GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes raided the Gaza Strip before dawn on Saturday in what it said was a retaliatory strike for rocket fire from the Palestinian territory controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas.
The exchange of fire came hours after US President Joe Biden had visited Israel and the occupied West Bank.
“Fighter jets struck a military site in the central Gaza Strip belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
“The military site consists of an underground complex containing raw materials used for the manufacturing of rockets,” it added.
The strike “will significantly impede and undermine Hamas’ force-building capabilities”, it said, adding that Israel was responding to “attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israeli territory”.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denounced the strikes, which the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said caused no injuries.
WAFA said Israeli missiles were fired at two locations, one “near a tourist resort” where nearby houses were severely damaged.
Balls of fire lit up the night sky over Gaza City after the strikes, which at one location left a hole in the earth beneath dislodged paving stones outside a low-rise building.
A man later swept up shattered glass in front of what appeared to be an office.
In further retaliation for the Gaza rocket fire, Israel announced late Saturday it was suspending a decision to increase the number of permits granted for Gazans to work in the Jewish state.
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