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Middle East and North Africa

Palestinian radicals fire 70 rockets at Israel after truce disruption

The Israeli army has retaliated by destroying over 60 objects in the Palestinian enclave

A rocket fired by Palestinian militants inside the Gaza Strip EPA/AVI ROCCAH

A rocket fired by Palestinian militants inside the Gaza Strip

© EPA/AVI ROCCAH

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Radicals shell Tel Aviv with rockets after truce disruption

TEL AVIV, August 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Palestinian radicals have fired 70 rockets at Israel over the past 18 hours after truce was disrupted in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on Wednesday.

The Israeli army has retaliated by destroying over 60 objects in the Palestinian enclave, the IDF said.

“Terrorists in the Gaza Strip have fired 70 rockets at Israel since they disrupted the ceasefire regime, including 10 rockets launched over the past hour,” the IDF reported.

The Israeli army has sent mobilization orders to 2,000 Israeli reservists, resuming a call-up of citizens who were allowed ten days ago to return home after Israel and Palestinian militants started a series of indirect negotiations on a long-term truce in the Gaza Strip. Consultations were held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and were disrupted after a rocket attack on the Israeli territory on Tuesday.

Israel’s air and sea strikes have killed 10 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip over the past 18 hours, Palestinian sources said.

Mousa Abu Marzook, a leader of the Hamas radical Islamist group, said that wife and child of Mohammed Deif who heads Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were among those killed by Israeli strikes.

Meanwhile, Hamas representatives have accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire and providing false evidence of a rocket attack on the Israeli towns of Beersheba and Netivot, which made Israel recall its delegation from the talks in Cairo and resume strikes against targets in the Gaza Strip.

However, IDF spokesman Peter Lerner blamed Hamas already on Tuesday for disrupting the ceasefire, which led to the termination of talks on a peaceful settlement of the armed standoff.

“The terrorists have once again breached the ceasefire regime and resumed rocket attacks on Israeli civilians from the territory of the Gaza Strip controlled by the Hamas movement,” Lerner said.

“This continued aggression will get a corresponding response from the Israeli army. We’ll continue to deliver strikes at the terrorist infrastructure and terrorists and destroy the terrorist potential on the territory of the Gaza Strip to restore security of the State of Israel,” the IDF spokesman said.

“In response to the ceasefire violation by the Hamas movement, (Israeli) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon have given orders to resume strikes at the terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip,” an Israeli government source told ITAR-TASS.

Over 2,000 Palestinians have been killed and another 10,000 wounded since Israel launched its Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip on July 8 in response to rocket attacks by Hamas militants on its territory. The Israeli army lost 64 soldiers and officers. Another three Israelis were killed in Palestinian militants’ rocket attacks on Israel.

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Middle East and North Africa Palestine Israel HAMAS

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