Gaza:Air Strikes on anniversary of Operation Pillar of Cloud

Around 1430 on Thursday afternoon (0130 today, NZ time), the Israeli Air Force carried out air-strikes over east of Zaitoun and east of Beit Hanoun, reportedly targeting empty lands without causing casualties or damage.

The strikes, occurring on the anniversary of last year’s Israeli military offensive “Operation Pillar of Cloud,” are believed to be retaliation against the mortar rounds fired towards Israeli incursions early yesterday morning.

The Gaza Ministry of the Interior reported that Israeli military vehicles had penetrated into the southern Gaza Strip Thursday morning.

Six Israeli military bulldozers accompanied by several tanks invaded farmland about 200 meters from the border, as helicopters and spy planes circled above, near the village of Khuzaa, east of Khan Younis, according to witnesses.

"Resistance fighters fired several mortar rounds at the Israeli forces and explosions were heard in the area," they said.

Israeli incursions occur on an almost daily basis in the eastern and northern borders of the Gaza Strip, in clear violation of the Operation Pillar of Cloud cease-fire- agreement that Israel signed with the Palestinian resistance last November.

The increasing Israeli military provocations and acts of aggression, combined with the tightening of the siege to strangling point, do not augur well for the people of Gaza.

Already reeling under massive power cuts limiting supply to 6 hours a day, water and sanitation services inoperable, and with medicines and medical supplies at an all-time low any escalation towards another major military offensive would be both a humanitarian catastrophe - and a war crime.

ENDS

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