Violence flares between Israel and Palestinian has Israel bombs Israel bombs Hamas TV station in Gaza after warning calls, shots

 

Israeli warplanes bombed the studios of Hamas’s television station in the Gaza Strip on Monday during a surge in cross-border fighting, Palestinian officials and witnesses said.

There was no immediate word of casualties in the air strike on Al-Aqsa Television, which destroyed the premises in Gaza City and damaged nearby buildings.

Many local residents had fled after Israel phoned in calls to evacuate and launched at least five non-exploding missiles nearby as warnings, witnesses said.

Al-Aqsa Television - named after a major mosque Jerusalem - said it would resume broadcasts soon.

Violence has flared between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, a day after seven militants and an Israeli soldier were killed during an undercover Israeli operation in Gaza.

Militants fired 200 rockets and mortars at Israel. One hit an empty bus, seriously injuring a soldier nearby.

Israel responded with strikes on what it said were military targets belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Three Palestinians, two of them reportedly militants, were killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier cut short his visit to Paris for events to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One and returned to Israel to consult with his security chiefs.

What happened on Sunday?

A Hamas commander and an Israeli soldier were among the dead on Sunday.

Palestinians said an Israeli unit travelling in a civilian vehicle had killed the Hamas commander.

According to Palestinian sources, the Israeli unit was about 3km (2 miles) inside the Gaza Strip, which borders Israel, when militants from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, stopped the car.

The group's military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said the Israelis opened fire, killing a local commander, Nur Barakeh.

Why did Israel kill the commander?

Due to the secrecy of the operation, Israel has not revealed specific details about the mission.

The IDF said, however, that the operation was "not intended to kill or abduct terrorists, but to strengthen Israeli security".

The BBC's Tom Bateman in Jerusalem says that according to a former Israeli general, the incident was likely to have been an intelligence-gathering operation that went wrong.

The exposure of such an operation by Israeli special forces inside Gaza would be extremely rare, he says.

What has happened since Sunday's operation?

Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, denounced the incident as a "cowardly Israeli attack".

IDF chief Lt Gen Gadi Eisenkot said the Israeli unit had carried out "a very meaningful operation to Israel's security", without giving further details.

The Israeli military said that immediately after the clashes, 17 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, three of which were shot down.

On Monday afternoon, another 200 rockets and mortars were launched towards Israel, 60 of which were intercepted, according to the Israeli military.

Israel has said its soldiers have only opened fire in self-defence or on potential attackers trying to infiltrate its territory under the cover of the protests.

One Israeli soldier was killed on the Gaza-Israel border by a Palestinian sniper in July.

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