Israeli artillery batteries and warplanes continued to bombard the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday after a deadline expired for Palestinians to evacuate a new security zone which is intended to stop rocket attacks, a military spokesperson said.
Israel’s unilateral decision to impose a ”no-go zone” in the far north of the Palestinian territory comes as part of a concerted drive to thwart repeated militant rocket attacks launched from northern Gaza into southern Israel.
The spokesperson told Agence France Presse: ”Our aircraft attacked six roads in the north of the Gaza Strip leading to sites from where it is possible to launch Qassam rockets against Israel, and our artillery batteries fired about 30 shells at the sector.”
The Israeli military earlier airdropped leaflets over Gaza, written in Arabic with an accompanying map indicating the extent of the zone, warning Palestinians to keep out of the area or else endanger their lives.
The confines of the security zone mainly incorporate an uninhabited area where three Jewish settlements stood, before Israel withdrew all soldiers and settlers from the Gaza Strip in September after a 38-year occupation.
”The army is prepared to wage intensive operations in the north of the Gaza Strip against terrorist elements who fire rockets into the territory of the state of Israel,” the fliers warned. – AFP
