israeli jets pounded Hamas positions in Gaza overnight after Palestinians staged a cross-border raid into southern Israel, the military said early on Sunday.

“Israel Air Force fighter jets targeted a terror target in a military compound belonging to the Hamas terror organisation in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip,” it said in an English-language statement.

A Palestinian security source in the coastal enclave said the planes hit a base of Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, causing damage but no injuries.

The strike on the Strip’s Islamist rulers came after four Palestinians “carrying bottles filled with flammable material” breached Gaza’s border fence on Saturday evening near the kibbutz of Kissufim, Israeli daily Haaretz reported, citing the army.

There, they attempted to torch heavy equipment used for work on the frontier barrier, an army spokeswoman said.

The machinery was damaged but did not catch fire, and the attackers fled back into Gaza, she said. No casualties were reported.

“The incident that took place yesterday is one of many severe incidents that have taken place in the security fence area,” the statement said.

Israel holds Hamas, which rules Gaza, accountable for all attacks launched from the blockaded coastal territory.

Speaking later on Sunday, the head of Israeli military intelligence warned that further such incidents would make things worse for Hamas.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2018