Israel killed three suspected Hamas militants in one of four pre-dawn air strikes in Gaza on Sunday as it built up pressure on the Islamist militant group to stop the firing of makeshift rockets into the Jewish state.
An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed a strike had taken place on a vehicle belonging to Hamas militants and said the size of the explosion confirmed the vehicle was carrying munitions.
Residents also said the three dead men were most likely members of Hamas.
Residents said that two more air strikes were aimed at metal workshops — one was in the northern part of the coastal territory and the other in Gaza City. Both were destroyed and there were no casualties.
The army spokesperson said that three strikes had taken place on facilities suspected of manufacturing munitions. Two belonged to Hamas and a third workshop belonged to the Islamic Jihad militant group.
Israel began the wave of air strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza on Wednesday and senior Israeli officials said they were considering taking tougher measures.
Israel’s security Cabinet will meet to discuss military options later on Sunday. Media reports say that ministers are split on whether to carry out a major ground offensive or to continue with the current ”limited” activity.
Israel has in recent days moved an undisclosed number of tanks, armoured vehicles and ground forces into areas just inside the Gaza border.
The bombing campaign against Hamas has killed at least 21 Palestinians since Wednesday. Local residents said the dead included at least five civilians.
Four Palestinians were killed in air strikes on Saturday. They came on a day when more than a dozen rockets were fired into Israel by Palestinian militants.
Nobody was hurt in Israel by the rockets, although they caused some damage in towns bordering the Gaza Strip.
On Saturday, Hamas militants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli army bulldozer inside the Gaza Strip lightly wounding two Israeli soldiers.
It was the first attack by the militant group against Israeli troops who have taken up positions just inside Gaza’s northern border to try to stop the rocket launches.
New ceasefire
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said Israel had many options to try to prevent Gaza militants from firing rockets into Israel, playing down the immediate prospect of a massive ground invasion.
But Peretz added: ”I think the idea of taking over Gaza again is a decision that can be made at any time.”
The air strikes have plunged the Palestinians deeper into turmoil after nine days of fierce internal fighting verging on civil war between ruling Hamas Islamists and President Mahmoud Abbas’s secular Fatah faction.
Hamas and Fatah negotiators agreed in Egyptian-brokered talks to a new ceasefire which began at 12h00GMT on Saturday.
Previous ceasefire agreements fell apart within hours and it was unclear whether the new one would hold, although an agreed swap of 30 hostages taken by both sides was completed late on Saturday night, officials from both sides said.
At least 49 Palestinians have been killed in the last 10 days of internal fighting between Hamas and Fatah. — Reuters