An Israeli air strike destroyed a vacant multi-storied building in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing two teenagers who were passing by, local health officials said, and Palestinian militants fired dozens of rockets into southern Israel.
It was one of the most serious flare-ups of fighting since the 2014 Israel-Gaza war but Israel’s chief military spokesman, Brigadier-General Ronen Manelis, said it was premature to say whether it heralded the start of a broader campaign against militants in the enclave, run by the Islamist movement Hamas.
Three people were wounded in Israel when a rocket struck the southern town of Sderot, police said.
Tension had been building since Friday, when Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager during protests on the Gaza border on Friday, where weekly Palestinian protests – including attempts to breach Israel’s border fence – have drawn live fire, and an Israeli soldier was wounded. A second Palestinian protester died of his wounds on Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We will expand the scope of our reaction to Hamas’ terror attacks as much as needed. If Hamas doesn’t get our message today, it will tomorrow.”
Sporadic Palestinian rocket attacks and incendiary kites from Gaza that have burned large tracts of farmland in Israeli border areas have increased public pressure on Netanyahu for a stronger armed response.
The Israeli military said it had struck more than 40 targets within several militant compounds belonging to Hamas, in what it described as one of its widest operations since the 2014 conflict.
