(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza Tuesday evening and Palestinian sources said they targeted open cultivated areas, but injured five people, among them three children.
Israeli air fighters carried out up to 30 airstrikes on the Strip, following military claims that rockets were launched from the Strip on Israeli towns, local media reports said in Gaza. The airstrikes hit targets in Gaza and Khan Younis as well as areas north and center of the Strip, in addition to the eastern outskirts of Rafah in the south, where three people were wounded.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) accused Israel of escalating the situation in Gaza.
The movement denied in a short statement launching rockets on Israel, noting that the "Israeli airstrikes aim at aborting the Cairo negotiations seeking a truce." The statement held the "Israeli occupation, government and military responsible for the military escalation, and ensuing consequences." Earlier today, the Israeli Army stated that three rockets had been fired from the Strip despite a truce that was supposed to have remained in place until midnight - two landed in the Beersheba area and one landing in Netivot.
Israeli security sources accused some smaller factions in Gaza of launching the rockets, not Hamas.
No Palestinian faction in the Strip has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.
Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians in Gaza were forced to leave their homes in the evening for fear of the Israeli airstrikes. Many of them were seen heading to schools used as shelters, where they lived till few days ago.
Local media reports in the Strip said that Palestinians left their houses in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia (Northern Gaza) and Abasan and Rafah in the south.
In the meantime, Radio Israel said that the Israeli delegation to the Cairo negotiations returned to Tel Aviv tonight, as ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau following the rocket fire from Gaza.
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